WEST Vancouver's Helen Crofts finished sixth in the 800-m final in track and field at the Summer Universiade, falling shy of the podium at Shenzhen Universiade Center Stadium in Shenzhen, China Aug. 18.
The Simon Fraser University student started with a fast opening lap but faded on lap 2, posting a time of 2: 04.40, two seconds off her semifinal time in the event.
"It's been a long season and my legs were just tired, this was a really fast group of girls who are gearing up for the World Championships," Crofts said in a Canadian Interuniversity Sport press release. "I'm happy to have competed here, and I really hope that I have the opportunity to come back and compete again (at a Universiade)."
Crofts, a West Vancouver secondary grad, is entering her senior year at SFU. In her junior year she broke the NAIA indoor 800-m record and was named SFU female athlete of the year.
North Vancouver's Julie Seabrook also made the trip to China, helping the Canadian women's basketball team to a sixth-place finish at the Universiade, the team's best finish in the tournament since 2001.
The Canadian women finished with a 3-3 record in the tournament, losing to Australia in the quarterfinals and Russia in the fifth-sixth game, their second loss to Russia in the tournament. Canada registered wins over Poland and Finland as well as a default win over no-shows South Africa.
"I'm really proud of the girls. I think overall we had a very good tournament. We beat the teams we were supposed to beat," said Team Canada and University of Saskatchewan head coach Lisa Thomaidis in a CIS press release. "It was hard for us to play the Russians twice. They are so imposing physically, they have four players over six-footfive, including one who's sixfoot-nine. They are a team that expected to be in the final."
Seabrook is entering her senior year at the NCAA's University of Colorado.
