Kyle Donsberger led the Huskies men’s track and field team to a conference title by winning three gold medals at the Canada West Championships Feb. 22 and 23 in Regina.

The Huskies men’s track and field squad won the Canada West championship at this year’s conference championship meet at the University of Regina Feb. 22 and 23.

The win marks Saskatchewan’s 18th championship in team history and first conference win since the 2006-07 season. With 91 team points, the men blew out the competition, finishing well ahead of the second-place Regina Cougar’s 78 points and the third-place Manitoba Bisons’ 64 points.

The Dogs had the lead after day one thanks to strong performances from a pair of sprinters.

Fifth-year Huskie 300-metre runner Kyle Donsberger and rookie teammate Alex Fedyk had a photo finish in the dash. Donsberger took the gold with a time of 35.30 while Fedyk, who came in one hundredth of a second slower at 35.31, captured the silver.

The two runners joined forces the following day in the men’s 4×200-metre relay along with Ryan Graf and Tyler Young to sprint to a gold medal with a time of 1:28:33. Donsberger, Fedyk, Young and Davis Guenther also won gold in the men’s 4×400-metre relay.

The Huskie men’s team were dominant in more than just running, though. Nolan Machiskinic’s shot put toss of 15.03 metres garnered him a gold medal on Saturday. He added that to a bronze from day before, which he won for a weight throw distance of 15.46 metres.

Cole Digel picked up another gold medal in the men’s pentathlon, while Cossy Nachilobe took silver for a 14.12-metre leap in triple jump.

On the women’s side it was the Calgary Dinos who ran away with the banner, scoring a massive 122 points for the victory. Trinity Western finished second place with 70 points, and the Dogs came in third with 53.

Amanda Banks captured the Huskies’ first gold of the meet. She clocked in at 2:51.27 in the women’s 1000-metre race on Friday; Morgan Sawatzky picked up first place in the 300-metre dash with the lightning-quick time of 39.49.

Banks also aided the women’s 4×800-metre relay team to a silver medal on Friday. Along with Elecktra Charles, Tye Buettner and Julene Friesen, the team crossed the finish line in 9:00.90.

The women’s lone medal on Saturday was a bronze in the 4×400-metre relay.

All athletes who placed first or second at this meet, as well as any athlete who made the Canadian Interuniversity Sport standard in their respective event during the non-conference meets, will compete in the CIS championships at the University of Alberta in Edmonton March 7-9.

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Photo: Pete Yee