Thirty years ago marked the first time the University of Windsor held CIAU Track and Field Championships at the St. Denis Centre. With some of the most impressive performances in CIS history taking place this season the March 12th-14th event should bring just as much entertainment and excitement to the CIS Track and Field Championships as it has the past nine occasions it was held in Windsor.

Over the next ten we will be highlighting some of the greatest moments that have taken place at the St. Denis Centre during the 1985, 1991, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2009 and 2010 Track and Field Championships leading up to this year's event.

One streak ends, another begins.

By Richard Johnston

In 1997, Tiger Woods becomes the youngest golfer to win the Masters, Tubthumping was rocking the airwaves and I have to ask, "Do you like apples?"
Starting a trend of hosting consecutive years allowed Windsor to host the 1997 CIAU Championships. The prospect of the Windsor Lancers winning their 6th consecutive women's title and a 4th men's title on home turf was definitely on Dennis Fairall's mind heading into the 1996/97 season.

Looking to dethrone the Lancer women would be UofT who finished 2nd at the O.U.A.A. championships by a mere 4 points. On the men's side, the mighty Bison herd was thinning. The Lancers had a lot of returning athletes from the 1996 silver medal team looking to win at home as they did in 1991.

Starting things off with day one would be the return of CIAU record holder Byron Goodwin. Goodwin would pick up right where he left off in 1995, running the 600m semis in 1:18.39 and taking the 1000m in 2:25.77. Byron Goodwin would go on to win the 600m, making it 3 years in a row where the Bisons had an individual take the 1000m/600m title. Byron's impressive double gold medal earned him Athlete of the Meet for the fourth time during his collegiate career.
The Vert & Or men made the biggest statement on day one, qualifying four athletes into the 300m final; Rova Rabemananjara (34.09), Alexandre Marchand (34.63), J.C. Cote (35.07) and Stephane Belfort (35.33) would go on to sweep the top four places in the 300m final Friday night.

While ahead of his time in the CIAU/CIS, Mike Nolan was, at the time, one of Canada's best multi- event athletes. With no Pentathlon contested yet, Nolan was a huge performer for the Lancers in individual events. Winning two medals in 1995 in the Hurdles and Shot Put, Mike Nolan was back to help the Lancers as much as he could. On day one, Nolan would advance to the 60m Hurdles final, finish fourth in the Long Jump, qualify for the 4x200m final and claim the Bronze medal in the Shot Put for the second year in a row. On day two, Mike would be unable to score in the Pole Vault, but he would finish second in the 60m Hurdles just behind his teammate Kyle Robinson for the second year in a row. This was a big turning point as the Sherbrooke hurdlers were ranked as the favorites.

This brings me to the 4x200m where the Lancers were not even close to being ranked for a medal. Getting out in first place, the Lancers held the lead from the first hand off and held off the rest of the field who were battling it out in a "bar-like brawl" according to former Lancer Hurdles Coach Don Garrod. Both Kyle and Mike would help the Lancers run to a gold medal in a time of 1:29.97 with the Bisons finishing second. Most would agree Windsor had no business winning that final, however, their race execution played out well and they stayed out of trouble.

Meanwhile, Alex Zaliauskas from U of T was finishing off his stellar CIAU career undefeated in the men's High Jump with a gold medal height of 2.15m. The 1992 Olympian still holds the CIAU/CIS record at 2.24 which he set at the SkyDome in 1993.

It was another close finish for the team title. Going into the 4x400m relay, Sherbrooke had three points on the home town Lancers. With four athletes making the 300m final you would expect the Vert & Or to be favorites. Taking the 4x400m was the University of Western Ontario in a time of 3:18.15, clear ahead of the rest of the field led by Sherbrooke who clinched their first Men's Team Title with 53.5 points.

Overall Team Standings.
Sherbrooke: 53.5
Windsor: 46
Western Ontario: 36

On the women's side, the Pole Vault was officially contested as a scored event and taking the inaugural event would be the second place finisher in the 1996 exhibition event. Jackie Honey from Manitoba would Vault 3.50m to win the first female CIAU Pole Vault gold medal. Women's Pole Vault would grow to become very competitive and to a point where it would take a vaulter to go over the bar at 3.86m to even attain standard for the 2015 Championships.

In the distance events, Nathalie Cote (Ottawa) would post some times that had not been touched at the Championships in years. Winning the 3000m, it was Nathalie's 1500m performance in 4:19.13 which sits number six on the all-time list. Nathalie was the first female athlete to dip under the 4:20 mark during the 90's (it wouldn't happen again for another 10 years). Double gold would not be enough to win Athlete of the Meet, though.

Looking to add to their impressive CIAU title run, the Lancers struggled on the track this time around. Still fielding a large number of athletes, the medal count dropped from 11 in 1996 to five in 1997. Missy McCleary was able to win Bronze in the 3000m and Tracy Higgs a Silver in the 60m Hurdles. The lone Gold medal came from Stephanie Gouin who missed the CIAU record jumping 6.10m, only 4cm shy. With two more bronze medals in the Shot Put (Suzanne Gavine) and Triple Jump (Jenna Goddard) along with a number of low end scoring the Lancer Women were still bringing in the points, just not as many as the Varsity Blues.

Leading the way for U of T would be future Olympian Foy Williams. Winning the 300m on day one with a very impressive time of 37.96 which still sits number four on the CIAU/CIS All-time list was just the start. On day two, Williams would win the 60m in 7.46, another time still sitting on the All-Time list. Leading the 4x200m team off to another Gold medal, Foy would also help the 4x400m seal the deal with her fourth gold medal of the meet.

An all-around team performance by the Varsity Blues saw silver medals with Althea Williams in Long Jump and Triple Jump, Treva Thomas in the High Jump and Bronze medals in the 300m, 600m and 1000m. Winning their second Team title clear ahead of the defending Champion Windsor Lancers by 15 points.

Team Standings
Toronto: 60
Windsor: 45
Waterloo: 38

While Foy Williams earned Athlete of the Meet with her impressive four gold medals, another standout performance was in the women's 60m Hurdles. Sonia Paquette would take down her CIAU record set back in 1994 with the current CIAU/CIS record of 8.23. The long standing record may be in jeopardy this year with Haley Warren surpassing that mark earlier on in the 2015 season.

1997 was an impressive year that saw new Team Champions and a lot of emerging stars in the CIAU. 1998 brought even more excitement to Windsor's St. Denis Center for the third year in a row. "How do you like them apples?"

Thank you to Dennis Fairall and Bob Vigars for the results. I would also like to thank Mike Nolan, and Don Garrod for providing memories of the meet.