Five Varsity Blues to compete at Canadian championships

TORONTO - Five University of Toronto Varsity Blues will vie for a national title at the 2009 Canadian track and field championships and world trials, June 25-28, at Varsity Centre.

Sarah Boyle (Scarborough, Ont.), Jason Wurster (Stevensville, Ont.), Doug Creighton (Toronto), Michael Del Monte (Guelph, Ont.) and Kate Ruediger (Oakville, Ont.) will represent the Varsity Blues, while 16 members of the University of Toronto Track Club (UTTC) are also set to compete this weekend.

Boyle led the Blues women's track and field team this season with a gold medal in high jump at both the OUA and CIS championships. The fourth-year Faculty of Physical Education and Health student was also the recipient of U of T's 2008-09 Clara Benson award, given annually to the female student-athlete, in her graduating year, for outstanding ability in athletics, scholarship and values interfaculty and community involvement.

Wurster also had an impressive 2008-09 season, winning the OUA gold medal and CIS silver medal in pole vault. Named an OUA first team all-star and CIS second team all-Canadian, Wurster set the second best height in Canadian history (5.50m) at a meet in Rehlingen, Germany, which not only earned him a trip to the 2009 Summer Universiade in Belgrade, Serbia but also met the B standard for the world championships as well.

Creighton will also compete alongside Wurster in the men's pole vault competition. The arts and science major was sixth at the OUA championships this season and went on to place just off the podium at the CIS championships, vaulting 4.70m, good for a fourth-place finish.

The men's CIS 1500m silver medalist at the inaugural Festival of Excellence, Del Monte will be battling for a top spot in the 800m, while Ruediger, the 2008-09 OUA women's 300m bronze medalist, is set to compete in both the 200m and 400m sprints.

2008 Olympian Massimo Bertocchi highlights the group of UTTC members that will also be in attendance at the national championships. Others include heptathletes Jenne Bell and Maddie Buttinger, decathlete Tyler Koskenoja, Rayann Chin in shot put and discus, Brent Roubos in the discus, high jumper Mark Dillon, triple jumper Christopher Martin, sprinter Natalie Geiger (200m), Sarah Katz and Michael Trnkus in the 400m, Daniel Chan in the 400m hurdles, Erika Jacobs in the 1500m, Robert Kitz and Spencer Morrison in the 5000m, and pole vaulter Kyle Tomasello.

For information regarding the Canadian championships and worlds selection trials, June 25-28, at Varsity Centre, visit www.athletics.ca/toronto2009. Tickets are available for the Trials by going to www.ticketbreak.com or by calling 1-866-9-GET