Stanat Canadian men's
shot put champ
Roth sprints to 400 bronze, Luna fifth in heptathlon, Knelsen PBs in 800 placing 10th
August 5, 2025
By Rob J. Ross
OTTAWA, Ont. - AJ Stanat is the Canadian champion in men's shot put.
The 22-year old from St. Thomas captured the gold medal, with an event best toss of 17.35 metres, on the final day of the Canadian track and field championships, July 30 to August 3 at the Terry Fox Athletic Complex.
Stanat won by almost a metre and a half, but was disappointed not cracking the 18 metre mark, a goal the University of Windsor student set for this year.
"I didn't quite have it today. It's not too bad. I'm happy to be National champ, but I kind of feel I walked away empty handed," Stanat said. "It adds more fuel to the fire. I want to get after it more. I know there's still more there. I don't know if today was exactly reflective of that."
Stanat led from the opening round, throwing a measurement of 16.15 metres. Twice Stanat was over 17 metres, his best in the sixth and final round.
However, Stanat was expecting more.
"I wasn't really sticking to my game plan coming in. A little bit hesitant in my front three throws. I wasn't going after it like I should have," Stanat explained. "I have to push myself and to really go after each throw. I have to make sure I actually perform.
"I feel I didn't really do that today. Perform at my best."
This past February Stanat repeated as Ontario University Athletics (OUA) indoor men's shot put champion, with a school record 17.77 metres. At the U-Sports championships in March, Stanat won gold with a effort of 17.70 metres.
Stanat was throwing for 18 metres then and that goal remains.
"I've wanted it (18) since the indoor season," Stanat said. "I have to get things together and perform, when it actually counts. I'll reflect on what I've done today and make those adjustments. I'm running out of opportunities this year."
Stanat has one meet remaining this outdoor season, the Canada Summer Games, August 19-23rd, in St. John's Newfoundland.
At Athletics Ontario Open championships in July, Stanat won shot put gold throwing 17.31 metres and then earned a spot with Team Ontario for the Games, with winning throw of 16.61 metres.
"I need to go back to the drawing board and fine tune some things and get prepped for the Canada Summer Games," said Stanat. "Everything in the circle is very precise, very fined tuned, so it's a matter of very small adjustments on the fly."
In his second event, Stanat placed sixth in discus with a best throw of 44.63 metres. He will also be competing in discus at the Games.
Stanat was one of nine local
athletes at Canadians, and one of six competing with St. Thomas Legion Club.
Roth sprints to bronze
Mike Roth is a Canadian bronze medalist in the men's 400-metre dash.
The 23-year old from St. Thomas had a valiant final 20 metres of the race moving in to a medal position finishing in 46.39 seconds.
"I'm glad I was able to snag third," said Roth. "I didn't really have a plan going in. I just went for it at the end."
Running in lane one, after posting the sixth fastest qualifying time of the prelims races, Roth started pedestrian, before stepping up the speed.
"My last 200 was quicker," said Roth, who stuck on heels of Callum Robinson, before making a move by him and Austin Cole over the final 50 minutes. "I dug deep and didn't let anyone pass."
Olympian Christoper Morales Williams won the 400 in 45.16 seconds, followed by Nathan George in 46.25 sec.
"Today really gave me that confidence that I'm not just some bum (bone), even though I haven't raced in forever," Roth said. "I was honestly nervous for the first time. I'm usually not. I'm usually pretty cool, but today and yesterday I was freaking out. I think because my NCAA season ended poorly, I was more skeptical of my abilities."
Earlier this year, Roth ran a 45.89 second 400 at the NCAA American Conference championships, with his collegiate team, UTSA, just off his PB of 45.82 sec. A week later during the NCAA first round, Roth suffered a hamstring injury, yet still finished in 47.07 seconds.
"Terrible way to end my (NCAA) season. Disappointment. But I can't linger on the past. Just got to look ahead," Roth said. "It wasn't a pull, just real nagging, preventing me from going 100 percent. You can't stretch it. You can't work on it. It was wasn't a big thing. It was a lingering thing."
That weighed on Roth's mind during Canadians, hoping his hamstring would carry him through.
"I was glad I was able to get my mind through it," added Roth. "A good bounce back and I plan to do nothing but build on it."
Now Roth waits for official
announcement of his addition to Team Canada for the mixed 4x400-metre relay at
the world championships next month in Toyko.
Heptathlete Luna fifth
Jadyn Luna came into Nationals simply to enjoy the experience during the two day women's heptathlon.
The 21-year old from Thorndale, made the trip to the nation's capital memorable placing fifth, compiling 4,327 points, while setting a few personal best (PBs) efforts in a number of the seven individual events.
Thanks to PBs in both in javelin (33.38m) and the 800 metre run (2:28.12), Luna moved up to fifth place on day two.
"I went in to this meet, trying to have fun with it and have a good season closer and I feel that I did that," Luna said. "I've been battling injuries all summer, (but) I'm getting decent numbers considering my training has been limited."
A hamstring injury has been lingering since March and she's had to deal with right foot and left achilles heel issues.
Despite those injuries, Luna competed remarkably well and felt better about her performance than at Athletics Ontario championships in July.
"I had a consistent day one compared to AOs and I came off of day one only about 10 points behind where I was at AOs," said Luna. "A little bit of a set back for long jump, but in javelin I managed a two metre PB. That put me five points ahead of where I was at AOs, going into the 800. I was going for a PB of 2:28 in the 800 and I got that, so I'm happy with how day two went."
The remainder of August will be for rest and recovery, as Luna hopes to be injury free by September and training for the pentathlon in the indoor season.
Luna heads into her third year studying Forensic Science at Windsor University.
"The biggest learning curve for me this summer was trying to set realistic goals. Usually I'm pretty good at them, but given my injuries I was still expecting to perform, if I was having consistent training pain free," Luna said. "At AOs, I was super upset with that performance, because I was comparing to when I wasn't battling through injuries. The mindset going through this meet was a lot better than it was a few weeks ago."
Heptathlon event breakdown: third,
javelin (33.38m), fourth, 800 metre run (2:28.12), fourth, 200-metre dash (26.51
sec.), fifth, shot put (11.12m), eighth, 100-metre hurdles (15.88 sec.), eighth,
long jump (4.87m), ninth in high jump (1.35m).
Knelsen PBs
Halle Knelsen is under two minutes and six seconds (2:06.00) for her first time in the women's 800-metre run.
The 22-year old Malahide resident lowered her personal best time in the 800 to two minutes and 5.77 seconds (2:05.77), but missed advancing to the final, placing 10th. The top eight move on to the final.
"I couldn't ask for a lot more. I came out here to try to run a PB and I did that. I know I'm capable of more too," Knelsen said. "Coming in I was ranked 17th out of 18. Get a PB was my main goal and if that gets me in to the final, I don't think people would be expecting it, but I know depending on how the race goes, I could be capable."
Injuries kept Knelsen from the track over the first half of the outdoor season, but on her return Knelsen lowered her 800 time at three consecutive races.
After a 2:07.90 at the Bob Vigars Classic in London on June 2, Knelsen won the 800 with a 2:07.09 at the Canada Games trials June 29th, automatically gaining a spot on Team Ontario. A week later at the Canadian Track and Field League final, Knelsen put down a 2:07.04.
Knelsen went under 2:07 for the first time outdoors in her career, with a 2:06.61 at Athletics Ontario championships July 4-6 in Windsor. During the prelims at Canadians, Knelsen qualified for the semifinals, with a 2:06.94.
Back in 2022, Knelsen recorded a 2:06.74, on the indoor track at Boston University.
"With my injury in April and May, I kind of came off that and went straight in to racing. It was good for where I was at, but it was a lot of races back to back. It was nice to get some workouts in," said Knelsen. "I know I'm capable fo more. I think I'm capable of running a 2:03, 2:04, but sometimes you have to get a few races in that are between that and your PB. This is a a good stepping stone."
Knelsen will aim for PBs for both the 800 and 1500m at the Canada Summer Games.
At AOs, Knelsen finished the 1500 in 4:25.42, just off her career PB of 4:24.72. At CSG trials, Knelsen won the 1500 in 4:25.96.
Knelsen concluded her Canadians, winning the women's 4x400-metre senior mixed team relay gold (3:47.39) on the final day with three friends from the Western Mustangs track team, Tyra Boug, Tieghan Wallace and Mackenzie Craig, running as the Purple Ponies.
"It was fun," said Knelsen. "I'm
glad we were able to do it. It was great to represent the future, past and
present of Western."
This September, Knelsen returns for a fifth year at Western for her Masters in
Kinesiology, after attaining a degree in Health Sciences.
Canadians round-up
Breanna Sloetjes with St. Thomas Legion Club, was fourth in U20 women's high jump (1.63m).
"My jumps were good. My last ones weren't as good and my last one would have been perfect but I was too far from the bar, so I jumped on to the bar. It's really annoying," the 17-year old Sloetjes said. It would have been nice to actually do what I'm able to to do."
Hunter Campbell was 10th, in U20 men's hammer throw producing a measurement of 47.60 metres and 16th in discus (42.78m).
Dylen Belanger from St. Thomas, placed 11th in the men's 400-metre hurdles (55.09 sec.) prelims and did not advance to the final.
Vincent Moore of St. Thomas finished eighth in the men's 800m (1:52.95) qualifying race on day one and did not advance to the semifinals.
Ethan Atkinson of St. Thomas, unfortunately no heighted in U20 men's pole vault, failing to clear the bar in his first three attempts at his opening height. Atkinson was the silver medalist at OFSAA, Ontario's high school championships in June, clearing 4.50 metres. al by one position.
CANADIAN TRACK AND FIELD 2025 RESULTS
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rob@hometownplay.ca