Track & Field collects multiple top-three finishes in two-meet weekend

Lakehead’s track & field team competed at two separate meets this past weekend, the St. Thomas Invitational in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Friday, and the Twin Ports Invitational in Superior, Wisconsin on Saturday. The weekend represented the first official meets of the year for the Thunderwolves squad.

“I was happy with the weekend,” head coach Kip Sigsworth said.

The St. Thomas Invitational on Friday saw Thunderwolves athletes competing in individual events, with four different runners achieving first-place finishes: Braeden Prochnicki in the Men’s 60m Dash (7.08), Will McDonough in the Men’s 800m (1:58.37), Tia Lampo in the Women’s 400m (60.17), and Rebekkah Pyle in the Women’s 3000m (10:13.37). Janet Chukwu and Derek Patterson also collected top-three finishes, with Chukwu placing 2nd in the Women’s 60m (8.11) and Patterson placing 3rd in the Men’s mile (4:28.46).

Saturday’s Twin Ports Invitational saw Thunderwolves runners working in relays, which coach Sigsworth identified as a rare opportunity to run a variety of distances in relay races uncommon to Lakehead athletes.

Despite the novelty of the experience, Lakehead teams managed six separate top-three finishes: 1st in Women’s SMR (4:22:.84) and Men’s 4 x 800m (8:09.70), 2nd in Men’s SMR (3:51.19) and Men’s 4 x 200m (1:34.15), and 3rd in Women’s 4 x 200m (1:51.05) and Women’s DMR (12:54.36).

“Again, I was happy with the weekend,” Sigsworth said. Prior to the meets he categorized the events as “a fun weekend and a good test of where we are at right now.”

Thunderwolves track & field will send 10 athletes to McGill next weekend for a two-day meet during which they’ll see competition from most OUA, RSEQ (Quebec Student Sport Federation), and AUS (Atlantic University Sport) schools.

“I think our work in these two meets set us up well for McGill next weekend,” Sigsworth said, “where we’ll encounter a much higher level of competition.”