Foes during the OUA (Ontario University Athletics) indoor track and field season, local athletes often reconvene back home during the summer, a time where school-based rivalries give way to mutual support.
"We have a great training group here," said Nolan Kuhlberg, fresh off completing his second year of Bio-Chemistry studies at Wilfrid Laurier University and representing the school in both the track and field and cross-country disciplines.
Wednesday night at the Laurentian track, Kuhlberg took first place in the Men's Open 800m at the final Twilight Meet of the summer in a personal best time of 1:54.74, less than a second ahead of Timmins native Ian McLean (1:55.36) who runs for the University of New Brunswick.
This latest effort for Kuhlberg came just two weeks after he registered the best clocking in the same event (1:55.25), in one of the fastest 800m races seen in these parts in quite a while, with locals Brandon Radey (1:56.05), T.J. Green (Manitoulin - 1:57.40) and Adam Urso (1:58.79) all right on his heels.
"Getting a chance to come home and train with the guys, with everyone getting better is such a nice feeling," added Kuhlberg. "Everyone is sub-two now in the 800m, which is pretty awesome."
As for his performance last night, Kuhlberg acknowledged that it provides a very nice lead-in to the OUA cross-country season in the fall.
"It's a pretty big confidence boost going into the university season if you can come out here on a windy day and race well," said Kulberg.
While he has raced anything from the 200m dash to a 10km race in recent times, Kuhlberg noted that his favourite distance these days is likely the indoor 600m event, the same race in which he broke the WLU school record as a freshman.
Other results of note included:
Women 100m metre Open1st - Jaya MacDonald - 12.15
Men 100 metres Open
1st - Abdul Abiodun - 11.05
2nd - Jacob Paille - 11.06
Women 200 metre Open
1st - Melina Doiron - 24.42
Men 200 metre Open
1st - Josh Kim - 23.37
Mixed 1500 metre Open
1st - Braeden Estabrooks - 4:10.97
2nd - Alexandre Fishbein-Ouimette - 4:12.31
Top Female - Lily Bignucolo - 4:42.00
Mixed 400 metre Open
1st - Adam Urso - 51.38
2nd - Corey Lacroix - 52.66
