Chris Zuk, Bison Athletics

WINNIPEG - The Manitoba Bisons hosted the ninth annual Bison Classic track and field two day meet on Friday, February 2 and Saturday, February 3, 2018 at the James Daly Fieldhouse (U of Manitoba campus) and won the combined team title for the fourth consecutive year.

Manitoba finished with 310.50 points in the combined team scoring and distanced second place University of Alberta, who ended up with 255. The ninth year of the event boasted over 350 athletes from six different universities (Alberta, Lethbridge, Saskatchewan, Regina, Lakehead and Manitoba).

The prestigious track and field event (that was formerly called the Cargill Games) had numerous top individual performances plus relay teams performed well by the host Bisons.

Top Bison female performances at the Bison Classic included four first place finishes. Fifth year Sasanie Wanigasekarawon the women's triple jump (11.62m) while third year Tayo Babalola won the women's 300m (40.40) and fourth year Brooke-Lynn Boyd was first in the women's shot put (12.52m) while fifth year Rebekah Sass placed first in women's 600m (1:35.62). On the men's side, fifth year Abduselam Yussuf won the men's 3000m (8:53.12).

Overall, there were 21 individual Top 3 results by Bison participants (5 – 1st place; 9 – 2nd place; 7 –3rd place) during the Classic meet. The Bison relays teams were first in women's 4x800m and men's 4x800m and second in women's 4x200m and men's 4x200m and 4x400m teams.

Bison track and field head coach Claude Berube stated about the meet and the performances, "It was a very good two days and happy with overall efforts of both teams. Both of our women's relay teams ran well including all three of the men's relay teams. Also, we increased the number of our travel team. Overall, pleased with the meet and the team win plus our strong individual results. I am excited for the rest of the season and for being the host of the 2018 Canada West Track and Field Championships in February."

Bison Notes: Babalola and Boyd were two-time winners at the Bison Classic while Sass, Wanigasekara and Yussuf were first time individual champs. Bisons are ranked fifth for men's and tenth for women's team in the nation in latest U SPORTS Top 10 rankings before the Bison Classic results.

Full meet results: http://athleticsmanitoba.com/events/RealTimeResults/BisonClassic/