Ostertag rediscovers fun in track and field

Standout athlete almost quit sport due to rough couple of years

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

Nicole Ostertag helped the Huskies win a Canada West title.

Nicole Ostertag was oh so close to hanging up her track and field spikes for good.

Having built a reputation as being one of the best combined events athletes to come out of Saskatoon in some time, Ostertag went through a 2024 season where she didn’t compete at all due to injuries and illness. She returned to action in early 2025 only to have another setback at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California, in April of that year.

“I hurt myself again, and that was really tough for me,” said Ostertag. “We were in California getting some early competitions in, and I took off funny in high jump and injured my knee.

“That was just devastating, and that was when I kind of decided that I had enough. My body seemed to be rejecting it, so I took a long break.”

The 25-year-old returned to the University of Saskatchewan to begin studying in the Master of Physical Therapy program. At that point, Ostertag considered rejoining the Huskies Women’s Track and Field Team.

She built a lot of great memories in her time with the Huskies that included setting the Huskies women’s program record for most points obtained in the pentathlon at 3,996 back in 2020. That record still stands to this day.

Ostertag approached Jason Reindl, who is the head coach of both Huskies women’s and men’s track and field teams, with the notion of making a possible return.

“I was ready to hang up my spikes and end my track career,” said Ostertag, who stands 5-foot-8. “I started my master’s of physical therapy at the university this year.

Nicole Ostertag makes a hurdles practice run on July 7, 2023.

“I realized I still had three years of eligibility left with the Huskies, and I decided I wanted to start going to the track again. I just did hurdles, and I’ve been only training three days a week. I started having fun again, and things have been going really well.”

At the Panda Open held this past February 6 and 7 in Edmonton, Alta., Ostertag broke the Huskies women’s team record in the 60-metre hurdles running in a time of 8.12 seconds. The old mark of 8.15 seconds run back in 2020 was held by one of her best friends in Michelle Harrison, who represented Canada running the women’s 100-metre hurdles in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.

Harrison’s record came in a gold medal winning race in the 2020 U Sports Track and Field Championships.

On the first day of this year’s Canada West Conference Track and Field Championships on February 20, Ostertag won the conference title in the 60-metre women’s hurdles running the championship final in a Canada West record time of 8.07 seconds edging fifth-year veteran Sienna MacDonald of the U of Calgary Dinos. MacDonald, who won both the Canada West and U Sports titles in the women’s 60-metre hurdles in 2024 and 2025, held the previous Canada West conference record in that event, running a time of 8.08 seconds in a preliminary race earlier in the day.

“It was so much fun, especially this year having Sienna MacDonald from Calgary to compete against,” said Ostertag, who also helped the Huskies women’s team win an eighth straight Canada West Conference team title. “She is a force, and she has been putting down crazy hurdle times for the last couple of years.

“To be able to kind of dethrone her, this is the first time she has been beaten in a while, it was fun. We are really good friends. We keep it light, so just having that energy between us is quite unique.”

On the second day of the U Sports Track and Field Championships on March 6 in Winnipeg, Man., Ostertag again edged MacDonald in championship race of the women’s 60-metre hurdles. Ostertag posted another Huskies program record time of 8.05 seconds to just edge MacDonald at 8.06 seconds. The Huskies women’s team finished second overall in the team points race at U Sports nationals, which wrapped up on March 7.

Nicole Ostertag, right, and Michelle Harrison are great friends.

Ostertag credited Reindl with helping her get back on track on the track. Reindl is well known for his ability to help athletes get healthy and stay healthy and perform their best in big competitions.

When he became the Huskies head coach in 2017, Reindl helped Harrison return to the sport and the Huskies after she became disillusioned having battled numerous injuries. Harrison went on to run better than she ever did piling up numerous accomplishments in making it to the 2024 Summer Olympics.

“I’m in a very similar position as Michelle (Harrison) was all those years ago, where she just decided to go back to school and do track for fun,” said Ostertag. “I came into this season just wanting to have fun, and Jason (Reindl) was fully accepting of that.

“He kept me limited to three practices a week. He would not let me over do it.”

Reindl said the key to bringing back the fun for Ostertag in track and field was to be intelligent with her training, which helps with confidence and shows through in competitions.

“I think it just goes into my, you know, kind of coaching philosophy,” said Reindl. “We are going to make smart decisions and really look at long term high performance.

“If we can stay healthy and get quality work in, there really are no limits. That is what Michelle (Harrison’s) kind of pathway was, and Nicole (Ostertag) is you know in this non-combined events world at the moment doing exceptionally well. We’re just excited to keep on working with her and seeing how far we can take this.”

Reindl said Ostertag has always been an extremely hard worker with a positive attitude. The coach added the star athlete’s day-to-day effort has allowed her to have the success she has had. For the Huskies as a team, Reindl said it has been big to have Ostertag back.

“It is awesome,” said Reindl. “She is such an exceptional athlete.

Nicole Ostertag throw a shot during the 2023 Saskatchewan provincials.

“Her ability to show what elite level high performance is like on the track and in training is just a huge positive for our team and program and our training group. It is just awesome.”

While she ended up with the Canada West record in the 60-metre hurdles, Ostertag entered the season with the desire to break Harrison’s Huskies record in that event.

“That was my goal coming into this year,” said Ostertag. “It kind of played into my motivation to come back.

“I wanted to go get Michelle (Harrison’s) record, because she is such a good friend to me, but we’re always trying to one-up each other. She is like one of the best hurdlers that Canada has seen, so to break her record is pretty darn special.”

Harrison stepped away from track and field after giving birth to a baby daughter named Izzy and starting a family with her husband, Graeme, in June of 2025. Ostertag and Harrison trained together for a number of years since the Track and Field Track opened on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds in 2019, which helped develop their friendship.

In the summer of 2023, their training group included the pride of Borden in Savannah Sutherland, who made the final of the 400-metre women’s hurdles in the 2024 Summer Olympics, and star heptathlete Madisson Lawrence from Winnipeg, Man. That provided a lasting memory for Ostertag.

“It was so much fun just having so many elite women training together, and our coach Jason (Reindl) kept things light and made the hard training days feel a little bit easier,” said Ostertag. “I’m hoping that if Michelle (Harrison) makes her comeback that we can train together once again, because that was pretty special.”

With that said, Ostertag is doing her best to stay in the moment and enjoy the day to day of the sport of track and field. Still, she admits she has had visions of getting back into combined events or maybe pushing for the next Summer Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles, California.

Nicole Ostertag, right, enjoys working with Jason Reindl, left.

“The thought has definitely crossed my mind,” said Ostertag. “When I came into this season, school was my priority, and track was just something I was going on the side.

“I did not expect to run this fast, but now that the joy has come back, I am starting to get the itch to start combined events again and maybe make a run at the 2028 Olympics. We will see. Time will tell.”

Reindl follows ultra-busy family track and field legacy

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

Jason Reindl is one of Canada’s best track and field coaches.

In track and field especially on a coaching front, Jason Reindl seemingly does it all.

The 40-year-old has served as the head coach of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Track and Field and Cross-Country Teams since the start of the 2017-18 campaign. Reindl can coach athletes as young as eight years old all the way to 90-years-old. No matter who he coaches, Reindl is driven by optimism of what could possibly be.

“I’d say one of the biggest things is the future isn’t written,” said Reindl, who basically lives at the Track and Field Track on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds during the spring and summer months coaching athletes. “I’ve learned that no matter how much success or lack of success someone had today, the unknowns of the future are kind of what drive me to kind of push to help these individuals.”

Reindl began coaching in his teenage years while attending high school at Evan Hardy Collegiate and still competing in track and field as an athlete. He began coaching one day a week on Thursdays with the Saskatoon Track Club working with athletes around the age of 10. Reindl attended various coaching courses on weekends during his high school days leading to his graduation from Evan Hardy in 2002.

Since the start of January 1, 2024, his life schedule has been a whirlwind.

He coached his Huskies team through that time and saw the Women’s Track and Field Team win Canada West Conference Championships in February of 2024 and this past February for a run of seven straight conference title victories.

The Huskies Women’s 4 X 800-metre relay team won a Canada West title in February 2024 and a U Sports Championship in March of 2024 and was named Sask Sport’s Team of the Year for 2024 this past January. On Saturday, the Huskies Women’s Track and Field Team captured the bronze medal at the U Sports Track and Field Championships in Windsor, Ontario.

Reindl has been heavily involved with the Running Wild Athletic Club in Saskatoon and Saskatchewan Aboriginal Track and Field. He holds assistant coach roles with Saskatoon Track Club and supports Huskies athletes with Riversdale Athletics Club.

With Saskatchewan Athletics, Reindl is the master coach developer for the province, which is a fairly large role when to comes to coaching education helping future coaches. He was the personal coach for Michelle Harrison at the Summer Olympics in Paris that ran from July 26, 2024 to August 11, 2024.

Jason Reindl has coached track and field since high school.

Reindl was the sprints, hurdles and relays coach with Team Canada for World Under-20 Championships that ran August 27 to 31, 2024 in Lima, Peru. 

On the national front when it comes to education for track and field, Reindl was the lead combined events presenter for Athletics Canada in Winnipeg in October and sits on the national coach education committee. He is also a board member for the Coaching Association of Canada and Saskatchewan Athletics.

Again, those were all the roles Reindl has fulfilled for about the last 14-and-a-half months. He jokes he has to thank “caffeine” for allowing him to do all those roles.

On the serious side, Reindl said it helped that his parents in mother, Caren, and father, Bob, were great role models. 

During their lives, Caren (Rathie) and Bob were star track and field athletes and have served in numerous coaching and administrative capacities for the sport.

“I’ve been able to see a lot of amazing people through their network,” said Jason Reindl. “I would kind of say in my teenage years where you start to realize who you can kind of call upon for advice.

“Having the last name Reindl within the track and field and kind of the sport coaching community was a significant blessing, because I was able to inquire, ask questions and get a lot of support, but also see people in action. At the same time, I’ll say I know I’m blessed, and you know, the opportunities have come with hard work. It has been an interesting last couple of years we’ll say.”

When it comes to the highlight over the 14-and-a-half months, Reindl backs up the calendar to October 7, 2023 and said the highlight was marrying his longtime partner Rebecca Goldie, who competes in triathlons. For his coaching career, Reindl said getting to coach at the Olympics was the highlight.

He said the Olympics had a unique aura, but when it came to coaching and the execution of the track and field part of the games, it was normal to most other international events. While he was Harrison’s personal coach, Reindl said it was special to have two other athletes he worked with at the Olympics.

When Reindl lived in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and coached the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds before joining the Huskies, he coached 110-metre hurdler Craig Thorne. Thorne is based out of Guelph, Ontario, now.

Michelle Harrison, left, and Jason Reindl chat at a practice last May.

Reindl also coached 400-metre hurdler Savannah Sutherland. The bulk of that coaching happened in Saskatoon before Sutherland joined the University of Michigan Wolverines Track and Field Team in the fall of 2021. 

The veteran coach also worked with Sutherland for short periods of time when she returned home to visit family in her hometown of Borden, which is located 53 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon.

“It was pretty, pretty special that I was able to kind of give high-fives to three different athletes that I had an impact on at various stages of their career,” said Reindl. “It was very special and definitely the highlight at present.”

Reindl said getting to coach Harrison racing in the 100-metre hurdles was emotional and meaningful as the culmination of a big journey.

“It is hard to even put into words how remarkable and impactful it was,” said Reindl. “I actually can go back and say that when I was coaching the Saskatoon Track Club one day a week Michelle was one of those first athletes in the group.

“Not only was I one of her first coaches in her career when she was 10-years-old, the fact that we got back together in 2017 and had the next seven years from her and I both moving back to Saskatoon all the way to three national titles, university accolades, six national teams and culminating with the Olympic Games was pretty special. It is a journey that not a lot of coaches get to have.”

Harrison returned to Saskatoon in 2017 after training at the high-performance hub in Toronto from 2015 to 2017. She was injured most of the time she was at the hub and became disillusioned with track and field.

Upon returning to Saskatoon, Harrison got back in touch Reindl and rejoined the Huskies after being part of the program previously winning gold at the U Sports Championships in the 60-metre hurdles in 2014. After rejoining Huskies with Reindl as head coach, things took off for Harrison at that point.

“Jason (Reindl) was a major turning point in my career as an athlete, changing things for the better,” said Harrison, who turned 32-years-old in December. “He has been a constant source of guidance, belief and support throughout my journey.

Jason Reindl loves being at the Track and Field Track.

“He’s pushed me beyond what I thought I was capable of while always having my back through the toughest moments. His dedication and passion for the sport are contagious, and his ability to balance accountability with encouragement has helped shape me into the athlete and person I am today. I’m incredibly grateful for everything he’s done, from the tough workouts to the words of wisdom that go far beyond the track.

“I wouldn’t be where I am without him.”

Now, Harrison is expecting her first child with husband, Graeme Harrison. Reindl said it is always special to see his athletes embark on their paths outside of the sport.

“I think it is just that full circle where one journey ends and another begins,” said Reindl. “The number of athletes that I’ve been a part of their journeys that are married, have kids, have successful careers, MDs, PhDs, you name it.

“It is never lost on me the important of all of that. I guess the recency effect the time that Michelle and I spent together and seeing her grow and develop as a young woman to now her soon to be a mom is just a pretty cool thing. We just have a special relationship, and I am extremely proud of her.”

During the spring and summer and the month of September, Reindl enjoys coaching athletes of all ages at the Track and Field Track since it opened in the spring of 2019. He said the facility has developed a great upbeat vibe.

“It is just a fun place to be,” said Reindl. “I say a lot of coaches get the opportunity to kind of have a home.

“To get the chance to go to Gordie and know that I can execute my tasks to help these athletes achieve their goals with the equipment on hand and all the space, it is a blessing. It is something that I do not take for granted, because traveling the world and going to areas where you might have a track or you might have rubber, might not mean you have grass or it might not mean you have space to do medicine ball throws. There are a lot of intangibles that come around the whole facility.

“This year we’re actually going to have our first Huskies track and field sport camps there in the first two weeks of July. Getting the opportunity to kind of make that connection even stronger between our Huskie development side of things into that facility is something we’re really looking forward to.”

Jason Reindl, centre, enjoys coaching the Huskies.

As he continues coaching, Reindl always strives to help his athletes be the best they can be.

“I guess bringing that back to the Huskie side of things, the last couple of years we’ve brought in some athletes who were OK coming out of high school that have turned into all-Canadians national medalists,” said Reindl, who was a Huskies track athlete from 2002 to 2006 and a member of the U Sports men’s and women’s double title win in 2005. “I can’t promise that everyone will be an Olympian, but I can promise you will get better.”

Small town gal living the dream

Sutherland still realizing NCAA title win did happen

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

Savannah Sutherland does a drill at the Track and Field Track.

Savannah Sutherland is reminded often she is famous in a good-natured way during her Saskatchewan summer homecoming.

On June 10 at the 2023 National Collegiate Athletics Association Track and Field Championships held at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas, Sutherland won the championship race in the 400-metre women’s hurdles in a time of 54.45 seconds with the University of Michigan Wolverines. Along with claiming the NCAA title, Sutherland’s time was a personal best, set a school record, a Canadian U23 record and the 2023 world championship standard.

She just missed clipping Sage Watson’s overall Canadian record in the 400-metre women’s hurdles of 54.32 seconds set in October of 2019.

With having won an NCAA title with one of the most storied overall athletic programs in the Wolverines, Sutherland’s win made major rounds in mainstream media and social media.

In early July, she returned home and first spent quality family time in her hometown of Borden, which is located about 53 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon. She proceeded to return to the Track and Field Track on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds to train with the elite national level crew that includes Michelle Harrison, Nicole Ostertag and Madisson Lawrence.

The training mates would send good-natured jabs Sutherland’s way telling her how well-known she was and that news of her heroics takes over their social media feeds. Sutherland, who turned 20-years-old on August 7, chuckled at the comments about her newfound fame. Due to the fact she was only in her second season with the Wolverines when she won her NCAA crown, Sutherland admits she still thinks that day was some sort of dream.

“It still feels surreal,” said Sutherland. “It almost feels like it didn’t happen to me.

“It is like someone that I watched on TV. It hasn’t sunk in that, ‘Hey, that was me on the track.’ It still feels pretty unreal.”

Savannah Sutherland jogs around the Track and Field Track.

Sutherland, who was 19-years-old at the time, entered the NCAA championship race as an underdog with Britton Wilson from the University of Arkansas and Masai Russell from the University of Kentucky pegged as the favourites. Russell finished second with a time of 54.66 seconds, while Wilson came in seventh at 55.92 seconds.

“I just wanted to get out hard,” said Sutherland about the NCAA title race. “I knew that there was a pretty big head wind on the back stretch, so I was just focused on that first 200-metres on getting out.

“It was around the 250-mark where I started wondering like, ‘Hey, where is everybody else.’ The two people that were favoured were on my inside, so I couldn’t see them for the whole race. Coming around that last curve, it kind of sunk in that, ‘Hey, I could win this thing.’

“Then, it was just trying to come home as strong as I could. It was a little scary, because I knew that they were coming after me. I was just hoping that I could hold them off for that last 150-metres.”

Sutherland, who stands 5-foot-8, was named the Women’s Track Athlete of the Year for the Big Ten Conference. Her lengthy list of accomplishments for the 2022-23 season included a Big Ten championship in the 400-metre hurdles, a Big Ten championship in the 4 X 400-metre relay for the indoor season, a first team all-American nod in the 400-metre hurdles and a first team all-American selection in the 400-metre race for the indoor season.

In the 400-metre race, Sutherland set a personal best time for outdoors at 51.41 seconds on February 25 and a personal best in indoors at 51.60 second in March 11. The indoor personal best came at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships held in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Sutherland said she couldn’t believe how many accomplishments she had until they were listed to her.

“It feels amazing, especially indoor, because it was my off event,” said Sutherland. “To still be able to get top eight at NCAAs indoor for the flat 400-metre was really great.

Savannah Sutherland, left, share a laugh with Nicole Ostertag.

“Those all-American honours and big 10 championships, it just kind of starts to stack up. You don’t really realize when you are running like how many school records have gone down and things like that. Being able to look back at that, it was just pretty spectacular to see all the work just in one space like that.”

Sutherland has enjoyed campus life at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich. She said it was different going into a lecture hall for a class and there were more people in the lecture hall than the entire population of Borden. In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Borden had a population of 281 people.

Overall, Sutherland has been amused when she explains to folks at the University of Michigan about where she is from.

“It is funny, because usually, I’ll be in a conversation with someone, and I’ll be like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m from a small town,’” said Sutherland. “They are like, ‘Oh, me too like there are only like 5,000 people.’

“I’m like you don’t understand. You don’t even understand. Once I try to explain it to people I think it is hard for them to even grasp like growing up in a place that small until they like see it on the map and there is only like six streets type of thing.

“It is really hard for them to actually wrap their minds around it that people actually come from places that small.”

Still, the gal from the small town has proven she can make an impact on the biggest stages. On July 30 at the Canadian Track and Field Championships in Langley, B.C., Sutherland won the senior women’s 400-metre hurdles final in a time of 56.14 seconds. She just edged out Brooke Overholt from St. Mary’s, Ont., who had a time of 56.17 seconds.

Sutherland spent the majority of July training at the Track and Field Track on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds preparing for nationals. She enjoys coming back to the state-of-the-art facility in Saskatoon to train.

Savannah Sutherland blasts over a hurdle while training on June 8, 2021.

“I’m always so excited to come home and just see everybody and reconnect with everybody,” said Sutherland. “This is where I grew up running.

“I’m always excited to come back here. I’m always excited to compete for Canada and compete for Saskatchewan. I never forget who I am representing even when I’m in the States.

“It is always mentioned, ‘Oh, girl from small town Saskatchewan.’ I’m really proud to be from where I am from.”

Multi-sports Centre nears completion, early July opening expected

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

The Multi-sport Centre is nearing completion.

An old cliché says that “all good things are worth the wait,” and that cliché will ring true for the new Multi-sport Centre that is nearing completion on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds.

The Multi-sport Centre is slated to open for use by users in early July. On the building’s east side, it will serve all the stadium requirements to allow Cairns Field to be an elite level amateur baseball facility with the capacity to seat 2,500.

On the building’s west side, the Multi-sport Centre will serve the Track and Field Track, which is converted into the Clarence Downey Speed Skating Oval for the winter months. It will feature seating for 1,850, which can be expanded to 3,500 with temporary seating.

The Track and Field Track facility opened in 2019 bringing track and field competitions to the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds for the first time ever.

“I know that the athletes are excited, and they were really excited about the track,” said Johnny Marciniuk, who is the Operations Manager for the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. “It is level two certified track, which is top notch for this country.

“Now, we are going to pair up the building with that track. We’ve had the track for two years. Now, we are going to give all the amenities.

“You’ll have your nice change rooms, viewing areas, bleachers, concessions and all those things that will make the experience that much better.”

The spectator gallery on the west side of the Multi-sport Centre.

The Multi-sport Centre replaces the old grandstand at Cairns Field, which was torn down in April of 2018. The old grandstand was used by both the baseball and the speed skating communities.

Way back in the early 1960s, the old grandstand once served the horse racing community as a horse racing track used to cut through Cairns Field.

“The history of the area was quite interesting,” said Marciniuk. “Now, we’ll have the wraparound building that wraps right around Cairns.

“We have a viewing area that is indoors and heated up on the second floor. Basically, everybody will be watching speed skating in comfort, and track and field will have that same option.”

The Multi-sport Centre will be light years beyond what existed at the old grandstand. The Multi-sport Centre will have 20,000 square feet of space on its two floors.

It will include top rate dressing rooms, officials’ rooms, lockers, multi-purpose meeting room, first aid amenities, concession and public washrooms. The building will also have announcer booths and press box areas on either side to allow competition day officials to run events.

There will be an exterior spectator covered viewing area on the Cairns Field side and an indoor spectator viewing area overlooking the Track and Field Track and the Clarence Downey Speed Skating Oval on the west side.

The announcer’s booth on the east side of the Multi-sport Centre.

Marciniuk said it has been amazing to see the Multi-sport Centre come together after construction began in earnest in August of 2020.

“It is just so interesting to see how the area changes,” said Marciniuk. “We have the same quality dressing rooms (at the Multi-sport Centre) that we have at Saskatoon Minor Football Field.

“We have rubber flooring there for safety for the cleats and skates. Cleats on the baseball side and skates on the speed skating side. We like to think that we raised the bar here for athletics in this area.

“We’re looking forward to having everybody use it and seeing those smiles on faces.”

The completion of the Multi-sport Centre will allow the baseball, track and field and speed skating communities to host various national championships and national competitions in their respective sports.

“There are lots of opportunities out there,” said Marciniuk. “Everybody is talking about championships that they want to bid (for).

“Sports tourism here in Saskatoon is going to support all our sport groups and their bids. They want to get people into this community, and we want as the Gordie Howe Sports Complex to get people into our facility. Those facilities are going to be top notch.”

One of the dressing rooms inside the Multi-sport Centre.

With the old grandstand at Cairns field, it was harder to bring in those types of competitions due to the limits of that old facility.

Marciniuk said there is a lot more potential to host those events in baseball, track and field and speed skating with the completed Multi-sport Centre.

“We have four dressing rooms, a co-ed dressing room (and) an umpire’s dressing room,” said Marciniuk. “We have meeting rooms that are available.

“The media box and the scorer’s announcers’ box are top notch with garage doors that actually will give the open air feel when the weather is right. With that comes all our other amenities such as our ticket sales centre, which makes it easy for groups to fund their championships.

“Our concession, our washroom facilities, everything that goes into a 20,000 square foot (building) will make sure that we have a first-rate adventure here with our championships.”

Once construction of the Multi-sport Centre is completed, all the new buildings that were part of the Master Plan for The Complex will be up and running.

Marciniuk said a few more improvements are still coming before the final stretch run is completed for the Gordie Howe Sports Complex.

Pavement is laid on the baseball side at the Multi-sport Centre.

“This (the Multi-Sport Centre) is the last capital item basically that we have,” said Marciniuk. “We have a couple of more fields that are coming in a CFL sized football field that will be south of (the Gordie Howe) Kinsmen Arena.

“We have a 48,000 square foot outdoor turf area for baseball and softball practices, which is going to be north of our (Indoor) Training Centre. It is really nice to get all the bricks and mortar in place.

“Once that is all done, we can start looking at beautifying the site, landscaping and getting all those types of things that make it a great experience for people from Saskatoon and the greater Saskatoon Area as well as Western Canada, Canada and world championships we host here. We want people talking about this place.”

Harrison, Sutherland on fire on the track

Michelle Harrison is pursuing a berth in the Summer Olympics.

Two of Saskatchewan’s top elite athletes put up head turning performances at the Track and Field Track.

This past Friday at a twilight meet, Michelle Harrison and Savannah Sutherland posted impressive times in the 100-metre hurdles and 400-metre hurdles respectively.

Harrison, who is a 28-year-old Saskatoon product, ran the 100-metre hurdles in a time of 13.22 seconds. The graduate of Saskatoon’s Evan Hardy Collegiate and alumna of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Women’s Track and Field team has the top 100-metre hurdles time in Canada for all female competitors in 2021. The next closest time is clocked in at 13.30 seconds.

The time Harrison posted on Friday was her third best ever in the 100-metre hurdles.

Harrison is aiming to qualify for the upcoming Summer Olympics, which are slated to run July 23 to August 8.

She is set to race in Windsor and Guelph, Ont., on Saturday and Wednesday, June 16 respectively and will take part in competitions in Montreal on June 26 and 29.

Savannah Sutherland has set two provincial records.

Sutherland, who is 17-years-old, ran the 400-metre hurdles this past Friday in a time of 58.24 seconds. The Borden product broke a 39-year-old provincial record of 58.49 seconds set by Gwen Wall in 1982.

Sutherland’s time tops all under-20 female athletes in Canada this year and ranks fifth outright amongst all Canadian women in 2021.

As of the end of the night this past Friday, Sutherland had posted the seventh fastest time in the world in 400-metre hurdles for under-20 female athletes.

She surpassed the under-20 world championship standard in the 400-metre hurdles. On May 28, Sutherland surpassed the under-20 world championship standard in the 200-metre hurdles, when she ran that event in a provincial record time of 24.17 seconds at another twilight meet at the Track and Field Track.

Sutherland, who is a member of the Saskatoon Track Club, has committed to join the University of Michigan Wolverines Women’s Track and Field team in the NCAA Division I ranks starting with the 2021-22 campaign.