Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Caelen Begg nearly lowered the Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference record in the men's 300 metres during the 2020 Pandas Open at the University of Alberta's Universiade Pavilion on Saturday.
The second-year MacEwan Griffins competitor finished his qualifying run in 35.65, just shy of the 35.61 standard set by SAIT's Brent Stephen at the 2018 ACAC Championship.
Begg's time was fourth-fastest at Saturday's event, which was populated with U SPORTS competitors, and got him into the final, where he also finished fourth in a slightly slower time of 36.20.
"He had a great start and he was in a good position," said Griffins head coach Drew Carver of Begg's qualifying run, which was also just shy of the MacEwan record of 35.62 – set by Thomas Cross-Trush – who lost the 2018 championship gold to Stephen in a photo finish.
"He was on the outside lane and the curve was bigger. Being a tall young man, he was flying down the back stretch and you could see he was headed for a good time."
So, can he go even faster and break the record when the ACAC Championships are hosted by Concordia at the same venue next month?
"That was the best part about it is he said (if he was) focused, he could be driving even harder, if he can pull off that same kind of start. The important part is the championship will be run on that same Butterdome track. It plays right into his hands for having a good shot at breaking the record."
That Begg is even approaching the record at all in his second season with the Griffins is a testament to how much improvement he's logged. A year ago, he ran a 38.39 and placed sixth at the ACAC Championship.
"He's just become a little bit more focused in his training and he's consistent more," said Carver. "I think he's following the advice of his coaches and his teammates. He's worked with Tommy Cross and some other teammates who are good examples of what you have to do to become successful. He seems to be following it pretty closely."
The rest of the Griffins team in attendance at the meet weren't after personal bests as they instead focused on hitting split targets and other training goals.
"It was a training race to follow the splits, execute the pickups when they need to and how to finish strong where their leg turnover – finishing in a nice stride," explained Carver.
"They all could have (run faster), but they all followed the race plan. Everybody executed exactly what I wanted so I was very happy with that."
That's designed to set the Griffins up for success at the ACAC Championship March 21-22.
"That's what we have to do," said Carver. "When we get a few more races, we'll try different distances and follow the plan there. If we can run our races where we're in control, we'll cross the line hopefully in the positions we want to be in. Then it's recovery and getting ready for the next event."
Carver will be sending some of his team to the Alberta age class indoor championship on Feb. 29 to March 1 at the Butterdome before the full squad heads to the ACAC Running Room Grand Prix #2 in Red Deer on March 7, their final meet before the championship.
