U of M’s Lawrence captures second national pentathlon crown

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This article was published 06/03/2025 (250 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Madisson Lawrence restored her standing as the best multi-event athlete in the country on Thursday.

A personal best 4,119-point performance from the Manitoba Bison, highlighted by a first-place effort in the high jump and capped by a solid run in the 800-metre race, earned Lawrence her second national title in women’s pentathlon on the opening day of the U Sports track and field championships at Dennis Fairall Fieldhouse in Windsor, Ont.

Lawrence, who won the pentathlon in 2023 but missed last year’s national championship with a stress fracture, beat her school record (4,114) and bested runner-up Rebecca Parker of Guelph by 16 points.

“I feel like there’s always more pressure the second time, just because you set that expectation for yourself and you want to prove to yourself that you can do it again,” Lawrence, a fifth-year student-athlete, told the Free Press.

“After the first time, there’s only one way to go so it was just keeping calm and composed throughout the competition and trusting my ability to compete and respond to any situation that happens, and I’m happy I was able to do that.”

Lawrence trailed Regina’s Shelaine Pritchard by 113 points entering the final leg of the competition. It just so happened the 800m race was Pritchard’s worst event — she finished seventh — leaving the door open for the former champion to reclaim her crown.

Lawrence, typically an aggressive runner who likes to lead the 800m event from the beginning of the race, changed her approach by hanging with Parker, a strong runner, for the entire race, knowing that if she kept up it would be enough.

“I think for the 800, I was feeling pretty confident. I have been a pretty confident distance runner over the past few years, and I just have to trust my ability to pace and hold that and be able to run a consistent time for myself. So going into the final event, I knew if I could do that, that I would have a chance to fight for a spot,” she said.

Lawrence leaped 1.72m in the high jump event. She also finished second in the long jump. Her results sandwiched a third-place effort in the 60m hurdle and her worst event, shot put, in which she finished seventh.

“It was a little bit disappointing, not being able to compete (last year), especially at home. But I knew that there was also an opportunity to train and prepare for the next year. That’s what I did, and it felt good to be able to defend my title,” she said.

Lawrence’s national championships are only getting started. She will also compete in the standard high jump, long jump and triple jump events.

The meet runs through Saturday.

Meanwhile, Bisons sprinter Jordan Soufi did everything in his power to repeat as national champion in his signature event.

Though Soufi ran faster than last year when he captured gold and tied a personal best on Thursday, he was forced to settle for second place.

Soufi’s title defence in the men’s 60-metre fell painfully short, as his time of 6.64 was bested by Western’s Immanuel Onyemah by one one-hundredth of a second.

The fifth-year athlete ran 6.69 to win his first national crown on home turf a year ago, but that time wouldn’t have landed him on the podium this year. Five racers ran sub-6.7 seconds, making it the fastest 60m race in meet history.

Joining him in the fray was third-year Tyrell Davis, who ran behind Soufi to national silver last season but finished fourth this year with a time of 6.67. Though he didn’t land on the podium, Davis’ run was a personal best, and he smashed last year’s time of 6.73.

Soufi and Davis’s performance supplied 13 points toward Manitoba’s efforts for a men’s team championship, which it hopes to achieve after finishing second last season.

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca