Kodiaks indoor track begins the championship chase

Jan. 23, 2020 – Lethbridge College’s indoor track team is ready to lace up the runners as the ACAC season begins this weekend. The Kodiaks travel to MacEwan University in Edmonton for ACAC Running Room Grand Prix #1. It is one of two official ACAC events ahead of March’s conference championships.

Both Kodiaks teams are rebuilding after seasons that ended short of the podium in 2019. The women’s team finished fifth last season, while the men’s team placed sixth. The two clubs earned just a single medal between them – a bronze in the women’s 300m by now-graduated Danna DeGagne.

Head coach Simon Schaerz, who is in his second season leading the indoor track program, has focused on bringing in exciting freshmen to help compliment the returning core of veterans on both the women’s and men’s rosters. 

“Millie Stafford on the women’s team, and James Marriner and Isaiah Bean on the men’s side, are all freshmen who I feel could each crack the top eight in their respective events,” says Schaerz. “Both teams should have the depth and potential to push for the podium at the ACAC championships.” 

The Kodiaks will also be bolstered by the addition of a handful of dual-sport athletes. Marriner is a member of the Kodiaks men’s volleyball team, but he could be a medal threat for the indoor track team in the 300m and 600m events. The women’s team has added two members of the back-to-back ACAC bronze medalist women’s soccer team in Jasmin Salmon (third year, Business Administration, Medicine Hat) and Christine Moser (third year, Massage Therapy, Whitehorse). Salmon was an ACAC south division all-star this season, while Moser was a division all-star and the south division MVP. Both will run in the 600m and 1,000m events.

“I've only seen them compete once and it was essentially right after they had joined us,” says Schaerz of Salmon and Moser, who will both also compete for the Kodiaks in futsal this spring. “I think they've come a long way since then, figuring out how the sport works, how to train properly, how to pace properly. I’m very excited to see how those two athletes do.”

The Kodiaks begin the ACAC season with Running Room Grand Prix #1 on Saturday. Action begins at 8:30 a.m. at MacEwan University in Edmonton. Grand Prix #2 will take place on March 7 in Red Deer, followed by the ACAC Championships on March 20 and 21 in Edmonton.