Horns track and field leap into season

By Lethbridge Herald on January 26, 2022.

Kicking off their Canada West season, the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns track and field team took a flying leap and landed it nicely.
The Horns headed to Edmonton for the Golden Bear Open Friday and Saturday for their first competition in 22 months.
“A great overall weekend for the team as our rookies really stood out with Laughlin Irish, Jinaye Shomachuk and Kimoya Edwards having a strong showing, while veterans Andreas Troschke and Brayden Klippenstein were dominant in the weight throw,” said Pronghorns’ head coach Larry Steinke in a release.
Making his Pronghorn debut, Irish had top-five finishes in the three jumping events, placing second in the triple jump with furthest leap of 14.52 metres to sit second in the Canada West rankings.
Irish was also third in the high jump with a jump of 1.90 metres and fifth in the long jump.
Pronghorn veteran Andreas Troschke, the 2020 Canada West gold medalist in the weight throw, showed no sign of a 22-month layoff from competition with a throw of 17.15 metres to win first place.
Teammate Brayden Klippenstein finished second with a toss of 16.67 metres.
With that distance, Troschke moves into top spot in the early-season national rankings, while Klippenstein sits fifth.
Fellow veteran Clayton Wong had a strong return to competition, finishing third in the triple jump and seventh in the long jump.
The strong debuts continued on the women’s side on opening weekend.
Shomchuk, the national youth champion in hammer throw, finished third in the weight throw and fourth in the shot put, while Edwards also had a strong start to her Pronghorn career, finishing sixth in the 60m dash and seventh in the 60m hurdles.
Pronghorn veteran throwers Caitlyn Bailes, Naomi Klassen and Madeline Szabo all finished in the top-10 in the weight throw, finishing fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.
Third-year Pronghorn Mackenzie Kennedy picked up a second-place finish with a jump of 11.28 metres in the triple jump and Makayla Dickinson placed sixth in her debut to round out the top-10 Pronghorn finishes.
Steinke said he’s looking forward to having a complete team for the University of Alberta Panda Classic Feb. 11-12 in Edmonton.