Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Where everybody slots in on the 4x400m relay teams will be the focus for head coach Drew Carver as the MacEwan Griffins head into their final dress rehearsal before the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference championship this weekend.
Sprinters will be auditioning for roles on the top units during the ACAC Running Room Grand Prix #2, hosted by Concordia University at the University of Alberta's Pavilion (Butterdome) on Saturday, starting at 9 a.m.
"It is a little bit of the final dress rehearsal," said Carver, whose team is preparing for the most important meet of the season, the ACAC Championship on March 15-16 in Calgary. "For me, it's setting, more or less, who is going to be on the relay teams. Pretty much all the other spots are determined already, but I want to see what everyone can do speed-wise and how they're going to perform on the relay exchange.
"This is a test to set up my A and B teams. I should have, for both men and women, two complete relay teams competing."
The Griffins boast a strong men's sprinting group that will be battling it out in the 300m on Saturday, just as they were at the MacEwan Invitational back in January when they claimed the top-five positions.
At that meet, Caelen Begg upset former ACAC record-holder Thomas Cross-Trush for top spot, while fellow newcomers Connor Swaby and Andrei Pop, and second year Omar Medina rounded out the top five.
That 300 dominance didn't even include Reece Runco, who won a bronze medal at the ACAC Championship last year in the distance, but he's focusing more on the 600m this season.
"Everyone's done pretty well," said Carver. "I've got most of the guys settled with the sprint group – Reece and Caelen are going to run the 600. The other guys will be just running the 300 and the relay.
"Scott (Kohlman) and Owen (Guenette) will be picking up the 1000, 1500 and 3000. Unfortunately, that's the tough part of the event because I know SAIT is very strong in those areas. They've got at least three guys who are competitive with Scott and Owen."
On the women's side, the Griffins will be without Ember Large, who was the top female at January's MacEwan Invitational after winning the 600, 1000 and helping the Griffins claim the 4x400 relay title. Over the next two weeks, however, she is representing Team Canada in cross-country skiing at the Winter Universiade in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.
But, it's likely that Rachel Cooper will make her debut for the Griffins indoor track team. The member of MacEwan's women's soccer team was also a track star in high school and will give the Griffins' sprinting group a boost.
"Hopefully we'll have Rachel Cooper from the women's soccer team running this weekend, getting to see how she performs at this level and where she fits in the grand scheme of things," said Carver, who plans to enter her in the 300 and 4x400m relay.
"She's a 100, 200 metre runner, but she's going to extend her distance and we'll see how it turns out for her. In high school, she was a third-place finisher in the 200 in Calgary. Coming out of Calgary, that's pretty good."
