On March 10 and 11, the McGill track team hosted the Redbirds Last Chance meet, their final competition before the RSEQ Championships this upcoming weekend. On Friday, McGill’s Jorden Savoury finished first in the women’s 60m, and Matthew Beaudet finished first in the men’s 1,000m. Savoury ran a blistering 7.47, dominating the race and beating her personal best by 0.03 seconds. Beaudet led a McGill one-two finish in the 1,000m, with a time of 2:26.70, edging out teammate Markus Geiger by less than a second. 

After breaking four minutes in the mile earlier this season, Beaudet was less worried about his splits and more focussed on using this weekend’s race to improve his pacing and positioning in preparation for the RSEQ and USports championships. 

“The goal was to close the last 400[m] pretty quickly, but I had some trouble with getting boxed in at that point, so I had to find a way to take the lead with 300m to go before accelerating into the last lap,” Beaudet said. 

In addition to Beaudet, McGill’s distance squad had several other impressive performances. Jack Stanley and Felix Bedard went second and third for McGill in the 1,500m race, with Stanley breaking four minutes and Bedard outkicking Miles Brackenbury of Queen’s by 0.3 seconds.

Chloe Fleurent-Gregoire also had a strong race, placing second in the 3,000m on Friday night with a time of 10:00.28. However, on Saturday, the 1,500m had a rabbit who paced the start very poorly, eventually leading Fleurent-Gregoire to drop out of the race around halfway through. Nevertheless, Fleurent-Gregoire was grateful for the chance to compete again.

“[It] was really nice to get back into the competitiveness of racing again,” she said. “I feel like my confidence is slowly building back up from the cross-country season, after the break [due to COVID-19]. I am happy to be racing again and excited for the 1,500 and the 3,000 at provincials.”

On Saturday, McGill dominated the men’s 600m race, with Nicholas Bernard, Alexander-Jullian Bimm, and Sebastian Danson placing first, second, and third, respectively.

McGill also put in a strong showing in relays, with the women’s 4x400m team, composed of Marianne Djigo, Chloe Morrison, Audrey Gilmour, and Eden Muyard, coming from behind in the last leg of the relay to finish first, beating out the University of Montreal by half a second. Savoury led off the Martlets 4x200m relay to finish second, just over two seconds behind the University of Laval. The men’s 4x200m relay, consisting of Diego Dorantes-Ferreira, Jonas Schweiger, Jeremi Kolakowski, and Asad Bilal, also finished second overall. Schweiger finished second in his 300m race with a time of 36.76 seconds—the only male McGill athlete competing in that distance. 

Vanessa Lu Langley, a second-year engineering student, narrowly took second to Carleton’s Alexandra Telford in the 60m hurdles after beating Telford by 0.08 seconds in qualification. 

Next up for the track team is the RSEQ Indoor Track and Field Championships on March 20 and 21 at Sherbrooke University. 

Moment of the meet: After slipping to nearly last place during the women’s 4x400m relay, Eden Muyard passed the competition to win in the last leg of the race.

Quotable: “A lot of us have made personal bests this season, so I’m really proud of what the team has accomplished. I think performance aside, the highlight for me this season is definitely being around my teammates. I’ve found everyone to be so incredibly supportive and I’m beyond grateful for such an inclusive and positive atmosphere and training environment.” — Second-year high jumper Emily Roest 

Stats corner: Jorden Savoury ran the 60m in 7.47 seconds, breaking her own personal best and the school record.