Aiming for the national podium

Two years ago, Daxx Turner was searching for his big leap.

The Neepawa product had already made a lasting imprint on Canada West, being crowned the top triple-jumper in the conference for the third year in a row, but was still trying to land his signature moment.

That would come on home turf, as the Manitoba Bisons hopped, skipped and jumped to gold at the 2024 U Sports national championships.

It was a storybook moment for Turner, who still holds a vivid memory of standing on top of the podium at the James Daly Fieldhouse. Although Turner was already considered one of the best triple-jumpers in the country, that triumph was the validation he needed to feel like he truly belonged among Canada’s elite.

“It was almost like a relief, where I was kind of like, ‘OK, finally, I’m a part of that group a little more,’” said Tuner, who also has a bronze and silver medal from nationals. “Then that just led into a little bit more self-belief, and just believing myself in what I could potentially do for the next, hopefully, decade or two of my career.”

Now Turner, in his fifth and final season with the Bisons, can author a storybook ending to an outstanding university career.

That would once again come at home, as the Bisons host the U Sports national championships from Thursday to Saturday.

Turner, who also met the national standard for high jump, has focused all of his energy on the triple jump for his final meet. It’s been the best indoor season of his career, he said.

“Triple jump has always been my bread and butter, if you will. It’s the event that really kind of got me excited about track.”

He is fresh off winning a fifth straight gold in triple jump at the Canada West championships, where he broke a 25-year conference record with a leap of 15.70 metres and was named the conference’s Male Field Athlete of the Year.

Turner wants to do everything in his power to ensure this season ends with gold.

“Triple jump has always been my bread and butter, if you will. It’s the event that really kind of got me excited about track, the reason why I continue to do it,” he said.

“I wanted to be just a triple-jumper for the last two or three years now, and I think just given where our team is at, nationally ranked, and how competitive we are, I think it makes more sense for me to really go after the triple jump, whether it’s just to win or to break the national championship record. I think that would just do a lot more for me personally than trying to do both again.”

Turner remembers watching the U Sports championship when Manitoba hosted in 2019. It fed his inspiration to be great. Now, he hopes to pay it forward before his career is done.

“I watched some guys win medals in the triple jump… and I know that that was very important for my career and pushing me towards my goals,” he said. “So I think knowing that I could have that effect on someone else who’s still maybe in high school, or even younger kids on the team, that’s, I think, what’s in my mind when I know we’re hosting a big championship like this.”

The Bisons men’s team, ranked third in Canada, has a strong chance once again to reach the podium. They’ve done so at each of the last three national championships, earning bronze in 2023, silver when they hosted in 2024 and bronze again last year.

Fourth-year sprinter Tyrell Davis, who won silver in the 60-metre race in 2024, is ranked second entering the marquee event. Third-year middle distance runner Alejandro Civetta is the top-ranked runner in the 600m, while third-year jumper Adebare Adegbosin will also vie for a podium spot in the triple jump, as he’s currently ranked third in the discipline.

Manitoba is also home to the top 4x200m, third-best 4x800m and fifth-ranked 4x400m relay teams.

From veteran to rookie, Nevaeh Marynowski finds herself in a similar position to where Turner was two years ago as she prepares for her national championship debut.

The second-year long jumper and high jumper has big expectations for herself, coming off a pair of bronze medals in both events at the Canada West championship. She enters nationals as the seventh-ranked long jumper in the country.

“It’s an exciting feeling, because I love competing at home,” Marynowski said. “But it’s also a little bit of anxiety, because it’s like, ‘Wow, I kind of made it to this level, and I’m getting out there.’

“I spent all last season kind of being unknown in a way. Sure, I was well known on our team, but I wasn’t well known outside of the Bisons. So now that I’m building this name for myself, there’s a little bit of anxiety behind it, and maybe a little bit more expectations from other people, but I’ve kind of just learned to not let that get to me.”

Marynowski has become one of the Bisons’ most versatile athletes.

“Now that I’m building this name for myself, there’s a little bit of anxiety behind it, and maybe a little bit more expectations from other people, but I’ve kind of just learned to not let that get to me.”

After focusing exclusively on jumping in her first year, the Clandeboye product planned to convert into a multi-disciplinary athlete. She competed in the heptathlon at the 2025 Canada Summer Games and later began the transition to the pentathlon for her second season, but by January, she had grown cold to that idea.

Part of that was Marynowski — who chose to add hurdles to her repertoire instead — has endured the most injury-filled season of her life while training for a pentathlon.

This year, she’s dealt with severe shin splints, an ankle sprain, wrist sprain and a concussion that sidelined her for three weeks.

Marynowski’s injury struggles are something fourth-year high jumper Lara Denbow can resonate with. Denbow had a stress fracture in her foot in 2023 but healed up and came back to win a national title in 2024, then repeated last year.

“She’s motivated me that you can get through injuries,” said Marynowski, who returned from her concussion to set a personal best in high jump in January. “She’s an excellent teammate. I love her. I love being on a team with her.

“I feel very accomplished now that I’m not at her level yet for high jump, but I am close in a way,” she added. “It feels nice to be almost at the same level as her after not being anywhere near her. It just feels like an accomplishment.”

Denbow, in her fourth year, is the top-ranked high jumper in the country entering nationals. Other marquee female Bison athletes include Ella Farquharson, the No. 10 athlete in shot put, while the women’s 4x200m relay stands in ninth ahead of the meet.

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