Huskies Track and Field Teams have mastered family feeling

The Huskies Women’s Team enjoys an eighth straight Canada West title.

Track and field might be mostly an individual sport, but you never feel alone when you are with the University of Saskatchewan Track and Field Teams.

It is something you can easily see during the Canada West Track and Field Championships the Huskies teams hosted this past February 20 and 21 at the Saskatoon Field House. Over the course of the two-day event, the Huskie athletes that weren’t competing in any track disciplines or were done competing were moving around to various other track disciplines to cheer on other members of the Huskies teams.

If you were on the floor of the Field House where all the track competition is taking place, it was seemingly impossible to not cross paths with a Huskie athlete. While it looks like the competition floor is large, it feels like the track events are happening right on top of each other as everything is actually taking place in a compressed space.

Thanks to the tight confines, Huskie athletes had no problems cycling from the running track, the sand pits used for long and triple jumps, the throwing area, the high jump area and the pole vault area. When a Huskie athlete sets to do an event, that athlete was usually accompanied by a vocal cheering section. That athlete was not alone.

When the competition came to a finish, the Huskies Women’s Team took home an eighth consecutive Canada West title finishing first in the team standings with 186 points. On the men’s side, the Huskies placed fourth in the team standings with 103 points, while the University of Alberta Golden Bears took top spot with 143.5 points.

Hannah Hagerty (#428) is cheered on by her Huskies teammates.

The family feeling on the Huskies track teams saw the strong team results come from a whole host of individual results.

On the women’s side, the Huskies took the top three spots in the 60-metre sprint. Kailee Woitas claimed top spot with a time of 7.46 seconds just edging Hannah Hagerty, who had a time of 7.47 seconds. Selena Keyowski came in third with a time of 7.51 seconds.

Hagerty, who is in her fifth and final season of eligibility, picked up a gold medal in the long jump with a leap of 6.30-metres, which was good for a Huskies record. The record she broke was set in 1990 by Vanessa Monar at 6.27-metres.

Along with the medals in the 60-metre and the long jump, Hagerty collected a gold medal as part of the Huskies 4 X 400-metre relay team that included Jaedyn McLaughlin, Grace Igbiki and Emma Egert. That foursome took top spot with a time of three minutes and 47.07 seconds.

Igbiki, and Egert would team up with Hailee Woodhouse and Keyowski to take the 4 X 200-metre relay in a time of 1:35.75 to set new Canada West Conference and Canadian indoor records.

Nicole Ostertag won the final of the 60-metre hurdles in a Canada West record time of 8.07 seconds. Olamide Olaloku took the triple jump with a Canada West record leap of 12.73-metres breaking an 18-year-old mark previously held by Janine Polischuk of the U of Regina Cougars.

The Huskies Women’s Team sweeps the podium in the 60-metre sprint.

Woodhouse, who would take honours as the Canada West rookie of the year, picked up a gold in the 300-metre race in a time of 38.34 seconds.

Jason Reindl, who is head coach of both Huskies Track and Field Teams, was named the Canada West Women’s coach of the year, and Huskies assistant Karlyn Wells took honours as the Canada West Women’s assistant coach of the year.

On the men’s side, Liam Oster captured gold in the 60-metre Hurdles with a time of 8.29 seconds. Ashwin Witt topped pole vault clearing a bar set at 4.85 metres, and Nathan Pinno took first in shot put with a throw of 16.60 metres.

Josh Tam placed second in the heptathlon collecting 4,899 points over seven events. Tam also took honours as the Canada West Men’s Community Service Award winner.

The Huskies have built a storied history in track and field. The Huskies Women’s Team has won 29 Canada West titles and seven U Sports championships, and the Huskies Men’s Team has captured 20 Canada West crowns and five U Sports titles.

Most of the Huskies history was built under the watch of the late Lyle Sanderson, who left an iconic legacy as head coach from 1965 to 2004. Reindl, who was a Huskies athlete in their U Sports team title wins in 2002 and 2005, became the Huskies head coach in 2017 and has played a key part in allowing the Huskies to continue to be one of Canada’s top track and field programs. The Huskies track athletes roll with a family togetherness you often find with the best squads in teams sports like baseball, basketball, football and hockey.

The Huskies Women’s Team does a conference champions parade.

Before the 2025-26 season comes to an end, the Huskies Teams head to the U Sports Track and Field Championships that start Thursday and run through to Saturday in Winnipeg, Man., at the James Daly Fieldhouse.

The track programs from the University of Guelph and the University of Western Ontario are expected to be the favourites to challenge for the Women’s and Men’s team titles.

While those squads are strong, you can expect the athletes from the Huskies Teams will leave their marks before all is said and done.

Draper era ends with Pandas

The Howie Draper era has come to a close at the University of Alberta.

On Monday, the U of Alberta Athletics Program announced that Howie Draper has decided the 2025-26 campaign was his last working behind the bench as head coach of the Pandas Women’s Hockey Team and has elected to retire. In the summer of 1997, he was hired on as the Pandas first head coach in team history as they embarked on the inaugural campaign in U Sports women’s hockey.

Since that start, Draper has been the Pandas head coach for all but one season of their existence. The born and raised Edmonton product has guided the Pandas to a record 15 Canada West Conference titles, eight U Sports national titles and the most wins in U Sports Women’s Hockey at 715.

“Though my passion for serving our student-athletes has always been and will continue to be strong, I feel like it’s time for the program to have a new coach who possesses fresh energy, ideas and enthusiasm to help bring the program back to national prominence,” said Draper in a release. “My experience as a student-athlete at the U of A was life changing, and I am grateful for the opportunity to have played a similar role for those within the Pandas Hockey program for the past 28 years.”

This past season Draper guided the Pandas to a 12-9-2-5 record where they finished fifth overall in Canada West. The Pandas season came to an end after they fell 2-1 in a best-of-three Canada West quarter-final series to the U of Manitoba Bisons. The Bisons have since advanced to the Canada West Championship Series.

One season earlier in 2024-25, the Pandas finished second overall in the Canada West regular season standings with a 24-3-0-1 mark. The Pandas would advance to the Canada West Championship Series to face the first place University of British Columbia Thunderbirds. U of A swept that best-of-three series 2-0 winning both games of the set in overtime with star forward Abby Soyko scoring the extra time winners in both contests.

At the 2025 U Sports Women’s Hockey Championship Tournament, the Pandas fell 3-0 to the host U of Waterloo Warriors in a quarter-final and finished the event with a 1-2 record.

Draper, who will turn 59-years-old on April 3, has been named the Canada West coach of the year eight times and the U Sports coach of the year four times in women’s hockey. He was the inaugural coach of the PWHL’s New York franchise in 2023-24 and picked the first ever regular season head coaching victory on that circuit.

Draper has been inducted into the Alberta Hockey and City of Edmonton Sports Hall of Fames. With the 2002-2007 Pandas hockey dynasty teams that won five national titles and six straight Canada West championships, Draper was inducted with those squads to the U of A Sports Wall of Fame. From the start of the 2001-02 campaign, Draper coached the Pandas through an undefended streak that lasted 110 games and included 109 wins, one tie and three U Sports championships.

He earned the University of Alberta Alumni Excellence Award in 2007.

In 2025, Draper was given the Hockey Canada Gordon Jukes Award for outstanding contribution to the development of amateur hockey in Canada at the national level.

To go along with his time with the Pandas, Draper has extensive international coaching experience. He guided Team Canada to a gold medal at the 2022 World Under-18 Championship in Wisconsin. He has also spent time as an assistant coach with Canada’s Women’s National Team and was the head coach of the 2013 Canadian FISU Team in Trentino, Italy.

Before his coaching days, Draper was a defenceman on the U of A Golden Bears Men’s Hockey Team from 1985 to 1990 playing under head coaches in the iconic Clare Drake and Billy Moores. Draper helped the Bears win the University Cup as U Sports champions in 1986, which was ultimately Drake’s last national championship win with the team. Draper also helped the Bears win the Canada West title in 1989.

The U of A will conduct a nation-wide search to find the next head coach of the Pandas hockey program later this spring.

Illness causes absence

It is never fun being sick.

I admit I have been down with a hanging around illness, which has kept me off here. My last previous post came back on February 18.

I got it around February 19, while cleaning up after a big snowfall here in Saskatoon. I thought I got over it on February 21, but it came back after finishing up the big snowfall clean up a day later.

The illness is now down to congestion and a cough. I suspect I am dealing with a bacterial infection. I tried to go see a doctor once to get an antibiotic to deal with this, but the medical clinic was overflowing with people who were under the weather, so I elected to try and ride this out.

I am pretty much over the illness now, so hopefully, I will have clear sailing ahead.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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From dancing ballet to track and field natural

Ostertag makes rapid rise to star status in heptathlon

Nicole Ostertag set to throw a javelin.

When it came to the sport of track and field, it wasn’t love at first sight for Nicole Ostertag.

Despite the fact both her parents competed in the sport at an elite level, Ostertag initially wanted to take part in a team sport. She didn’t take up track and field under her Grade 12 year at Holy Cross High School in the 2017-18 school year after her basketball season wrapped up with the Holy Cross High School Crusaders Senior Girls’ Team.

“I didn’t really like it (track and field) at the start,” said Ostertag. “I thought it was kind of boring.

“I wanted to play a team sport. Now that I have kind of dove a little deeper into track I love it. It was a definitely a good decision.”

Before she entered her Grade 12 year, Ostertag wasn’t focused on pursuing anything in the sports world. Her passion was ballet dancing. During her Grade 11 year, Ostertag was at The Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Over a period of about four years leading to the start of her Grade 12 school year at Holy Cross in September of 2017, she attended ballet schools in Calgary, Toronto, New York and Philadelphia. She ultimately decided to return home after losing her passion to do ballet and was trying to figure out what direction she wanted to go in next.

Her older brothers Evan and Daniel played for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Men’s Basketball Team in the early 2010s, so Nicole tried basketball first.

Her father, Dave, was a member of the U of S Huskies Men’s Track and Field team in the early and mid 1980s along with playing for the U of S Huskies Football Team in 1985, and her mother, Lesia (Pillipow) Ostertag, was a member of the U of S Huskies Women’s Track and Field Team in the middle of the 1980s.

Nicole Ostertag recently set a personal best in shot put.

Thanks to her parents’ backgrounds in track and field, Nicole decided to give the sport a try. While her first impression of the sport wasn’t the most upbeat, Ostertag won gold in high jump at the Saskatchewan high school provincials along with a bronze in hurdles and gold in the girls’ 4 X 100-metre relay.

Ostertag caught the eye Jason Reindl, who is the head coach of both U of S Huskies Track and Field Teams, and was recruited to follow in her parents’ footsteps. Her meetings with Reindl went so well that she decided to join the U of S Huskies Women’s Track and Field Team.

“I had been living away from home throughout high school, and I wanted to be at home for a while,” said Ostertag, who stands 5-foot-8. “It set up really well when Jason (Reindl) recruited me, because I knew I wanted to go to the U of S.

“When I first started, it was kind of just for fun and something to do. I started working at it a little more and had some success early on and just kind of built from there.”

Ostertag quickly found success in the U Sports ranks. During her rookie season with the Huskies in 2018-19, Ostertag finished third in the Canada West Conference in the women’s pentathlon, which includes the 60-metre hurdles, the 800-metre run, high jump, long jump and shot put.

Besides earning a bronze medal in the pentathlon, Ostertag helped the Huskies win the Canada West Conference women’s title for a second straight year.

At the U Sports Track and Field Championships that season, Ostertag against finished third in the women’s pentathlon.

Nicole Ostertag lands in the long jump sandpit.

In her second season with the Huskies in 2019-20, Ostertag took home the Canada West title in the women’s pentathlon helping the Huskies Women’s Team win a third straight Canada West Conference crown.

At the U Sports Track and Field Championships that season, Ostertag claimed second in the women’s pentathlon.

“It was almost meant to be,” said Ostertag. “It was an interesting transition going from like full on ballet into track.

“Some things transferred well, and there were definitely some skills from ballet that helped me out. There were definitely some habits I had to break as well. There were some challenges.”

While she takes part in her events as an individual, Ostertag enjoyed the team environment and the positive vibe the Huskies Track and Field teams have.

“There is the team aspect, but at the same time, you’re also competing against your teammates,” said Ostertag. “It is a little bit of a weird dynamic that way.

“Having the Huskie community is really helpful, but the outdoors it is much more individually focused. We work hard, but we have fun and we keep it light. That is kind of what you have to do to keep doing this for a long time.

“If you aren’t enjoying it and you are super serious all the time, you’re not going to last in this sport.”

Nicole Ostertag builds speed on her long jump approach.

Studying in the College of Kinesiology, Ostertag has been an Academic All-Canadian every year that she has been with the Huskies. During her third year in 2020-21, Ostertag earned the college’s undergraduate academic award as the top student in her third year of study with a 96 per cent average.

During the fall and winter terms of 2021-22, she continued to excel in the classroom posting a 95 per cent average.

Following the 2020 U Sports Track and Field Championships, the world came under the grips of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic causing shutdowns to occur in North America starting on March 11, 2020.

The 2020-21 Canada West Conference season and the U Sports Championships for that campaign were cancelled. Ostertag spent her time focusing on her training, while she continued her university studies.

A lower leg injury sidelined her for the 2021-22 U Sports season. She got back more into the swing of things with training and attending competitions this past April.

When Ostertag competes outdoors when she is not representing the Huskies in U Sports competitions, the 22-year-old takes part in the heptathlon. The women’s heptathlon includes the 200-metre race, the 800-metre race, the 100-metre hurdles, high jump, long jump, shot put and javelin throw.

“I’ve always kind of been like an all-around athlete,” said Ostertag. “I’ve kind of been OK at a lot of things.

“My dad did the decathlon, so it was just kind of a natural fit. I started out hurdling, and then I tried a bit of the jumps too. Those are kind of the main events that you need to be solid in to succeed in the combined events.

“The throws took a little longer to develop, because I had never thrown anything. I didn’t play ball growing up or anything like that. We didn’t use our arms in that way in ballet, so the throws were an adjustment.”

Nicole Ostertag gets airborne in the long jump.

Finishing second in the women’s heptathlon at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California, in April, Ostertag earned the opportunity to represent Canada at the Central America and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC) Combined Events Championship that was held this past May in Ottawa, Ont. That marked the first time Ostertag represented Canada in her track and field career.

At the NACAC Combined Events Championship, Osterag placed second in the women’s heptathlon setting personal bests in the 200-metre race, the 800-metre race, the 100-metre hurdles, high jump, long jump and javelin throw.

She proceeded to take part in the Canadian Track and Field Championships, which ran June 22 to 26 in Langley, B.C.

Unfortunately, Ostertag had to pull out part way through the women’s heptathlon due to a hamstring injury. Before getting injured, Ostertag completed the 200-metre race, the 100-metre hurdles, high jump and shot put.

She set personal bests in the 100-metre hurdles and shot put topping the women’s heptathlon field in those two disciplines.

Now, Ostertag has her sights set on competing at the Canada Games that will run August 6, to 21 in Niagara, Ont., before returning to the U of S to rejoin the Huskies and continue her academic studies in kinesiology. She has three years of U Sports eligibility remaining.

Ostertag plans to remain in track and field for a longer term, and enjoys training with U of S Huskies alumna Michelle Harrison. Harrison repeated as Canada’s women’s 100-metre hurdles champion at the Canadian Track and Field Championships, and she will represent Canada at the World Athletics Championships that run July 15 to 24 in Eugene, Oregon.

The two athletes train under Reindl’s coaching guidance, and Reindl has a number of different coaching roles with Athletics Canada. Ostertag hopes they all can keep representing Canada internationally in track and field for some time to come.

Nicole Ostertag wants to keep representing Canada in track and field.

“It is exciting having kind of a group of us from Saskatoon excelling in the track world,” said Ostertag. “I think it is exciting for Jason (Reindl) too.

“It is an accomplishment to represent Canada for sure.”

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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Track and Field teams clean up at Huskie Salute

The track teams hauled in the hardware at the Huskie Salute.

    Could another golden age for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Track and Field teams have been foreshadowed?

    On Friday night at TCU Place, Huskie Athletics handed out its Major 7 Awards at the annual Huskie Salute, and four of those honours were claimed by members of the school’s track and field teams. Julie Labach, who was part of both the women’s track and field and soccer teams for her fourth season, claimed the Mary Ethel Cartwright Trophy as the female athlete of the year.

    Kieran Johnston, who completed his second season of eligibility with the men’s track and field team, captured the E. Kent Phillips Trophy as male athlete of the year. Kendra Farmer from the women’s track and field team was named the winner of the Patricia Lawson Trophy as female rookie of the year. Jason Reindl, who was in his first year as head coach of both track squads, won the Colb McEwon Trophy as coach of the year.

Julie Labach, left, was the female athlete of the year.

    The Huskies women’s team won their 22^nd Canada West championship this past season, while the men’s team finished fifth in the conference. At their respective U Sports nationals, the Huskies women’s team finished fifth, while the men’s team finished 13^th.

    Looking back on the campaign, Labach said the highlight was helping the women’s team win the Canada West title for the first time since 2012.

    “Winning that Canada West banner with the team was really, really special,” said Labach, who stands 5-foot-7. “That was the first banner that we won since I have been on the team.

    “Coming from soccer, that is what I miss sometimes about track. You don’t really get that whole team atmosphere. It really felt like we were all in it together and like every point counted and that was really great.”

Julie Labach gives a speech at the Huskie Salute.

    Labach had a memorable campaign personally. As a striker, she helped the Huskies women’s soccer team finish second in the Prairie Division of the Canada West Conference with a 7-3-4 record before falling in a quarter-final match in the playoffs 3-0 to the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds.

    The 21-year-old graduate from Saskatoon’s Aden Bowman Collegiate had a stellar season on in track and field. At the Canada West championships, she claimed gold in the 1,000-metre and 600-metre races and won silver medals in the 1,500-metre race and the 4 X 400-metre relay.

    At the U Sports nationals, Labach won gold in the 1,000-metre race and bronze in the 600-metre race.

    Before the U Sports campaign started, Labach won gold in the 800-metre race and silver in the 1,500-metre race at the Canada Summer Games, which ran July 28, 2017 to August 13, 2017 in Winnipeg, Man.

Kieran Johnston, right, was the male athlete of the year.

    “It was honestly like a dream year,” said Labach. “The momentum kind of started in the summer when I was at Canada Games. I won a gold and silver medal there.

    “It just carried forward into the soccer season. The soccer team had a really great regular season. Unfortunately, we didn’t really go as far as we wanted to in playoffs, but that happens sometimes.

    “Coming into track right off the bat from that first meet, everything just kind of fell into place. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

    She said her most memorable individual moment came winning gold in the 1,000-metre race at the U Sports nationals, which were held in March in Windsor, Ont.

    “I do a lot of different events, but the 1,000, which is the one I won gold in, is one of my favourites,” said Labach. “I couldn’t have written that race better than it went.

    “It was like magic. It was really special.”

    Being named the Huskies female athlete of the year provided an unexpected topper.

Kendra Farmer, right, was the female rookie of the year.

    “It was amazing,” said Labach. “I got a little bit nervous when I got up there and saw everyone.

    “It was really, really special. It is really just an honour. There are so many great girls nominated. I means a lot.”

    Labach said she wasn’t sure if she would return to use her fifth year of eligibility. The business student has been accepted into the law school program at both the U of S and the University of Toronto.

    No matter what she decides, she believes the track team can relive its storied past. The women’s team has won seven national titles and the men’s team has claimed five national titles. The last U Sports national championship win for both track teams came in 2005.

    “I think the future is really looking good,” said Labach. “Jason Reindl, this is his first year as our head coach.

    “He has really brought a lot of like life and energy back into the team. We said that our goal like at the beginning of the season was to win a Canada West banner, and we accomplished that (on the women’s side).

    “I think next is a national title. That is what we are aiming for so figures crossed.”

Kendra Farmer gives a speech to the crowd at the Huskie Salute.

    Kaitlin Willoughby, who is the graduating fifth-year star captain of the Huskies women’s hockey team, captured the Valerie Girsberger Trophy as the all-around female athlete of the year for excellence in sport, in the classroom and for leadership. Willoughby likely delivered the night’s most stirring speech highlighting the other nominees for the award she won and telling how much her time at the U of S meant to her emotionally and how important her support system was that surrounded her in family and friends. The speech ended with a bit of humour.

    The humour part included giving a shout out to her boyfriend from the Huskies men’s hockey team in Parker Thomas, who is a fourth-year grinding forward. The two have dated for the majority of their time at U of S. Willoughby, who is the second all-time regular season leading scorer in the history of the Huskies women’s team, said the pair always had a bet on who would score the most points each season and that she always won that bet.

Jason Reindl, right, was the coach of the year for Huskie Athletics.

    Kendall McFaull, who is the graduating fifth-year captain of the Huskies men’s hockey team, claimed the Rusty MacDonald Cup as the all-around male athlete of the year for excellence in sport, in the classroom and citizenship.

    Dylan Mortensen of the Huskies men’s volleyball team won the Howard Nixon Trophy as the male rookie of the year. The recipient of the Dr. Walter Hader Award as student trainer of the year was Rachel Mamer from the football team.
    A tribute video was shown for Lyle Sanderson, who was the legendary Huskies track and field coach who passed away in February.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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    If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.