The York University Lions track and field team had an incredible weekend at the McGill Team Challenge in Montreal, as the women's team finished on the podium in second place after amassing 112 points and the men were seventh with 47 points.
 
The women were strong all around, garnering 10 personal bests and 15 season's bests.
 
The 4x400m women's team, consisting of Nicolette Witherspoon, Simone Da Silva, Marvelous Agbonwaneten and Zakiya Tavernier, went from not being on the U SPORTS rankings to running the third fastest time in the nation with a season's best of 3:51.14, which also placed them on top of the podium with the gold medal at the meet.
 
The women's 4x200m relay, consisting of Tavernier, Da Silva, Diana Boa and Natasha Russell were equally as strong, also taking the gold medal while hitting a season's best time of 1:41.90.
 
Zeon Bass, Mark Hutchinson, Jaxon Hume and Brandon Shokour took the bronze medal in the men's 4x200m after running a season's best of 1:30.42. The men's 4x400m team consisting of Levar Russell, Bass, Hutchinson and Hume carried them to the 10^th spot in the nation after running a massive season's best of 3:22.65.
 
The Lions were equally as ferocious in the individual events. Tavernier claimed the top spot in the 300m amongst the U SPORTS athletes who competed at the meet after running a personal best time of 40.15. Da Silva was right behind her as she claimed the second spot amongst U SPORTS athletes with a personal-best time of 40.63.
 
In the same event on the men's side, Bass finished third amongst the U SPORTS athletes at the meet, collecting seven points for the team.
 
In the men's 1000m, Abdiaziz Ali finished with a tremendous personal best of 2:29.39, which places him an impressive sixth York's all-time list. Russell finished with a season's best time of 1:21.20 in the 600m, which helped the team earn another five points.
 
In the women's 600m, all the athletes crossed the finish line with personal bests. Meaghan Kelly led the way with a time of 1:41.14, giving her the eighth spot amongst the 26 U SPORTS athletes who competed. Patricia Rasowski, Rebecca Wheeler and Jenni Dwyer also finished with personal bests in this event and the 1000m.
 
In the short sprints, 60m specialist Monique Simon-Tucker was able to pick up points for her team, as did teammates and Russell, with Russell finishing with a season's best.
 
On the field, Holly Taylor led the way, coming first in the shot put with a distance of 13.45m and third in the weight throw with a distance of 16.38m. On the men's side Drew Erskine was able to take the third spot amongst U SPORTS athletes at the meet in the weight throw with a distance of 15.10m, which helped him collect seven points for the men, and Jonathan Raspanti was close behind with a throw of 14.73m for sixth place.
 
In the pit, long jumper Leah Jones took the gold, hitting the U SPORTS auto-qualification standard with a jump of 5.89m. In the triple jump, Olivia Henry, who jumped 11.70m into the pit, took the top spot amongst U SPORTS athletes at the meet, garnering 10 points for her team.
 
Placide Ilunga was able to represent the men in the triple with fourth-place finish at the meet, which helped the men's team get six more points.
 
Both teams left with 25 athletes hitting the OUA standard, 24 season's bests, 11 personal bests and one U SPORTS auto-qualification. The Lions will be taking this momentum forward as they compete on home field at the York Open this weekend, beginning on Friday and wrapping up on Saturday at the Toronto Track and Field Centre.