Adrienne Power Establishes New Standards for Future Dal Athletes

By Mike Tweedale

There is no debate that in her five years at Dal, Adrienne Power has left a mark on the athletics world. Power has collected nine medals from national university competition, including six gold. She also holds the title of Canadian female university track and field athlete of the year. With such a resume and room for more to come, Power will undoubtedly find a place amongst the most distinguished Maritime athletes ever.

At the 2005 CIS championships meet held in Winnipeg two weeks ago, an iron-chiselled 125-lbs Power arrived as the defending champion in both the 60-metre and 300m events. Despite the burden of high expectations, the reigning champ performed brilliantly and defended both titles with resounding victories. Additionally, Power shattered the fabled 300m record, blazing the distance in 37.37 seconds and eclipsing the standard set in 1987 by Jillian (Richardson) Briscoe of Calgary by an unfathomable 4/10 of a second. 

Power demonstrates the nature of her character in emphasizing the importance of team accomplishments. As a member of Dal's sprint team and sprint training group, she believes that the success of the whole year weighed on Dalhousie’s performance in the 4x200m relay.

"The 4x200 team relay at this year's nationals was the most satisfying performance of any race that I've competed in," she says. "Since preparing for it all year, it was the medal that we [the team] wanted most. The success and reputation of our program was hanging in the balance and we knew that we could do it. We knew that it takes more than just one person."

Under these conditions, the race produced the highlight of Power's Dal career.

Going into the anchor leg of the race, Dal was trailing when Alicia Dobranowski handed the baton to Power. Power had 200m to close the l0m deficit between her and the leading teams from the University of Toronto and the University of Calgary. While blistering through the final turns of her university career, her teammates gripped each other in joyous anticipation, knowing that the race was over.

Power's talents are most appreciated and best understood by fellow sprinters Dobranowski, Lauren Grant, Leanne Huck and Joanna Heathcote, who quickly smothered their leader as she crossed the finish line an incredible full second clear of the second place U of T.

With the team reputation on the line, Power ran her best. "That was the fastest I've ever seen her run," says Dan Hennigar, head coach of Dal's track and field team.

Her presence in the Dal community is not only having a profound influence on the current athletic program: her tenacious work ethic on the track and generous contribution as an ambassador for the Dalhousie School of Business will continue to have a positive effect, long after she receives her diploma and every conceivable accolade that a university athlete can earn.

Comparisons are often the measure of success, but finding success comparable to that obtained by Power during her sensational university track career requires going back to the pioneering era in women's sports from 1978 to 1982, Dal swimming sensation Susan (Mason) MacLeod collected an astonishing 17 medals, including seven gold, at the national university championships. After graduation, MacLeod was instrumental in establishing national organizations for the physically challenged, and in 1985 became the youngest inductee into the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame. In 2004, MacLeod was inducted into the Dal Sports Hall of Fame.

Al Scott, the Director of Dalhousie Athletics and Recreation Services for the past five years, has been with the university since those pioneering days of the late 1970s. He says Power's accomplishments are as impressive as anyone's.

"Adrienne Power's achievements as a student athlete have been outstanding and exemplary of someone who has dedicated themselves to their chosen field," he says. "During her five years at Dalhousie, Adrienne has been a leader in development, as well as a model athlete for all aspiring students."

Hennigar is appreciative of the contribution Power has made and agrees that the track program will profit from the residual effects of Power's career.

"We currently have one of the best female sprint programs in the country," he says. "Adrienne works harder than anyone else and produces results from which returning Dalhousie athletes have learned the value of dedication."

The training environment for female sprinters at Dal has been developing at a rapid rate over the past five years, and much of this progress has to do with Power's perseverance and commitment.

When arriving on campus as a featherweight long jumper in the fall of 2001, weighing 105-lbs, the 18-year-old Power likely didn't carry the appearance of an emerging star with her.

But that year, after fouling out of her specialty-jumping event at the national championships, the determined rookie channelled the frustration into her legs and discovered some remarkable natural talent for the speed events. She walked away from the meet with the 60m bronze medal-the first of many to come.

Indeed, Power has set some pretty lofty standards for track athletes here at Dalhousie and only those training in a program that she helped establish will be able to challenge them. Much like the standards Susan Mason set 25 years ago, Power has charted a course into new territory, contributed to the improvement of those around her and given reason for an entire athletic community to marvel in her accomplishments.

Power's success on the track has also been recognized by Athletics Canada. This recognition gives her entitlement to receive funding to pursue a career at the highest international level possible.

In April, she will join Team Canada at the Penn Relays, a renowned track and field meet in Philadelphia, which attracts many world class athletes. Additionally, Power is a candidate to join the 4x400m relay team that will be competing this August at the Athletics World Championships in Helsinki, Finland.

With all of these accomplishments Power must now decide if she will remain in Nova Scotia to train or leave and pursue her career outside of the Maritimes.

"I just don't know [what I'll do] right now," she says.

But for the first time in a while, Power isn't in a hurry.

First plublished in the Dalhousie Gazette vol 137, iss 24 on March 24, 2005