Star sprinter De Grasse, heptathlete Theisen-Eaton headline Pan Am team

TORONTO – Rising star sprinter Andre De Grasse is one of 89 track and field athletes that will represent Canada at the 2015 Toronto Pan American Games.

The 20-year-old from Markham, Ont., will run in the 100 metres and the 200 metres next month.

De Grasse is having a breakout season. He broke the Canadian record in the 200, and became the first Canadian since Bruny Surin in 1999 to dip under the 10-second mark in the 100.

He then blew away the field in at the NCAA championships in Eugene, Ore., in both the 100 and 200 metres.While his times of 9.75 and 19.58 were both wind-aided, being slightly over the allowable 2.0 metres-per-second tailwind, they rank as the fastest wind-aided times in the world this year.

Eight athletes have set Canadian records in 2015 and are all being nominated to the Pan American Games team.

Toronto’s Shawnacy Barber has set both indoor and outdoor Canadian records in the men’s pole vault this season en route to winning his third NCAA title

Other recent Canadian record breakers nominated Sunday are: Vancouver’s Elizabeth Gleadle (javelin); Cameron Levins of Black Creek, B.C. (10,000 metres); Christabel Nettey of Surrey, B.C. (long jump); Rachel Seaman of Peterborough, Ont. (20-km race walk); Brianne Theisen-Eaton of Humboldt, Sask. (heptathlon); and Vancouver’s Natasha Wodak(10,000).

The team includes three Pan Am medallists: Sultana Frizell, Perth, Ont., (2011, hammer throw, silver); Jessica Zelinka, London, Ont., (2007, heptathlon, gold); and Jim Steacy, Lethbridge, Alta., (2007, hammer throw, gold).

Other medal threats include high jumper Derek Drouin of Corunna, Ont., who won the bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics and the 2013 world championships, and decathlete Damian Warner of London, a bronze medallist at the 2013 worlds.

The Canadian athletics team won four medals at the 2011 Pan Am Games in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Athletics competition at the Pan Am Games begins July 18 with the women’s marathon and continues through July 26.

Canada:

Women — Kelsie Ahbe, pole vault, Green, Ont.; Khamica Bingham, 100, Caledon, Ont.; Melissa Bishop, 800, Eganville, Ont.; Melanie Blouin, pole vault, Quebec City; Jillian Drouin, heptathlon, Corunna, Ont.; Caroline Eherhardt, triple lump Espanola, Ont.; Crystal Emmanuel, 100, Toronto; Melissa Fraser, javelin, Hillsburgh, Ont.; Sultana Frizell, hammer throw, Perth, Ont., Phylicia George, 100 hurdles, Markham, Ont.; Elizabeth Gleadle, javelin Vancouver; Sasha Gollish, 1,500, Toronto; Rachel Hannah, marathon, Toronto; Shaina Harrison, 4×100 relay Aurora, Ont.; Nikkita Holder, 100 hurdles, Pickering, Ont.; Kimberley Hyacinthe, 200, Terrebonne, Que.; Audrey Jean-Baptiste, 400 Montreal; Emma Kimoto, high jump; Richmond, B.C.; Alanna Kovacs, discus, Barrie, Ont.; Natasha LaBeaud, marathon, Kelowna, B.C.; Julie Labonte, shot put, Sainte-Justine,Que.; Genevieve Lalonde, 3,000 steeplechase, Moncton, N.B.; Marie-Josee Le Jour, discus, Dorval, Que.; Lanni Marchant, 10,000, London, Ont.; Christabel Nettey, long jump, Surrey, B.C.; Jessica O’Connell, 5000, Calgary; Katelynn Ramage, 20km race walk, Nanaimo, B.C.; Rachel Seaman, 20km race walk, Peterborough, Ont.; Taylor Sharpe, 400, Pickering, Ont.; Nicole Sifuentes, 1,500, Winnipeg; Alicia Smith, triple jump, Brampton, Ont.; Jessica Smith, 800, North Vancouver, B.C.; Heather Steacy, Hammer Throw, Lethbridge, Alta.; Taryn Suttie, shot put, Hanley, Sask.; Erin Teschuk, 3,000 steeplechase, Winnipeg; Brianne Theisen-Eaton, long jump/4×400 relay, Humboldt, Sask.; Raquel Tjernagel, 200, New Westminister, B.C.; Alyxandria Treasure, high jump, Prince George, B.C.; Sage Watson, 400 hurdles; Medicine Hat, Alta.; Sarah Wells, 400 hurdles, Unionville, Ont.; Jellisa Westney, 4×100 relay, Mississauga, Ont.; Natasha Wodak, 10,000, Vancouver; Jessica Zelinka, heptathlon London, Ont.

Men — Mohammed Ahmed, 10,000, St. Catharines, Ont.; Tacuma Anderson-Richards, triple jump, Toronto; Patrick Arbour, decathlon, Ottawa; Shawnacy Barber, pole vault, Toronto; Jharyl Bowry, long jump, Mississauga, Ont.; Nathan Brannen, 1,500, Cambridge, Ont.; Aaron Brown, 4×100 relay, Toronto; Lucas Bruchet 10,000, Vancouver; Johnathan Cabral, 110 hurdles, Peribonka, Que.; Creighton Connolly, 50km, race walk, Vancouver; Andre De Grasse, 100/200, Markham, Ont.; Stevens Dorcelus, long jump, Montreal; Derek Drouin, high jump, Corunna, Ont.; Evan Dunfee, 20km race walk, Richmond, B.C.; Raymond Dykstra, javelin, Grimsby, Ont.; Duschane Farrier, 4×100 relay, Toronto; Alex Genest, 3,000 steeplechase, Lac-aux-Sables, Que.; Nathan George, 4×400 relay, Coquitlam, B.C.; Inaki Gomez, 20km race walk Vancouver; Daniel Harper, 400, Brampton, Ont.; Tim Hendry-Gallagher, shot put, Parry Sound, Ont.; Aaron Hernandez, triple jump, Lethbridge, Alta.; Matthew Hughes, 3000 steeplechase, Oshawa, Ont.; Sekou Kaba, 110 hurdles, Ottawa; Kip Kangogo, marathon, Lethbridge, Alta.; Evan Karakolis, javelin, Toronto; Marc-Antoine Lafrenaye-Dugas, discus, Sherbrooke, Que.; Cameron Levins, 5,000, Black Creek, B.C.; Gregory MacNeill, 400 hurdles, London, Ont.; Mike Mason, high jump, Nanoose, B.C.; Brendon McBride, 800, Windsor, Ont.; Tim Nedow, shot put/discus, Brockville, Ont.; Daniel Novia, hammer throw, Mississauga, Ont.; Tait Nystuen, 400 hurdles, Regina; Philip Osei, 400, Toronto; Charles Philibert-Thiboutot, 1500, Quebec City; Ross Proudfoot, 5,000, Lively, Ont.; Dontae Richards-Kwok, 4×100 relay, Toronto; Michael Robertson, 4×400 relay, Williamstown, Ont.; Brendon Rodney, 200, Brampton, Ont.; Anthony Romaniw, 800m, Hamilton; Gavin Smellie, 100, Brampton, Ont.; Jim Steacy, hammer throw, Lethbridge, Alta.; Damian Warner, decathlon, London, Ont.; Rob Watson, marathon, London, Ont.; Jason Wurster, pole vault, Stevensville, Ont.