The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns track and field team captured four Canada West gold medals and a pair of individual awards at the Canada West Track and Field Championships in Edmonton this past weekend.
Horns thrower Peter Millman continued his dominance in the throwing circle, winning both the weight throw and shot put events. Millman set a new personal best in both events, throwing 18.82 metres in the weight throw and 16.91 metres in the shot. Fellow thrower Ryan Sommer finished fourth in both events and punched his ticket to the CIS Championships in March.
Following his double gold medal performance, Millman was named the Canada West Field Athlete of the Year.
Pronghorns rookie Aaron Hernandez also made his mark at the Canada West meet, dominating the triple jump event by nearly a metre as he reached 15.03 metres. Hernandez earned gold and was named the Canada West Rookie of the Year.
On the women’s side, reigning CIS weight throw champion Kayla Gallagher was once again the cream of the crop. She claimed her second consecutive Canada West title by setting a new personal best with a throw of 18.48 metres. Gallagher also beat the field by nearly a metre.
Then, despite not training shot put for much of the season, Gallagher was three centimetres short of a new personal best and missed the shot put podium by only nine centimetres to finish fourth with a throw of 13.17 metres.
"We had a great weekend with some strong results. Obviously the four gold medals and athlete of the year and rookie of the year honours were fantastic,” says Pronghorns head coach Larry Steinke. “But the team as a whole had a lot of personal bests and some great individual performances that indicate the future will continue to only look stronger for us moving forward."
Millman, Sommer, Hernandez and Gallagher all qualified for the CIS Championships that will be hosted by the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Mar. 6-8.
