Dreams

Michelle Harrison

Michelle Harrison (nee Young) is a sprint hurdle athlete born and raised out of Saskatoon. Michelle began track and field in 2006 and was quickly hooked on the sport. She rose through the ranks competing in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and across Canada winning medals and awards along the way. In 2008 and 2009, she was the recipient of the Bob Adams U18 Track Award. She is a gold medallist at the national youth, Canada Games, university, and senior levels and represented Canada on three national teams (2009 World Youth Championships, 2014 NACAC Championships, and the 2015 World University Games). While Michelle’s athletic career up to this point had been filled with many accomplishments, she also experienced significant periods of injury and setback. However, since 2017, Michelle has been healthy and setting personal bests thanks to an old coach connection.

2022 has been a breakthrough year for Michelle. She broke the Saskatchewan 100m Hurdle record formerly held by Olympian, Brianne Theisen-Eaton, lowering it from 12.93 to 12.74, making her the 7th fastest Canadian 100m hurdler in history. She also broke the Provincial 100m record set back in 1975 lowering it from 11.50 to 11.40. She has set numerous meet records across Canada this summer. She also won the Canadian National 100m hurdle title both in 2021 and 2022. In 2022 she was named to the following Canadian National Teams:

World Indoor Championships, Belgrade Serbia (finished 15th in the world)
World Outdoor Championships, Eugene, Oregon (finished 14th in the world)
Commonwealth Games, Birmingham, England July 27-August 7 (finished 8th)
NACAC Senior Championships, Nassau, Bahamas (August 19-21)

Women Run Canada

Saskatchewan hurdler Michelle Harrison has redefined resilience for me. This 29-year-old has faced many injuries and obstacles in the sport, but she has dug deep and found a way to tap into her joy and push through. She started out running at Rice University, but after that wasn’t the right fit, she moved to Toronto to try again, and when that still didn’t feel right, she decided to come back home to Saskatoon and has been getting faster and stronger ever since. We talk about family, travel, her outstanding baking business, and her impending trip to Worlds in Eugene.

Podcast Interview

by Michelle Harrison

Jason Reindl

Jason Reindl is an athletics coach born and raised in Saskatoon. A sprint, hurdle, and relay athlete during his younger years, Jason won medals at the national U16, U18, U20, and university levels but during this time he also started coaching and quickly realized his passion and understanding for coaching far surpassed his athletic abilities. Jason has coached for numerous teams and clubs in Saskatchewan and New Brunswick. He got his first full time coaching position with the Saskatoon Track and Field Club and in 2009 was named the Bob Adams Coach of the Year. Since 2009, Jason has been a high-performance coach for the province of New Brunswick, six-time Canadian national team coach ((2017 World University Games, 2018 World U20 Championships, 2019 Pan AM U20 Championships, 2021 World U20 Championships, 2022 World U20 Championships, 2022 NACAC Championships), and is currently the head coach for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Track and Field Cross Country team. Jason took over the role of Head Coach at the UofS in 2017 and since that time the program gone on to win five Canada West Championships (2018 Womens’ Team, 2019 Womens’ Team, 2019 Mens’ Team, 2020 Womens’ Team, 2022 Womens’ Team) in track and field and has overseen the programs best results the late 90’s and early 2000’s.

Of note also, in 2022 the women’s cross country team was 5th in the country, and the womens’ track and field team placed 2nd, while the men’s track and field team placed 4th at the U Sports National Championships.

Jason has coached on 6 national teams (2017 World University Games, 2018 World U20 Championships, 2019 Pan AM U20 Championships, 2021 World U20 Championships, 2022 World U20 Championships, 2022 NACAC Championships).

In September of 2017, Michelle and Jason started working with together as athlete and coach. A tandem that previously existed back in 2006 when Michelle started the sport. With a focus on health and specific athlete development processes, Michelle has gone on to set personal bests in nearly every event she has participated in, climb the Canadian and world rankings, and prove that Saskatchewan athletes and coaches can achieve much success at home.

As a Huskie, Michelle won both the Canada West and USports 60m Hurdle races in 2019 and 2020 seasons helping the Huskies win two Canada West Championships and was instrumental in the team finishing 2^nd at nationals in 2019. She also set championship records at the Canada West (8.21s) and USports National Championship (8.15s) in 2020 on her way to being named the Canada West Female Track Athlete of the Year, USports Track Athlete of the Year, and Huskie Athletics Female Track Athlete of the Year.

While COVID may have slowed down some, Michelle continues to get faster and faster with 2022 being a breakthrough year for Michelle. She broke the Saskatchewan 100m Hurdle record formerly held by Olympian, Brianne Theisen-Eaton, lowering it from 12.93 to 12.74, making her the 7th fastest Canadian 100m hurdler in history. She also broke the Provincial 100m record set back in 1975 lowering it from 11.50 to 11.40. She has set numerous meet records across Canada this summer in Windsor, Montreal, and Guelph. She won her second Canadian National 100m hurdle title (2021 and 2022). In 2022 she was named to the following four Canadian National Teams:

World Indoor Championships, Belgrade Serbia (finished 15th in the world)
World Outdoor Championships, Eugene, Oregon (finished 14th in the world)
Commonwealth Games, Birmingham, England (finished 8th)
NACAC Senior Championships, Nassau, Bahamas (finished 5^th)

She is currently ranked 26th in the overall world rankings for the women’s 100m Hurdles with the 33rd fastest time in the world this year.

“Coming off of Michelle’s 2022 successful season, she is focused on more success for the 2023 World Outdoor Championships in Budapest, Hungary August 19-27) with the biggest goal being the 2024 Paris Olympic Games,” said Jason. Thankfully, the local community including the Bob Adams Foundation have stepped up to help financially support Michelle and Jason in Michelle’s pursuit of Olympic qualification. Michelle and Jason are extremely thankful of the support and are proud alumni of Bob Adam’s Award winners. They are positive role models to the Saskatchewan track and field community as athlete and coach and we wish them the best of luck in their pursuit.