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Red Deer’s Jeremiah Lauzon wins NCAA national championship with West Texas A&M relay team

Lauzon’s team was ranked second in the U.S.
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Red Deer’s Jeremiah Lauzon set a Great Northwest Athletic Conference Division II indoor track record in the 200m race at an event in Boston. It was just the second NCAA Division II race for the freshman from Red Deer. (Photo courtesy of Simon Fraser University Athletics)

Red Deer’s Jeremiah Lauzon continues to compete at a high level as he recently became a national champion during the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships south of the border.

However, it was more than an individual accomplishment as it was a title shared with his teammates at West Texas A&M. They became National Champions in the finals for the men’s 4X100 relay with a time of 39.27. This came after they placed fourth in the preliminary round.

“It felt good we had a solid race. I mean some of the handoffs were still a little bit not where they should have been. So, I think we could have ran even faster but I’m happy our team won the four by one. It was a pretty close finish so it was a good feeling to be on top of the podium,” Lauzon told the Advocate.

Lauzon took part in multiple races during the championships at Grand Valley State University in Michigan from May 26 to 28 nearly taking home the win in the men’s 200 metre finals, finishing sixth with a time of 20.66. It might seem far from winning but he was just seconds away with the winning time being 20.20.

Despite the close finish in the 200-metre finals, Lauzon’s coach of four years Ronald Hewer said it was an underachievement and Lauzon agreed.

“I think I had the ability to come third and even second but the race just wasn’t there in the final. I came in ranked 10th in the 100 [metre final] so I wasn’t expecting too much there I didn’t make the final but I was still expecting a faster time than what I ran,” Lauzon added.

Hewer added Lauzon needed to be ranked in the top 24 in the country to be invited to the national championships. Coming into the national championships, the Red Deer product was ranked third in the 200-metre and 10th in the 100-metre. The relay team, which captured the title, was ranked second.

“[Jeremiah] had a really good indoor season he ended up running the 12th fastest time ever recorded in Canadian history. He broke the Alberta record as well… It’s been a successful year on paper but yet we both are considering this year a bit of an underachievement,” Hewer added.

Lauzon previously attended Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School in Red Deer before going to Simon Fraser University for three years in B.C. He now goes to school at West Texas A&M after transferring last fall.



Ian Gustafson

About the Author: Ian Gustafson

Ian began his journalism career as a reporter in Prince Albert, Sask. for the last three years, and was born and raised in Saskatchewan.
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