VANCOUVER – John Gay's win in the 3,000-metre steeplechase at California-Irvine's Steve Scott Invitational on Friday night highlighted a weekend of excellent results for UBC's track and field athletes.
 
The second-year runner from Kelowna, B.C., topped the field with a personal-best time of 8:53.38. The next closest competitor was more than 20 seconds behind at 9:14.12. Gay's time on Friday was also the fastest recorded by an NAIA athlete this season in the steeplechase.
 
Gay also ran a personal best in the 1,500 metres (3:52.02) en route to a 13th-place finish.
 
Also at the Steve Scott, Katherine Tourigny (Vancouver) was ninth overall in the women's 400-metre hurdles with a time of 1:02.68. That qualified her for the NAIA national meet later this month. Sarah Korpach (White Rock, B.C.) placed 11th in the 400 hurdles (1:03.18) and 18th in the 800 (2:13.59) in Irvine.
 
Kirsten Lee (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) ran a personal best in the 1,500 metres (4:34.38). Rookie Kenneth Schultze (West Vancouver) was ninth in the men's 400 hurdles (56.65) and Lukas Jarron (Ajax, Ont.) was 12th in the 800 metres (1:51.88).
 
The times for Korpach, Lee and Jarron were all better than the NAIA 'A' standard but they had all qualified for the NAIA meet in their respective events coming into the weekend.
 
A larger contingent of athletes represented UBC at the Western Washington Ralph Vernacchia Track & Field Meet on Saturday in Bellingham.
 
Among the highlights:
 
Natalia Hawthorn (Bracebridge, Ont.) won the women's 800 metres in 2:14.70 to make the NAIA 'B' standard. Six T-Birds were inside the top nine in this event. Sandra Kilmartin (Salmon Arm) was third in 2:15.29 to also meet the 'B' standard.
 
Other 'B' standard performances included rookies Enid Au (Vancouver) in the 5,000 metres (ninth – 17:36.71) and Nicola Symonds (Calgary), who was seventh in the 1,500 (4:42.38). On the men's side, Kieran Halliday (Whitehorse) made the 'B' standard with a fifth-place time of 9:31.41 in the 3,000-m steeplechase.
 
Madelyn Brunt (Victoria, B.C.) was second in the 3,000-m steeplechase, posting a time of 11:05.10, which is better than the national 'A' standard but she had previously booked her spot at the NAIA event in the steeplechase.