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08-21-08: Olympic Watch Massimo Bertocchi Finished Day 1

After day 1 of the decathlon at the Beijing Olympics UTTCs very own Massimo Bertocchi is sitting in 18th place of 40 decathletes competing at the Olympic Games. During the first three events of the competition the competitors took the brunt of the bad weather in Beijing and competed in a down pour. Running through the Pouring rain Massimo managed to run an 11.00 second 100m giving him 861 points to start off his decathlon. While still raining the competition resumed and moved towards the long jump, where he picked up an additional 826 points jumping 7.05m into a wet sandpit.

Even with the weather and a slippery shot put, Massimo managed to get a good throw

The birds nest in Beijing where Massimo is competing

 in the shot put with a toss of 14.10m, which added another 734 points to his total. With the competitors struggling with the elements, the high jump proved difficult for all but Massimo managed to get over 1.90m granting him 714 points. Entering the final event of day 1, the 400m Massimo ran an excellent race with a time of 48.72 seconds adding an outstanding 875 points to hit total.

After day 1 at the decathlon he sits 18th place with five more events to go. Massimo has been knows to have a very strong second day in the decathlon and will look to move up in the rankings with his best events yet to come.

Live coverage is shown on CBC online at: http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/livevideo/ or you can watch live results on the IAAF website here.

07-28-08: UTTC Strikes Gold At Nationals

The University of Toronto Track and Field Club (UTTC) won seven gold medals at the Canadian National Junior Championships in Abbottsford, B.C. this past weekend (July 26-27). The UTTC women’s team captured six of the seven gold medals; their best result at a national junior championship.

Fresh from her personal best at the world junior championships in Poland, Tamara Jewett (Toronto, Ont.) won the women's 3000m race, setting a new Canadian junior meet record of 9:19.96. This topped the 19-year-old record of 9:26.12, set in 1989 by Olympian Lisa Harvey.
 

Joining Jewett on the podium was Maddie Buttinger (Kitchener, Ont.), who won gold in the women's heptathlon with a score of 5032, bettering the previous meet record of 4688 set by Olympian Jessica Zelinka in 2000.

Natalie Geiger (Stoufville, Ont.) won the women's 400m, with a season best time of 54.23, while Sarah Wells (Unionville, Ont.), a second-year Faculty of Physical Education and Health (FPEH) student, captured the gold in the women's 400m hurdles with a time 58.56 - her fastest time of the season.

Jewett, Wells and Geiger were national team members who represented Canada at the world junior track and field championships.

In relay action, the UTTC women's team dominated both the 4x100m and the 4x400m relay, winning gold in both races. The team of Geiger, Wells, Buttinger, and Athena McBean (Mississauga, Ont.) raced in both events.

On the field, Kyle Tomasello won the gold in the men's pole vault with a jump of 4.5m.

For complete results, go to: http://juniors.valleyroyals.org/results/

07-13-08: Jewett finishes eighth in women's 3,000 at world junior track and field Championships and Sarah Wells 11th

BYDGOSZCZ, Poland - Tamara Jewett of Toronto set a personal best time 
en route to an eighth place finish on Saturday in the women's  3,000-metre at the world junior track and field championships.
 
Mercy Cheron of Kenya won the gold medal in 8:58.07 with Bizunesh Urgesa of Ethiopia second and her compatriot Frethiwat Goshu third at  9:03.76. Jewett, a member of Canada's cross country running world team  in March, was eighth in 9:15.74.
 
''I'm very pleased, I felt great out there," said Jewett, 18, who  improved her personal best by eighth seconds. ''The competition was  really strong and I was very well prepared for the race. I set out a  race plan and it ended up that all my splits were faster than expected."
 
In the women's 4X400 relay, Canada qualified for the final finishing  fourth in its opening heat in 3:37.84. The Canadian runners were  Alyssa Johnson of Winnipeg, Jessica Parry of London, Ont., Sarah Wells  of Unionville, Ont., and Natalie Geiger of Stouffville, Ont.
 
''It's a great achievement for us to make the final, " said Geiger.  "When I got that baton, I was just focused on passing that third place  girl. I gained ground on her and that helped us get the time we  needed. I think I had my fastest relay spit ever. And we saw today  there are areas we can improve upon to go even faster in the final."

07-08-08: LIGHTNING STRIKES KIDD-CROTHERS CLASSIC

For the second year in a row, the Kidd-Crothers Classic was struck by rain. Only five of the eleven events could be completed before lightning struck downtown Toronto, forcing athletes, spectators and officials to take cover.

The day started with the men’s high jump and pole vault. The University of Toronto’s Mark Dillon finished atop the high jump, with a height of 2.20m. In his last season with the Blues, Dillon won the gold medal for high jump at the 2008 Canadian Interuniversity Sport championships. Brandon Wilhelm (Woodstock Legion) and Cornell Haynes (unattached) claimed silver and bronze medals, respectively.

The men’s pole vault saw a three-way tie for gold. Kristian Wilson (London Legion),

 David Foley (Sherbrooke Track Club), and recent Olympic qualifier Massimo Bertocchi (University of Toronto) all vaulted a height of 5 metres. The three athletes then took part in a jump-off where Wilson and Foley tied for first with nine points, leaving Bertocchi to claim the bronze with six points.

Later in the day, Bertocchi finished first in the men’s 100m hurdles with a time of 14.33 seconds, scraping by University of Toronto teammate Mark Stewart and Andrew Vandenool (St. Thomas).

Katia Germain of the Ottawa Lions finished first in the women’s 800m with a time of 2:11.62. Sarah Healey (Durham Dragons) earned the silver while Katie Anderson (London Runner) picked up the bronze.

In what would be the last event of the night, York University’s Stefan Ristic cruised to a first-place finish (1:50.71) in the men’s 800m. Dustin Gamble (Speed River Track Club) claimed the silver and leaving Matthew Petrocci (Unattached) with the bronze.

After over 40 minutes of rain, the second annual Kidd-Crothers Classic was forced to end for another year.

The 2008 Kidd-Crothers results are listed Here

07-06-08: Massimo Bertocchi Punches Ticket To Beijing

'I'm just feeding off of lactic acid right now,' says decathlete after earning Canadian berth
Randy Starkman

SPORTS REPORTER

WINDSOR–With the last bit of energy he had after 10 gruelling events, newly minted Olympian Massimo Bertocchi of Toronto dropped to his knees, tears in his eyes, and hugged his 78-year-old nonna, Flaudilla.

It was a touching finish to a remarkable journey, one that in just over three years has taken Bertocchi from being a fledgling high jumper not headed anywhere, to a decathlete who is now going to Beijing to represent Canada at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

The 22-year-old aspiring chef earned his trip by winning the decathlon at the Olympic track and field trials last night with a gutsy personal best in the 1,500-metre run to raise his total to 8,014 points, just ahead of the 8,000 required to make the team.

It was coach Carl Georgevski at the University of Toronto who steered Bertocchi into the decathlon when he realized he wasn't going to set the world on fire in the high jump.

"I thought it was crazy," said Bertocchi. "I thought decathlon was like, nuts. Well, you have to be a little nuts to do decathlon, anyway."

Georgevski then lured venerable coach Andy Higgins, who guided Olympic bronze medalist Dave Steen and world championship silver medalist Michael Smith, out of retirement to guide Bertocchi.

"Andy took a look at Massimo with the discus and had him spin in our upstairs field house once and the rest, as they say, is history," said Georgevski. "Obviously, in a very short period of time, it's paid off. Michael Smith and David Steen were incredible athletes. Massimo is far ahead of them at the same stage of development."

Higgins laid out what he thought was possible to Bertocchi, outlining it year by year and it has unfolded exactly as planned.

"He was pretty convincing in what he was telling me," said Bertocchi. "I was pretty hooked after that."

He thought he missed his chance after struggling in the pole vault, but came back with a personal best in the javelin and then came through in the 1,500 with a time of four minutes 42.42 seconds, bettering his personal previous best by five seconds. Bertocchi was pretty low key afterwards.

"It will hit me tonight," said Bertocchi. "I'm just feeding off of lactic acid right now."

07-02-08: U of T Gets National Event Employment Opportunities

Click HERE to download the information

06-27-08: UTTC To Send 4 To World Juniors

Four members of the University of Toronto Track & Field Club have been named to the 2008 Canadian World Junior Championships squad that will compete in Bydgoszcz, Poland, July 8 - 13.

The Blues contingent includes sprinters Natalie Geiger (Stoufville, Ont.) and Miana Griffiths (Oakville, Ont.), middle distance specialist Tamara Jewett (Toronto, Ont.) and hurdler Sarah Wells (Unionville, Ont.). The four representatives from U of T on Canada’s World Junior team marks the largest number of athletes than any other club in Canada.

Geiger and Griffiths are members of the University of Toronto Track Club (UTTC) and will be competing in the 400m and 100m respectively. Both runners recently ended

 their high school careers and qualified for the World Junior Championships with gold medals at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Association (OFSAA) championships. Geiger ran the 400m in 54.85 seconds while Griffiths finished the 100m in 11.79 seconds.

Jewett, a top recruit set to attend U of T in the fall, will run in the 3000m. She also had a phenomenal ending to her high school career at the OFSAA Championships winning the 3000m by 41 seconds in a personal best time of 9:37:99.

Jewett represented Canada as a member of the gold-medal-winning team at the 2008 North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletics Association (NACAC) Cross Country Championships in Orlando, Florida. She was also a member of Canada’s entry into the 2008 International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) World Junior Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Wells, a second-year Physical Education and Health student, will race in the 400m hurdles. As a first-year athlete she was a member of the gold-medal and record-setting distance medley relay team at the Cornell Relays Meet in Ithaca, NY. Wells qualified for the World Junior Championships at Hillside College in Michigan with a time of 59.63 seconds in her specialty event.

Hugh Conlin, head coach of the junior team, is excited about the talent and depth which will represent Canada. “The coaching staff is pleased with the large number of athletes who qualified for the team, 34 athletes achieved the standard which was based on being top 16 in the world. This is indicative of the depth of talent currently among the junior ranks”, said Conlin. “I am looking forward to seeing these athletes in action against the best in the world and we expect strong results in terms of podium and top eight performances.”

The IAAF World Junior Championships are held every two years, they were last held in 2006 in Beijing, China. The team came away from those championships with two silver medals. Justyn Warner captured silver in the men’ 100 metres while Edmonton’s Brian Barnett finished second in the men’s 200 metres. The next World Athletics Junior Championships (2010) will be held in Moncton, New Brunswick.

06-24-08: Toronto Twilight Meet #1,2,3 Results

• Twilight Series Meet #3 Results
• Twilight Series Meet #2 Results
• Twilight Series Meet #1 Results

06-09-08: U of T Juniors Finish Off Their High School Season With A Bang

The University of Toronto Junior Development student athletes finished the 2008 high school season with many personal bests and outstanding performance. As well three UTTC junior athletes made the qualifying standard for the World Junior Championships

In the middle distance events Tamara Jewett capped off a tremendous senior year of high school running with a gold medal in the 3000m and silver in the 1500m.   She ran away from the rest of the field early on and was all alone in the 3000m winning by 41 seconds in a personal best performance of 9:37:99.  In the 1500m she finished with another outstanding person best of 4:31:29.   Midget boy, Gareth Everard had a very successful first OFSAA placing fifth in the 800m in 2:06:04 and ninth in the 400m with a personal best time of 54:12.   First year senior Hailey Cummings placed 10th in the senior girls 3000m and junior boy Oliver Foster battled the heat to place 11th in his 3000m final.

Dan Mathie's winning of the bronze medal in the midget boys 3,000 was a truly outstanding story. For less than 2 months ago, Dan had suffered a terrible collision while playing rugby which resulted in a broken orbital bone. The injury required an operation with an incision being made just above his ear to allow the surgical instruments to be guided under the skin to below his eye socket. After some time off for recovery, Dan resumed his training and managed to win both the 1500 and 3000 races in the South regional’s in PB times. Then at OFSAA, he proceeded to post PB's in both the preliminaries and finals of the 1500m, where he finished 5th; and on the third day Dan ran another outstanding PB in the 3000m in very hot and humid conditions to take the bronze medal.

Our U.of T. JD jumpers performed in fantastic fashion at OFSAA.  Collectively they were able to amass twelve top 10 finishes against competitive fields containing the very best athletes in Ontario.  Maddie Buttinger capped off an exceptional high school athletic career by winning the Senior Girls high jump.  This victory kept her undefeated OFSAA high jump gold medal streak intact as she had claimed the gold in each of her four previous trips to the Ontario championships.  She also had a very strong performances in the hurdles and long jump, finishing fourth and fifth respectively in those events.  Rachel Jewitt came up big in the Junior Girls high jump finishing 4th in the field of 24 and equaling her personal best performance of 1.58m.  Magugu Beaudoin and Jennifer Adada both had two top 8 finishes each with Magugu placing 5th in the Senior boys triple jump and 6th in the long jump and Jennifer reaching fifth in the Junior Girls high jump and 7th in the long jump. Alana Stewart placed 5th in the senior girls triple jump and Emily Kawaguchi was 8th in the midget girls high jump
 

Three vaulters went to Hamilton on a mission.  Not quite ready to challenge for the medals, they all wanted a personal best.  Christine King, new to vaulting in the last 4 months, had already won the Metros with a best vault of 2.26m.  Undaunted by the new heights at OFSAA, Christine had a  PB with a vault of 2.30m and then 2.50m, narrowly missing 2.70m.

Sam Lane also moved her best from 2.06m to 2.15m, as did Taylor Sorgini (comes down to U of T once a week from Midland) improving his 3.10m best to 3.20m and an 8th place ribbon.

In the sprints Miana Griffiths qualified for the final running 11.79sec, bettering world JR. standard by 11 tenths, and relaxed throughout the final race to edge the expected favorite Janelle Redhead by 3 hundredths of a second.
 
Three club members, Shamawd Chambers, Aaron Davis and Tevin Goodridge also had a good showing as they represented Markham District HS in the SR. Boys 4x100m relay where they captured the bronze medal, in a time of 42.53, which eclipsing the York Region record of 44.76 by over 2 seconds.

Natalie Geiger capped off her high school career with a terrific 54.85 gold medal performance in the 400m and silver medal performance of 24.61 in the 200m. Melissa Mignot ran a great 400mh race and earned the silver medal with a time of   1:01.83. Kyle Fuller was 8th in the senior boys 400mh

Overall an amazing weekend for some amazing student-athletes!

At Hillsdale College in Michigan:

The University of Toronto Track Club now has three Juniors who have made the World Junior Standard:

06-09-08: Toronto Gets Bid for 2009 National T&F Championships

The University of Toronto Varsity Blues intercollegiate program is pleased to announce that Athletics Canada has awarded the 2009 and 2010 Canadian Track and Field Championships to the city of Toronto and U of T’s Varsity Centre.

“This is fantastic news for the city and for the University of Toronto”, commented Liz Hoffman, Director of Athletics at U of T. “Our Varsity Centre is a state-of-the-art facility. We are proud and honored to be partnering with Athletics Canada and hosting Canada’s finest track and field athletes.”

There is added excitement for next year’s championships (2009) as they will serve as the selection trials for the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Championships which will be held in Berlin, Germany.

“This is a great day, a great time for track and field at the University of Toronto,” exclaims Blues track and field head coach Carl Georgevski. “It’s been 36 years (1972) since the Canadian championships were last held in Toronto. Our tr! ack is IAAF approved and is a great venue in which to showcase this country’s best track and field talent.”

ATHLETICS CANADA CHAMPIONSHIPS CALENDAR:

(Event, City, Event Date: 2009, 2010, Host Organizations)

Half Marathon Championships, Montréal, April 19 2009, April 18 2010, Scotiabank 21K de Montréal

Marathon Championships, Ottawa May 24 2009, TBD 2010, Ottawa Race Weekend

Track and Field Championships, Toronto, June 25-28 2009, July 29-Aug 1 2010, University of Toronto

Junior Track and Field Championships, New Brunswick, Aug 6-9 2009, TBD 2010, City of Moncton

Cross Country Championships, Guelph, Nov 28 2009, Nov 27 2010, Speed River TFC / Guelph Athletics Society

06-04-08: Canadian National 10,000M Championships results

• Men's And Women's 10,000M Results

05-28-08: University Of Toronto 1st 1500m High Performance results

• Men's Section 1 Results
• Men's Section 2 Results
• Women's Results

05-23-08: '97-'98 Women's T&F inducted to the Hall Of Fame

The 1997-98 track & field team was no stranger to gold.  Coach of the Year, Carl Georgevski, led his team to the OUA and CIAU championships, capturing many individual and relay medals in the process.  The Blues won the national title that year with a then-record 83 points.  Blues standout Foy Williams, a 2008 University of Toronto Sports Hall of Fame inductee, was named the outstanding athlete of both the OUA and CIAU championships, as well as the U of T and CIAU female athlete of the year.

Click HERE to Read More

05-08-08: Top Track & Field Recruit Commits To U of T

Tamara Jewett, one of the top junior distance runners in Canada, has committed to attend the University of Toronto in the fall of 2008.

A current junior University of Toronto Track Club member, Jewett’s list of accomplishments include representing Canada as a member of the gold medal winning team at the 2008 North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletics Association (NACAC) Cross Country Championships in Orlando, Florida. She was also a member of Canada’s entry into the 2008 International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) World Junior Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Last fall, Jewett earned the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) cross country silver medal and is the reigning Ontario Track and Field Association (OTFA) cross country juvenile champion. She was a top eight finisher at the 2007

Tamara Jewett Competing For Canada

 Canadian Junior National Cross Country Championships in Guelph. Most recently, Jewett finished first in the 3000m event at the prestigious Nike Invitational Rowland Games, competing against the best high school distance runners in Ontario.

“We are thrilled to have such a high caliber student-athlete join our Varsity Blues program”, commented Liz Hoffman, Director of Athletics at the University of Toronto. “I’m looking forward to watching Tamara develop over her career at U of T.”

"The sky is the limit for her”, said assistant University of Toronto track and field coach Jill Mallon. “Over the past four years Tamara and I as well as the other members of the coaching staff have built a wonderful coach-athlete relationship, and I look forward to working with her as she reaches the next level of athletics. She will definitely bring a lot to our team.”

Jewett is one of the top students at St. Clements High School in Toronto and has earned many academic awards and accolades. She is National AP Scholar, editor of the school’s award winning literary and arts publication ‘Papyrus’, and is working on her gold award in the Duke of Edinburgh program.

Jewett also takes pride in giving back to the community, having participated in the “Horizons” program; a program where students tutor and mentor other students from inner city schools.

“Tamara exemplifies what the University of Toronto is all about”, states head coach Carl Georgevski, “achieving personal excellence in both the classroom and athletic field.”

A member of the U of T track and field club since grade nine, Jewett has even stronger ties to the Blue and White as both parents are University of Toronto law school graduates. She is enrolled in the Trinity One program in International Relations and has been awarded a University of Toronto scholar award, Faculty of Arts and Science student award, a Trinity College entrance scholarship, as well as the Hec Phillips athletic scholarship from the Faculty of Physical Education and Health.

04-25-08: Blues Track & Field 2007/08 Year In Review

Although smaller in numbers, the Blues men’s track and field team had great success this past season. Jason Wurster claimed both OUA and CIS gold medals in pole vault, while teammate Mark Stewart equaled that feat in the 60m hurdles.

Graduating senior Mark Dillon also claimed his first CIS gold medal in high jump, while distance runner Etienne Bredin finished fourth at the OUA championships in the 3000m and fifth in the 1500m.

The Blues 4x200m relay team (Corey Anderson, Mark Stewart, Mark Stinson, Felipe Rodriguez) finished fourth in the OUA and earned as spot at the CIS national championships. Doug Creighton finished with an OUA silver medal, second only to teammate Wurster.

Desmond Miller finished fifth in the OUA in the indoor pentathlon. Stewart, Wurster, Creighton and Miller were named as 2007-08 OUA all-stars with Wurster, Stewart and Dillon picking up CIS all-Canadian honours.

Honoured with the 2007-08 OUA track and field community service award, Liane Heale help lead an injury-ridden squad to the OUA and CIS championships where the team finished fourth and seventh respectively.

Liane finished her five-year career with CIS bronze and an OUA gold medal in the 600m. She also earned OUA gold in the 4x400m, and a fourth-place finish in the 4x800m relay.

Kate Ruediger finished fourth in the 300m and won an OUA silver medal in the 4x200m. Kate Sauks pole vaulted her way to a fourth place at the conference championships, while teammate Lauren Revell finished fifth in triple jump.

At the CIS championships, the relay teams continued to shine as the 4x200m and 4x400m each claimed a silver medal. Heale, Ruediger , Athena McBean, Rosa Serafini, Kerry Keluski and Sarah Colangelo were all named 2007-08 OUA all-stars and CIS second team all-Canadians.