Queen's Distance Track will send a small, but very competitive team into this year's U SPORTS Track & Field Championships in Winnipeg, Man. this week. The Gaels will send Elizabeth Vroom, Jude Wheeler-Dee, and Tanner Hueglin to the national championship, with all three competitors having a legitimate chance to medal in their respective events in what is expected to be some of the greatest races ever run at the U SPORTS level.

Lizzie Vroom (Engineering) will head to the U SPORTS Track & Field Championships building on what has been one of the best seasons for a female distance athlete in Queen's school history. The fourth year Engineering student has had to overcome many barriers, as she has been doing a Co-Op in Ottawa this winter. She was second, next to the defending U SPORTS 1,500M champion Julia Agostinelli, at the recent OUA Championships in the 1,500M in a time of 4:25.58. This time also placed her second on the all-time Queen's school list. Lizzie will be a darkhorse to medal in both the 1,000M and 1,500M events. She will go into these championships ranked seventh in the nation and also having set the school 1,000M record earlier in the season at Harvard University (2:45.22). Lizzie's best event will probably be the 1,500M where she is ranked sixth.

Jude Wheeler-Dee (Chemistry) will go into these championships as past U SPORTS champion in the 1,000M event, and last year's 1,500M and 3,000M national silver medalist. He will go into these championships having just run the second fastest time in OUA championship history, where he placed second to the defending 1,500M title and event record holder Max Davies. Wheeler-Dee will go into the U SPORTS Championships with the number one seed time in the 3,000M with a seed time of 7:54.35, and third in the 1,500M with a time of 3:43.05. His 3,000M time broke his existing school record of 8:03.50 set last year. Both of these events will be considered Must Watch as two of the greatest U SPORTS endurance runners, in both Davies and Wheeler-Dee, will go head to head in what is sure to be epic racing.

Tanner Hueglin (XXX) enters this year's U SPORTS CHampionships as a first time qualifier in the 3,000M. Hueglin was an integral part of the past two U SPORTS Cross Country Championships for Queen's, and will make his first entrance as an individual in Track & Field. He has run 8:12.14 this year and is ranked tenth going into these Championships. Hueglin was fourth in the 1,500M at last week's OUA Track & Field Championships, and his 1,500M speed should bode well for the expected tactical Championships racing. His time also ranks him sixth in school history.