Bisons tuned up and ready to go

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This article was published 05/03/2024 (918 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Universtiy of Manitoba Bisons have trained all they can train. The biggest meet of the year has arrived.

The U Sports track and field championships begin Thursday inside the James Daly Fieldhouse and conclude Saturday. The lead-up has been long, but the Bisons are ready for its test against the rest of the nation’s best on home turf.

“It’s at that point where you’re just doing a few jumps, a few sprints, you’re really getting tuned up and ready to go and I’m feeling great so I’m excited,” said high jumper Lara Denbow, who will leap in her first Canadian university national championship this week.

“I feel like I’ve been waiting for this week to come around for a long time and I’m so happy it’s finally here.”

Manitoba will field 24 athletes across five disciplines — sprinters, runners, throwers, jumpers and relay teams — each carrying high expectations.

Fresh off a third straight Canada West conference team championship banner, the Bisons enter with the No. 3 ranked men’s team in the country. The women’s squad has held its own too, coming in as the No. 8 team in the nation.

“There’s a sense of excitement, but I think they’re also being careful not to be overly excited and then blow all their emotional energy early on in the week,” said head coach Claude Berubé. “I think the word confidence is right. It’s not overconfident, it’s just confident that they know historically that when we’ve hosted, our teams have performed well.

“We see no reason why they can’t do the same thing again.”

Denbow enters on the heels of an outstanding season that saw her qualify for nationals in her first meet as a Bison and win gold at the Canada West championship, all while working back from a stress fracture in her foot.

The 20-year-old has managed by using a shorter approach on her jumps. This week, she’ll use the standard long approach for the first time this year, which should produce even higher jumps.

“With using the longer approach and just being where I am in the season, I’m getting really excited and feeling more in the competition setting for U Sports. That is my competition approach, so I’m excited to use it to compete,” Denbow said. “Hopefully I’m able to use that longer approach and I’m able to still execute technically to be able to use some more of the speed to my advantage.”

Anna McConnell, throwing in her final U Sports championship, is seeking her third consecutive national title in shot put. The No. 2 ranked women’s thrower in the country has been a model of consistency after a slow start to her university career that didn’t see her qualify for the national meet until her third year.

“I think it would be unbelievable. It would mean so much to do it at home for one, but also as an end to my university career, would be unbelievable,” she said. “I never dreamed of this. To do it once, to do it twice, to have the opportunity to do it three times, it’s very unexpected but I’m glad it turned out the way it did.”

The Guelph Gryphons will be the program to beat in both fields, having won the last six men’s team championships and the last five women’s titles.

The Bison men’s hopes at climbing the podium took a shot when one of the program’s top athletes, Tyler Cox-Yestrau, the second-ranked 300-metre runner in the country, ruptured his Achilles tendon during a race last month. Cox-Yestrau’s contributions go beyond one race, also running in the 4x200m and 4x400m relays.

To the Bisons’ delight, second-year Keenan Allen filled in admirably as the second leg on the 4x400m and helped the team to a silver medal in the conference championship. Such was the case across the board, as a few others played above their weight class to make up for the points Cox-Yestrau would’ve earned to rally to a gold medal.

The Bisons have been lauded for their depth this season. They hope a similar result is in store this week.

“Having Ty go down like that is a huge hit. He’s not just someone you can replace on the team,” said Dawson Mann, who will run in the 600m, 4x400m and 4x800m events. “But we still have a really deep team. We have a strong team in so many events that we’re still confident that we can get it done.

“We have to control what we can control and do the best in our own events and I think with all our performances, we can still have a really good shot at winning that team title this year.”

Mann is optimistic about his chances this week after enjoying his best season as a Bison. The fourth-year just missed the podium in the 600m finals in last year’s U Sports championship but has his sights set on the top this time around after winning gold at the CanWest championship.

“I have a bit more to give this year and my goal is to go out there and hopefully win,” he said. “All I can do is be confident and go out there and race and have fun with it. We have a chance at getting two guys on the podium in that 600 final (Tristan Allen).”

The Bisons have two top-three relay teams in the country on the men’s side, but Berubé advised not to discount the women’s 4x800m squad. The team lost three of its four regulars from last year but has seen rookies Arianna Fulcher and Lena Klassen rise to the occasion, Dana Poulton breakthrough and Angela Kroeker remain consistent.

“If at the start of the year you would’ve asked me if we were going to have a women’s 4×800 team qualify for nationals, I would’ve said, ‘I don’t think so,’” Berubé said.

“It’s pretty exciting for them. I think the fact that we’re having some women perform well and we’re staying in the top 10 rankings with a relatively smaller group of athletes at the national level, it’s certainly helping put us on the map and it’s helping with recruiting and that kind of thing.”

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca

X: @jfreysam