Celia Markovinovic (Puslinch/), honoured with the U SPORTS Community Service Award earlier in the week, set her sights on adding another high jump medal to her already remarkable season to finish it with a flourish.

Celia entered the U SPORTS Championships as the 8th ranked athlete in the high jump, with her personal best jump of 1.69m set twice this season. Celia entered each height with confidence, clearing heights on her first attempts at 1.60m, 1.63m, 1.66m, 1.69m and even 1.72m, which was a new personal best indoors! Because of her clean attempts, she was tied for first place with one other athlete throughout. She failed her first attempt at 1.75m, but the other two remaining jumpers did as well. On her second attempt, she cleared the bar at 1.75m for what would now be a 6cm personal best. Her Manitoba hometown opponent also made the same improvements and cleared 1.78m. Celia claimed the silver medal with honour. Celia's jump of 1.75m moved her up to the 3rd best in Warriors history, ahead of former teammate and two-time athlete of the year Hannah Blair (Waterloo/Waterloo). 

Owen Babcock (Kitchener/) went into the 600m as the third-ranked athlete. He executed his race plan and ran a great race, finishing in his second best time ever, another sub 1:20 minute run at 1:19.40, finishing 3rd in his heat by 0.03 seconds. With only 6 athletes qualifying for the final, he had to wait anxiously for the two heats behind him to know if he would qualify for his final 600m race of the season. Unfortunately, it was a day where each heat had clean races, and all competitors stood up to the plate, running personal bests and incredibly fast times, bumping Owen out of the final by 0.01 seconds. An agonizing result, but 7th place nonetheless, picking up 2 points for the men's team. These were the fastest 600m qualifying races in U SPORTS history, with nine men running under the 80-second mark.

Only 30 minutes later, Owen lined up with his 4x200m relay teammates,  Lucas Baranoski (Waterloo/), Ben Lemon (Waterloo/), and Dominik Manouchehr (Ajax/), hoping to qualify for the final Saturday. The men placed 2nd in their heat, just missing the 8-team final with their time of 1:30.05 finishing 10th. This was their second-fastest time this season. Owen Babcock (Kitchener/) ran the fastest split for the team (by 0.08 seconds) in a personal best time of 21.6. His relay leg is now tied for the third fastest in Warrior history. 

Events continued Friday with team captain Hillary Clark (Elliot Lake/) in the 1000m. Hillary went into the meet as the 9th-ranked athlete in the event. In a straight final with 12 women, the pack went out slow. Hillary decided to make the race honest and charged from the middle of the pack to the front, looking incredible and holding a steady pace. In an exhilarating finish, she finished a strong 6th in a time of 2:49.85 for her third best time ever and picked up three points for the Warriors women's team.

Hillary returned for the final day of competition, competing in the 1500m, where she ranked 7th. At a similar start to the 1000m race the day before, she had nothing to lose when the pack decided no one wanted to lead. With nothing to lose, Hillary dashed to the front to situate herself in a position that she hoped would mean she'd finish ahead of her ranking once again. Another exciting finish, Hillary's move proved to work in her favour as she crossed the line in a close finish for 5th place, just 0.08 second off 4th place in a two-second personal best time of 4:27.08. Her time marks her at the 4th fastest Warrior of all time and she currently has six of the top 10 best performances in the 1000m for the Warriors.

In the Warriors' final event of the season, the men's 4x400m team entered as the 8th-ranked team. Ben Smith (Guelph/) joined Baranoski, Lemon, and Babcock in their pursuit of redemption from the 4x200m on Friday night.
The men raced with heart and kept themselves in the running, bouncing back and forth for the lead with Toronto the entire time. At the final handoff, Lucas Baranoski (Waterloo/) handed off to Owen in an incredibly close 1st place, but Owen was up against the 300m U SPORTS Champion. The men traded off the lead throughout the final two laps, and he dipped at the line, winning the heat over the Varsity Blues by 0.01 seconds. With the fast heat of 6 teams still running, the Warriors had to wait to learn their fate. Ultimately, they finished 4th overall, just off the podium. Owen had a personal best split time in the 400m with 48.1, the fastest for the Warriors.