Aldergrove athlete Ethan Foster appears to have made a smooth transition to university-level competition, if his win at the Golden Bear Open in Edmonton on Saturday (Jan. 18) is any indication.
Foster put Canada West and U SPORTS on notice that a new heptathlete is on the block, as the first-year Trinity Western Spartan won the event with 4,657 points.
It was just 85 points off TWU’s all-time heptathlon record set by Cale Hernandez (4,742) in 2016, and would have been good for a fourth-place finish at last year’s U SPORTS Championships.
Foster’s 4.43 metre clearance in the pole vault part of the heptathlon also broke the Golden Bear Open record of 4.40, which was set by Weiss at last year’s event.
A former D.W. Poppy competitor who left a string of shattered records in his wake, Foster now runs for the Langley-based Spartans at Trinity Western University.
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Foster was followed by fifth-year Chris Weiss, who won a Canada West silver medal last year in heptathlon and was fifth at nationals, after he compiled a personal best 4,618 points.
TWU Head Coach Shane Wiebe said the first and second finishes in the heptathlon by Foster and Weiss “was a great start to the year and they both had really good days.”
Spartans also won both the men’s and women’s 300 metre events.
Grace Konrad won in 39.11, which earns her automatic qualification for the U SPORTS championships and is the third fastest time in TWU history.
Praise Olatoke won with a personal best time of 34.61, which beat his previous best of 36.13.
In the 600 metres, first-year Cassidy Hutchison finished sixth with a time of 1:36.28, which puts her fourth in TWU’s all-time rankings.
Kenny Blackman Jr. (Surrey, B.C.), who is the defending Canada West champion, ran 6.97 in the 60 metres semifinals before finishing sixth in the final in 6.98.
Joanna Williams and Christina Sevsek finished eighth and 14th respectively in the 1500m.
Next up, Spartans are in Seattle Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 for the UW Invitational.
