On April 25, the Queen’s Distance Track Team opened their 2025 season travelling across the border to Canton, New York, participating in the St. Lawrence Intercollegiate Athletics Twilight Meeting at St. Lawrence University.
Away from their usual Canadian tracks, the Gaels competed against a pool primarily consisting of NCAA Division III athletes, including schools such as St. Lawrence University to Clarkson University.
The Gaels treated the meet as a largely informal opener, fielding a team of just eight athletes training in Kingston for the summer—far fewer than their roster consisting of over forty runners. Still, their strong performances offered a promising glimpse of what’s to come this season.
Olivia Hendrikx, MD ’27, won the Women’s 800m with a time of 2:22.03, a solid eight seconds ahead of the runner-up; her award wasn’t a trophy but rather some local cheese and chocolate milk.
“The competition is a little different than what we usually get in U Sports, but it was cool to be able to go there, get the season started, and come out with a positive race result,” said Hendrikx in an interview with The Journal.
“Even though they didn’t know who I was, they were all really nice and happy that we were coming down to race against them. I think it was a cool thing. I was able to talk and meet a lot of new people, so that was fun,” Hendrikx said.
Owen Danby, ArtSci ’27, came out of the 3000m steeplechase with a strong win. With a blazing time of 9:36.77, he shattered the meet record—finishing nearly a full minute ahead of the runner-up.
Danby explains that the steeplechase is not an event typically seen during the Gaels’ outdoor season but took the opportunity to participate and go for the meet record. “I thought I’d go for it at least. I wanted to just set a good pace and try to keep it up as much as possible,” Danby said in an interview with The Journal.
At the top of the Men’s 5000m podium stood Angus Skinner, ConEd ’28, with a time of 15:17.31. Skinner pulled away from the pack in the second half, finishing ten seconds ahead of the runner-up.
Katherine Taylor, ArtSci ’25, finished second in the Women’s 1500m with a time of 4:50.04.
In a thrilling Men’s 1500m race, Jude Wheeler-Dee, ArtSci ’26, claimed a hard-fought second place with an impressive 3:43.77, just behind St. Lawrence’s Nick Lyndaker, the reigning NCAA D-III Mile Champion. Close on his heels, was Tanner Hueglin, ArtSci ’26, who secured third with a strong 3:48.68. Roman Mironov, Comm ’25, powered through to finish fourth at 3:59.97, while Ian Mccosham, Kin ’27, rounded out the top six with a solid 4:08.54.
Cross Country and Distance Track Head Coach, Mark Bomba, was pleased with his team’s performance at the event and raved about the environment in Canton. “For us, the St. Lawrence meet is a good opener. It’s a great environment, a great vibe,” Bomba said in an interview with The Journal.
“We were going down there pretty blind in the sense of being on the track much and seeing what worked. It was more like, go down there, have some fun, get a race under our belt, and go from there. But yeah, I mean, everyone who went down ran good races,” Bomba said.
While not a part of Queen’s official collegiate season, Bomba explained how the event was a nice start to the team’s outdoor club season.
“The message for us when we go to that meet is just trying to create a good environment for the rest of the season. We found that it’s really productive,” Bomba said.
When asked about returning to the Canton meets, Bomba didn’t hesitate: “Oh, yeah. We will.”
The Gaels have laid down a marker this summer and are ready to hit the collegiate season running. Keep an eye on the team—they’re just getting started.
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