For some of York’s finest athletes, the end of the Ontario University Athletics season doesn’t mean they stop being active. This summer, several Lions were able to compete at the Canada Summer Games, winning medals for Team Ontario.
The York community was fortunate enough to send six athletes to the games in Sherbrooke, Quebec earlier in August, including York’s 2012 male athlete of the year, David McKay. Joining McKay at the Games were his track and field teammates, Eric Brathwaite and Chris Preece, who will all be returning to the York’s track team next year.
Competing among the best athletes Canada has to offer, all three men were able to win a medal at the games, continuing their winning ways from last season, which helped the Lions claim a team bronze medal at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport championship.
“Height is not important as long as you’re scoring as many points for the team as you can.”
Brathwaite registered a throw of 15.28 m in the shot put — good enough for a bronze medal in the competition. Following suit, Preece added another bronze after scoring a 54.30 m in the hammer throw, earning his first ever medal at the national level.
Once again proving why he was deemed worthy of York male athlete of the year last season, McKay absolutely decimated his opponents, winning the gold medal in pole vault with a jump of 4.95 m — 45 cm higher than the silver medal jump.
McKay attributes his successes to York Lions’ pole vault coach Arye Rosenoer.
“My coach is very good at preparing me to be competition ready. Arye’s pole vault knowledge is hard to match, and he is a huge reason I am able to jump the way I do.”
Although to a casual fan it may all look the same, McKay notes that there is a distinct difference between an athlete’s mindset when jumping on a national level, compared to the CIS level.
“During the school year, the most important thing is to score as many points as possible. Height is not important as long as you’re scoring as many points for the team as you can,” he says. “During the outdoor circuit of meets, I become more concerned with the actual heights I’m jumping. Most provincial and national teams will select athletes based on their performances, not their rankings. Of course, at meets like Canada Summer Games, it becomes about winning again.”
The other three athletes who joined the trio of track stars were volleyball players Marco Dakic and Alexander Duncan-Thibault, and wheelchair athlete Michael Kahn.
Dakic and Duncan-Thibault finished fourth overall with Team Ontario, while Kahn added to the York medal count, winning silver in the 1500 m, as well as taking home gold in the 400 m.
With York students earning a total of five medals at the Canada Summer Games, Lions fans can only hope that this is a sign of events to come this upcoming season, and if McKay has it his way, he’ll do whatever he can to make this the case.
Ryan McCabe
Sports and Health Editor
