Connaughton sprints to national gold

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2010/07/30/sp-cdn-track.html

Connaughton sprints to national gold

By Paul Gains, CBC Sports

Charlottetown's Jared Connaughton blazed the curve in the men’s 200 metre final and ran away with the Canadian championship on Friday night at the University of Toronto.

The veteran sprinter recorded a time of 20.66 seconds to beat defending champion Bryan Barnett in convincing fashion. The 23-year-old from Edmonton could manage only 21.02 for the silver medal.

The newly crowned champion had said earlier this week he was in his best shape ever and prepared to challenge Atlee Mahorn's long standing record of 20.17 at the distance.

It wasn’t to be. The newly laid track, he said, was not as fast as he expected.

"It’s a little bit soft," said Connaughton. "I was hoping to run fast. I am really capable of it. I was hoping to challenge the Canadian record, it wasn’t happening today but I will get it. "If it’s not this year it will be in the next couple of years."

"I got a really good start and it sets me up well but then I get a little bit anxious and back off too much," he added. "If I just dial it in on the curve and run like I know I can 20.66 can be 20.36. I had the race in control by 50 metres."

Following the championships, Connaughton will head home for a two week break in P.E.I. before joining Barnett and other members of the Canadian sprint relay team in Germany for a training camp. The team will race in the Zurich and Brussels IAAF Diamond League meets.

In the women’s triple jump, Tabia Charles came very close to matching her Canadian record with a leap of 13.94 metres, just five centimetres less than the mark she set earlier this season.

Wearing flowers in her hair and fishnet stockings, Charles dominated the competition as second place went to Neb Zachariah with a distance of 12.41.

Charles was in a cheerful mood following the medal ceremony.

"It could have been perfect conditions but they had us jump into a negative wind, which I have never seen before, but we do things differently in Canada," she said, laughing. "But it was good, I could have gone 14. I felt awesome."

Three years ago Adam Kunkel made the 400 metre hurdles final at the 2007 world championships in Osaka but pulled up with a hamstring strain. Since then he has not been healthy.

Kunkel had an easy time winning the first of two semifinals on Friday in a time of 52.54 seconds.

"It's been a good year with my new coach Anthony McCleary," Kunkel says. "He’s done a good job getting me healthy so I can handle long days of training. It’s nice just to get through a few races healthy without any hiccups like in the past few years. I am now training consistently and I am hoping to put in a few good performances before the year is out."

Kunkel said his goal on Saturday is to get as close to 50 seconds as possible.

The men’s 3,000 steeplechase came down to a duel between training partners based out of Guelph, Ont., Rob Watson and Alex Genest. Watson — who represented Canada at the 2009 world championships in Berlin — set the early pace, stringing the field out single file.

But with a kilometre remaining Genest surged and eventually caught his friend. Genest’s winning time was 8:36.11, while Watson barely hung onto second place in 8:44.43. The bronze medal went to Travis McKay of Edmonton in a time of 8:45.12.

"I was totally confident in catching him," said Genest, who calls Lac Aux Sables, Que., home. "The thing is we train together and we know each other pretty well. Today I just wanted to race. I have had a pretty bad season. I need to be healthy all year long that is my big problem now. My Achilles tendon has bothered me for the past three years. I know I can run in the 8:20’s, I just need to be healthy."

http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/Sports/2010-07-31/article-1639003/Island-track-stars-medal-at-nationals/1

Island track stars medal at nationals

Gold for Connaughton, silver for McCormack

TORONTO — Jared Connaughton of New Haven captured gold while Kurt McCormack of Souris won silver Friday at the Canadiadn track and field championships.

Connaughton won the men’s 200-metre final in a time of 20.66 seconds.

Defending champion Brian Barnett of Edmonton finished second in 21.02 while Jarid Vaughan of British Colubmia was third in 21.36.

Connaughton ran a 21:12 in his preliminary race Thursday.

Barnett finished second (21:13) while Tyrone Halstead of Mississauga, Ont., came in third (21:54).

Connaughton runs in the first of three 100-metres heats today at 3:05 p.m. AT.

Connaughton, who holds the best 200-metre time in Canada at 20:61, won the 200-metre event in 2008 and finished second last year.

The New Haven sprinter and former Olympian finished third in the 100 metres in 2009.

McCormack, 22, finished second in the triple jump event Friday with a best-jump of 14.72 metres.

Jacob Zorzella of Toronto won the event with a jump 15.47 metres.

David St. Jacob of Ontario was third with a 14.71.

McCormack finished third (15.02 metres) at last year's nationals and was an all-American in triple jump last season at Dickinson State University in North Dakota.

His personal best jump is 15.54, achieved last year at Dickinson State.

http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/Sports/Track-%26amp%3B-field/2010-08-01/article-1642252/Connaughton-captures-silver-at-nationals/1

Connaughton captures silver at nationals

THE CANADIAN PRESS

Jared Connaughton of New Haven won silver in the 100-metre final at the Canadian Track and Field Championships Saturday in Toronto.

Connaughton ran a 10.28 to finish seven one-hundredths of a second behind gold medallist Sam Effah who ran a 10.21.

Connaughton went into the final with the fastest qualifying time after he ran a 10.31 in the first preliminary heat.

Meanwhile, former world indoor and outdoor champion Perdita Felicien captured her ninth 100-metre hurdles title Saturday, edging rival Priscilla Lopes-Schliep in a battle between two of the world’s best.

“I take a lot of pride running at home, I don’t get a lot of opportunity,” Felicien said. “And when you get ‘P’ versus ‘P,’ you’ve got to bring your ‘A’ game.”

Felicien crossed in 12.72 seconds in the marquee event that had been hyped like a heavyweight prize fight between the two rivals, who raced in identical electric pink singlets.

Lopes-Schliep, the Olympic bronze medallist from Whitby, Ont., was the first out of the blocks, but faded to 12.75.

“Hard-fought, probably one of the closest margins in a long time,” said Felicien, who holds the Canadian record of 12.46 and has the fourth fastest time in the world this year.

Felicien, who turns 30 on Aug. 29, said despite the dozens of times she’s sprinted down tracks on the world’s stage, the Canadian championships were still packed full of pressure.

“This week has probably been the most affected I’ve been, I can compare it to preparing for an Olympic Games or even a world championships where you’re the favourite, I kind of felt that here,” Felicien said.

With files by The Canadian Press

http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/Sports/2010-07-28/article-1626761/Island-track-stars-are-focused/1

Island track stars are focused

Charles Red

Redemption time

for McCormack, Connaughton at the nationals

Yes, those are chips on the shoulders of Kurt McCormack and Jared Connaughton this week at the 2010 Canadian track and field championships in Toronto.

The reason? The Islanders are itching for redemption.

Connaughton, a New Haven native, finishing second in the 200 metres at the nationals last year and third in the 100 metres — placings that irked the Olympic sprinter.

McCormack of Souris, had a strong triple-jumping season in the United States university circuit go awry with a sixth-place non-medal finish at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics outdoor nationals earlier this year.

McCormack goes straight to the men's triple jump final Friday at 7 p.m. because meet organizers scrapped field event qualifying.

Connaughton begins 100-metre qualifying today at 1:40 p.m., then 200-metre heats at 6:45 p.m., and he’s aiming at different result than last summer.

“No, I think (the pressure) is a little bit less. That was a major faux pas last year at the championship,” said Connaughton in a cell phone interview as he boarded an airplane for Toronto. “I kind of underachieved.”

So far this season, Connaughton, 25, has picked up two wins in 200 metres and pair of wins in 100 metres, three second-place finishes in 200 metres and a third in the 200 — much of those results in a recent swing through Finland, Ireland, Crete and Belgium.

The pace has agreed with him as he has the top 200 time (20:61) and second best 100 time (10:28) in Canada and ranked first in 200 metres in Toronto.

He’s been used to indoor, which enjoys about a month between races. Outdoors, it’s a tour, a new stop every week or so. And sometimes that’s not a bad thing, he said, because too much time can play on the mind.

“It’s definitely something I haven't done enough over my career,” said Connaughton, who ran in the 200-metre semifinals at the 2008 Olympic

Games in China and finished sixth at the Games with the 4x100- metre men’s relay team.

McCormack is adjusting to a new style. Always a right-footed jumper, he switched earlier this summer to leaping off the left foot — a change prompted by his less-than stellar NAIA outdoor nationals result. McCormack, 22, finished up his junior year at Dickinson State University in North Dakota in May.

“It was definitely a disappointment to come in sixth. Indoors, I was ranked second in 2010. I had great conditioning,” he said. “I just never got it together. I was probably my most depressing time in triple jump.”

McCormack had four firsts, including a personal best 15.54 metres, and two seconds in triple jump this season at Dickinson State, plus a second in the 4x200-metre men’s relay and the 4x100-metre relay.

But the NAIA result meant something had to change.

So McCormack returned to P.E.I. and worked with James Buhlman, Athletics P.E.I. technical director, on the new approach.

Now, McCormack said, he hopes to even out his speed, have better control of the triple jumps phases and balance his leaps.

“I came home and learned how to run (calmer) on on the runway. It’s a challenge, but I’m a athlete and I like the challenge,” said McCormack, who recently was named Sport P.E.I.’s intercollegiate male athlete of the year.

After the nationals, Connaughton hopes to compete the Atlantic championships next month in Charlottetown, then he’s off to more racing in Europe, starting with a Diamond League event Aug. 19 in Zurich, Switzerland.

McCormack said he will return for his senior season at Dickinson State and plans to add the long jump to his repertoire.

creid@theguardian.pe.ca

Former bobsledder MacEachern developing some of Canada's top track athletes

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5j8HCOcYPHnexR3DPm_bdLZv-tgLA

Former bobsledder MacEachern developing some of Canada's top track athletes

By Lori Ewing (CP)

CHARLOTTETOWN — As the coach of Prince Edward Island's first track club, Dave MacEachern didn't exactly have state-of-the-art facilities at his disposal.

The former Canadian Olympic bobsledder held workouts on an old railway bed when the weather co-operated. Cold days meant heading inside, either into the hallway of a nearby school or an abandoned flea market, where he would roll out an 80-metre long strip of rubber he'd purchased to use as a makeshift track.

Growing up on P.E.I., MacEachern knows all about overcoming odds, and his message is simple: it's what's inside that counts.

"As long as we have the right attitude and heart, you can go anywhere with track and field," said Kurt McCormack, one of MacEachern's top athletes with his club Sparta Athletics, and bronze medallist in triple jump Tuesday at the Canada Summer Games.

MacEachern's athletes captured P.E.I.'s first two medals at these Games - Matt Caseley of French River won gold in the hammer throw Tuesday night.

MacEachern, 41, has been back living and raising his family in Charlottetown since his Olympic gold medal bobsled career ended in 2000.

One of his first success stories was Jared Connaughton. He started coaching the sprinter in Grade 11 with a goal of "getting him out of here," and Connaughton went on to run track at the University of Texas in Arlington where he still lives and trains. He has the No. 2 time in Canada this year in both the 100 and 200 metres, and was part of the Canadian 4x100 relay team that finished fifth last week at the world championships in Berlin.

"It was tough to get the wheels spinning here," said Connaughton, who is back in town to watch the Canada Games. "You had to be determined to run fast and put in the effort in a place that just didn't harbour the opportunities.

"I call this my jump-off point, and I always have that in the back of my head, that this is where I come from. Sprinters can get a little needy, but I'm very bare bones and that was instilled in me here."

Bare bones is an understatement. The 21-year-old McCormack, who grew up in Souris, a tiny coastal town of just over 1,200 people 80 kilometres northeast of Charlottetown, learned to triple jump on pavement because there wasn't a proper pit in P.E.I. MacEachern worked on strengthening his legs so they could take the constant jarring of landing on rock-hard asphalt.

"I think where we came from really grounded us in track and field, coming from nothing," said McCormack. "We don't take anything for granted."

But things are changing. Thanks to the Canada Games, the island has its first rubberized track, part of the $6.8-million Alumni Canada Games Place at UPEI.

Connaughton is impressed.

"I flew in this morning," Connaughton said. "You're always looking out the window to see P.E.I. from a neat perspective, and when I looked down and saw the track and saw all the stuff set up, it kind of hit home. It's come a long way."

McCormack, who'll head back to Dickinson State University in North Dakota after the Games, jumped 14.93 metres to take bronze. Taylor Stewart of London, Ont., won the gold with 14.76, while Jacob Zorzella of Toronto jumped 14.95 for second.

Caseley won the hammer with a throw of 56.55 metres. Angus Taylor of Richmond, B.C., won the silver with 55.88, while Nolan Henderson of New Westminster, B.C., took the bronze with 55.80.

MacEachern, who teamed up with Pierre Lueders to win gold in the two-man at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, retired two years later after suffering several concussions.

"I didn't really have a whole lot of desire to collect any more concussions and my children really made me think twice about Olympics and personal pursuits, so that was part of it," MacEachern said.

The lure of competing in front of a hometown crowd at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics had MacEachern considering a comeback. He had spoken with Lueders and started training seriously again, but was feeling a lot of pain in one knee. Test results showed he'd partially torn his ACL playing soccer.

"Who knows if I could have or not?" said MacEachern, who has 28 World Cup medals to his name. "I was still really strong, and I'm still pretty quick right now, definitely for my age. I think Pierre's going to win two medals. I think he's going to do awesome and I wish I was there doing it with him. I'm not, but I wish I was, mostly because of my kids (sons Seamus, 3, Declan, 8, and Conor, 10).

"I would like to do it for them, but otherwise I'm really comfortable in my skin and what I did."

MacEachern and his wife Triona Herrop were the first to introduce pilates and hot yoga to P.E.I. through their gym Dynamic Fitness. Plus the three-time Olympian has trained some of sport's top athletes, such as Dallas Stars forward Brad Richards - a native of Murray Harbour, P.E.I. - through his company Eli Sport.

Matthew Caseley wins Gold in Hammer Throw

Kurt McCormack wins Bronze in the Triple Jump

Team P.E.I.'s Website
Team PEI Results & The Red Clay Review Newsletters

Our Canada Games Photos

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2009/08/25/pei-canada-games-medal-basely082509.html

P.E.I.'s 1st medal golden at Canada Games

Matthew Caseley speaks to the CBC after his golden performance in the hammer throw event Tuesday at the Canada Games.

(CBC)The host province of this year's Canada Games won its first medal Tuesday with a golden effort from Prince Edward Island's Matthew Caseley.

Caseley, of French River, captured the gold Tuesday afternoon in the hammer throw at UPEI Alumni Canada Games Place. The 21-year-old was in fifth place going into the final.

"I knew I was fairly close to a medal, but the gold? I was not expecting that whatsoever," an ecstatic Caseley told CBC News.

Fellow Islander Kurt McCormack followed up Caseley's win with a bronze medal in the triple jump. McCormack, 21, from Souris, attends Dickinson State University in North Dakota.

The national sporting event showcasing Canada's amateur athletes is taking place in P.E.I. until Aug. 29.

Highs, lows of track and field - Connaughton and McCormack ponder results at the national championships

http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/index.cfm?sid=266167&sc=99

Highs, lows of track and field
Connaughton and McCormack ponder results at the national championships

CHARLES REID
The Guardian

One’s up, one’s down, both are dissatisfied.
Such is the nature of Jared Connaughton and Kurt McCormack after the 2009 Canadian track and field championships and world trials recently in Toronto.
McCormack, a Souris-born triple jumper is feeling up.
He finished with a bronze medal in the event jumping 15.02 metres, a 10th of a centimetre off his personal outdoor best, and rose seven places and 62 centimetres from last year’s nationals.
He ran his first national 200-metre race ending up with a 22.95 in the preliminary but didn’t qualify for the final.
“Overall, I guess, I can’t be too unhappy with the bronze medal. (I was shooting) for a personal best. In all honesty, I was going for gold,” said McCormack, who’s back in P.E.I. recovering from a back injury suffered at the triple jump final. “I was in a pretty fast heat (in the 200-metre). I wasn’t satisfied with my time. It was raining real heavy when I was running.”
The injury forced him to pass on his fifth jump and reduced his last attempt to 14.26.
McCormack said he will do light workouts with coach Dave MacEachern and rest for four weeks before resuming jumping and heavy training for the 2009 Canada Summer Games next month on P.E.I.
Enter Connaughton, a 2008 Olympic 200-metre semifinalist who went into Toronto as the defending 200-metre champ.
The New Haven native is feeling down after winning silver in the 200-metre and bronze in the 100-metre (10.47).
“Not as good as I expected to be honest. I’m a pretty competitive athlete,” he said before leaving for his training facility in Arlington, Texas. “I went into the meet in good shape and I was disappointed.”
Connaughton finished first in his 200-metre qualifier (20.95) and fourth (10.73) and third (10.41), respectively, in the 100-metre qualifying races in Toronto.
For many runners those are encouraging results.
For Connaughton, who ran a 10.26, 100-metre race earlier this year and his 10.15 last year proved the fastest time in Canada, it’s a conundrum.
“I was trying too hard and didn’t let the race happen. Last year was a real breakthrough. I wasn’t really expecting to do as well as I did. This year I had real high expectations of myself.”
So, like McCormack, he’s returning to his training roots.
For him, it’s Texas with his coach Monte Stratton to refine his technique and form.
He spent five years with Stratton at the University of Texas at Arlington.
“I’m comfortable there. Just knowing that I have people there on my side with no reservations.”
Neither Islander qualified for the world track and field championships in Berlin next month.
Only four Canadian athletes reached the marks and few chances remain.
One of those is a meet in Ottawa in mid-July.
Connaughton will be in Berlin as a member of Canada’s 4x100-metre men’s relay team, which finished sixth at the Beijing Olympics last year, but needs a 20.59, 200-metre time and a 10.34, 100-metre time in Ottawa to meet the standard at the worlds.
“I don’t like the idea of chasing standards, but that’s the reality right now.”
McCormack won’t be in Berlin, yet.
But it and larger Games are in his sights and he said progress is measured in centimetres and patience.
“I’m not really looking for worlds. I’m aiming for (the) 2012 (Olympic Games) in London. It’s track and field and it’s just the way it is,” said the 19-year-old, whose parents, Myrtle and Tommy McCormack, were pit-side in Toronto to cheer him on. “If you’re good enough to compete at that level, it’s not frustrating. It just takes time.”
Other Islanders at the nationals included Gerry MacAdam, who finished 31st (11.64) in his 100-metre heat and 27th (23.24) in 200-metre qualifying, and Anthony Bernard, who jumped 7.02 metres in the men’s long jump. Neither advanced to the finals.
****
Their results at the track nationals:
* Jared Connaughton
100-metre men’s sprint: preliminary, 10.73 (fourth); semifinal, 10.41 (third); final, 10.47 (third).
200-metre men’s sprint: preliminary, 20.95 (first); final, 20.78 (second).
* Kurt McCormack
200-metre men’s sprint: preliminary, 22.95 (23rd); final, did not qualify.
Triple Jump: preliminary (best-of-three attempts), 14.81 (fourth); final, 15.02 (third).