Jonathon Podbielski is leading the way for the University of Regina Cougars’ Track and Field team ahead of this week’s national championships.
At last week’s Canada West Track and Field Conference Championships, Podbielski took home three gold medals.
“[It’s] an upgrade from [two golds] last year,” he told CTV News. “I take it one [event] at a time. I don’t think about the next one. And locked in on each one while it’s on.”
The long-distance savant crossed the finish line first in each of the individual events he ran over the two-day trials.
“I’m always thinking about winning,” Podbieski said. “Always thinking about getting to that line first before the next guy beside me or behind me, or in front of me or wherever he is.”
Not only did he win each event, his 1500m race time of 3:45.92 was good enough to set a new conference record.
“Last year, I was two hundredths of a second off that exact record,” he said. “I had a year to reflect on it, to think about it and think about how I can improve for [this] year.”
“He really wanted that [record],” coach Stephen Davis said. “He wanted to play it safe in the 1000m. And then the 3000m, really save the energy for the first three quarters of the race.”
“That allowed him to be pretty fresh for the 1500m and race against the clock,” Davis added.
Podbielski was also named the Canada West Men’s Track Athlete of the Year.
Pritchard shines
Podbielski was not the only Regina Cougar taking home hardware.
Multi-sport athlete Shelaine Pritchard filled her neck with medals as well. Winning gold in the women’s shot put along with three silver medals in the long jump, 60m hurdles and 4 x 200m team relay.
“It is nerve racking when you’re in that top spot and then other people still have opportunities to push you out of that spot,” she said. “It’s also motivating because you want to take that medal. So, it just pushes me to do the best that I can do.”
Pritchard usually competes in the pentathlon, but opted to compete in the individual events instead at the conference weekend.
“It’s definitely hard on the body,” she said. “And I also feel like it’s hard to get in the mindset to do every single event. It can be a lot.”
That didn’t stop her from setting a new school record in shot put, throwing 13.75m en route to the gold.
“It feels special,” Pritchard said. “I’m very proud. I feel like I worked really hard this season, so it definitely feels like that hard work paid off.”
Cougars gearing up for Windsor
Now the focus turns to the U Sports National Track and Field Championships this week.
“That’s the main goal – to win a national championship,” Podbielski said. “Being the best in the country would be absolutely spectacular to accomplish a goal like that.”
“It’d be awesome if I could podium for at least one [event], maybe more,” Pritchard said. “I have a lot on my plate. I’m doing a lot of events.”
“But I think it’ll be fun. I’m excited,” she added.
Davis and Podbielski were tight lipped on their strategy headed into the meet.
“It’s going to be more tactical now,” Davis admitted. “It’s not going to be easy because the competition steps up a notch when you go to nationals. You’ve got some people that are as good and, arguably in some cases, might be a little bit better on paper.”
“But I’m never not going to bet against Jon. He’s so determined,” he added.
Podbielski and Pritchard looked forward to relishing the opportunity to compete alongside their teammates at the highest level of university track and field.
“People lose sight of the fact it takes a village and we can’t do this on our own,” Podbielski said. “Having these training partners all throughout the season means a lot.”
“It is really nice to be a part of a team that is so very dedicated,” Pritchard added. “It’s definitely different going to U Sports with such a small team, but it’s also nice we’ll still have each other to cheer us on and support us.”
Having a smaller team poses the Cougars as a bit of an underdog, according to Davis.
“We’ll have relay teams involved too, which allows you to have more people there,” he said. “We are a pretty small school relative to some of the other schools and it gives us a cheering squad there because we get outnumbered pretty quick.”
Hosted by Wilfred Laurier University, the U Sports National Track and Field Championships run March 6-8 in Windsor, Ont.
