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Stiff competition expected at this weekend’s UBC OpenPublished by
Note: we preview select featured men’s events below – stay tuned for the women’s events preview coming out tomorrow
Men’s 5,000 m race walk
Ben Thorne, a first-year race walker and the current Canadian junior record holder in the men’s 10,000 m race walk, leads the men’s track and field team into the UBC Open this Saturday. Thorne, who has already achieved the Olympic ‘B’ standard in the men’s 20 km race walk, will be making his long-awaited debut as a Thunderbird. Joining Thorne in the race will be former T-Bird great Inaki Gomez, and Olympic hopeful Evan Dunfee. The 5,000 m race walk kicks off at 3:00 pm.
Men’s 100 and 200 m
UBC’s Andrew Nathan, winner of the 100 m at the WWU Ralph Vernacchia last weekend, will face stiff competition from Jarid Vaughan, and Keefer Joyce. Both have faster seed times than Nathan’s 10.82-seconds. Vaughan ran 10.42-seconds at the Texas Relays last month, and Joyce ran 10.61-seconds at the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games last September.
In the 200 m, Vaughan is the fastest seed at 21.00-seconds, followed by 400 m specialist Nathan Vadeboncoeur at 21.02-seconds. Nathan is seeded third at 21.74-seconds.
Men’s javelin throw
The Richmond Kajaks’ Curtis Moss, a UBC alumnus and 2012 Olympic hopeful, headlines this event. Moss has a seed of 78.32 m – a mark he achieved at the Copenhagen Athletics Games in 2009. David Skermer, also of the Kajaks, is entered at 58.98 m, and Simon Fraser’s Ben Coles is seeded at 52.07 m. UBC’s Uluc Birol set a personal best at the Ralph Vernacchia of 47.46 m, and will be looking to improve on that mark at the Open.
Men’s 800 m
Point Grey TFC athletes Mark Wilkie and Nigel Hole headline this race, with seed times of 1:51.00 and 1:51.20 respectively. Both are UBC alumni, and began their careers in the shorter middle-distance events, but now focus more on the 1,500 m.
UBC’s Simon Bill will be looking to achieve NAIA ‘B’ standard or better after a tactical mistake lost him chunks of time at the Ralph Vernacchia meet last weekend.
Men’s 1,500 m
The field is led by Joseph Boland, of the Edmonton Thunder/University of Alberta, with a seed of 3:52.26. Simon Fraser’s Ryan Brockerville, a steeplechase specialist is entered at 3:52.79, and is a favorite also.
After achieving the NAIA ‘B’ standard last weekend at the WWU Ralph Vernacchia meet, second-year Justin Kent will be looking for an even better result – the NAIA ‘A’ standard of 3:55.25. He will not be alone as teammate Jordan Smith will also be hoping for a fast race to book his fourth straight ticket to NAIAs in the 1,500 m.
Men’s 3,000 m
Two-time NAIA All-American Luc Bruchet will make his season debut on the track in this event. First year Thunderbird’s Will Cliff and Matt Galea will also be in the race.
Meet Schedule
1:30pm LJ W fl.1 JAV W fl.1 1:45pm 4x100 W 1:50pm 4x100 M 2:00pm 800m W HJ M SP M 2:10pm 800m M LJ W fl.2 JAV W fl.2 2:20pm 200m W 2:40pm 200m M LJ W Final JAV W Final 3:00pm 5000m RW M & W 3:30pm 400m W LJ M 3:40pm 400m M HJ W JAV M SP W 3:55pm 1500m W 4:05pm 1500m M 4:25pm 100m W TJ W 4:45pm 100m M 5:00pm 4x400m W 5:10pm 4x400m M 5:20pm 3000m M
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