Brunet building for big finish

The Windsor Lancers track and field team opened the season with 15 medals at the CanAm Classic on January 13th at the Dennis Fairall Fieldhouse. Two of them came courtesy of Mandy Brunet who won a gold in the triple jump and silver in the long jump.

"Definitely a good start,"

The Villanova grad feels the work put in between the Blue and Gold meet in early December and the Can Am's is paying off. "There's always little tweaks to be working on but definitely, again, a good start."

The 5th year jumper took gold and automatically qualified for the national championship in the triple jump with a leap of 12.39m but was disappointed with the event. "That was the only measured jump I got," said Brunet who hit the mark in the first round before faulting five straight. "It didn't really reflect on how well I'm jumping right now."

According to Brunet, she jumped further during her faults. "We learn and progress.We don't want to be at our best at these meets. We're gearing towards March (USports Championships) so every week we just take all the positives and keep moving with that."

Brunet leads the country with a leap of 12.55 recorded at Blue & Gold. She is ranked 8th in the long jump at 5.63.

The 5th year jumper followed up the Can-Am's with a good meet at the Bob Parks Invitational in Ypsilanti, Michigan hosted by Eastern Michigan University. Brunet won the triple jump with a leap of 12.53m. She went 5.55m in the long jump for a 5th place finish.

Next up is the Jet's Pizza Invitational at University Centre hosted by Saginaw Valley State University starting Friday.

Wyatt Ribchester on the left

There was a lot of excitement when rookie runner Wyatt Ribchester crossed the line first in his heat during the men's 1000m. He ended up finishing 9th overall. "That was my first 1K so to start off with a 2:35 is really really good so I'm happy with that," said the Belle River grad.

The former Noble started running with the team last summer and joined the Lancers cross country team in the fall. "The integration there was really good," said Ribchester. "I got to do many more meets than I expected to as a rookie and I even got to go to OUA and USports as an alternate which was really really fun.

AJ Stanat led the Lancers with a pair of 1st place finishes in the men's shot and weight throw. Jacob Fitzpatrick and Ben Tilson also earned a pair of medals.

The Lancers are off to Ypsilanti, Michigan for the Bob Parks Memorial at Eastern Michigan. Their next home meet is February 9-10 when they host the Team Challenge.

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