Alumni Spotlight

Track and field athlete Duckman has recorded a stellar season for the Western Mustangs. The first-year student at the university’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry won gold in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) 300m race in February, and silver in the same category at the U Sports national championship in March, along with gold in the 4 x 200m.  

Having participated in track for the past four years at Western — where he also received his Bachelor of Medical Sciences — Duckman has greatly improved his results after a nagging hamstring injury. 

“That hindered my training, and I wasn’t able to get back to full strength,” he says. “I was focusing on the 600m, because my hamstring couldn’t handle the speed [of the 300m]. Being healthy has been a big factor, as well as being able to train hard for the last two years, and being smart with nutrition and recovery.”

Duckman played a key role in Western claiming the U Sports men’s championship. (It also won the women’s.) He was bested in the 300m only by his teammate, Aaron Thompson, a fellow Western med student who is also his friend, roommate and training partner. When Duckman crossed the finish line — a mere 0.12 seconds after Thompson — he flashed a big smile.   

“I was happy I was able to bring back a medal for Western, but also I was happy for Aaron, because I know how hard he works, and I see it every day,” he says. 

Of all these milestones, he ranks the 4 x 200m — which he ran with Thompson, Robbie Menzies and Ayden Blain — as the most special. 

“It’s always nice being part of a team,” he says. “It takes me back to UCC and that ‘never walk alone’ mentality. Being part of the UCC soccer and hockey team environments and achieving goals with my best friends and brothers is the greatest feeling.” 

Another great feeling, he adds, was having his UCC coach, Christian Heffernan, on hand at the U Sports Championships in Windsor to cheer him on. Heffernan was also a Western track star, and went on to play with both MLB’s Atlanta Braves in its farm system and for the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts. 

“He was an unbelievable coach,” Duckman says. “He is such a tremendous athlete, and hearing his stories about his career at Western and afterwards was inspirational and motivational. He’s someone I tried to work hard for, and I attribute a lot of my success in high school and even now to those UCC practices at 7 a.m.”

Heffernan recalls Duckman as a strong runner for the College.  

“In his last year, he was a cornerstone of our 4 x 400m team,” the coach recalls. “He squeezed a lot out of his potential. He had hit his growth spurt for height, but hadn’t yet filled out, so he didn’t have the strength of some of the other runners. But he had a huge heart, and was able to put down some pretty good times in the 400m and the relay.”

Now both Duckman and Heffernan sit on Western’s all-time top 10 list for fastest speeds in the 300m. 

Duckman has been selected to compete in the 200m and 4 x 400m at the FISU World University Games in Germany in July, and will be eligible to run for Western for one more year. Beyond that, the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles are approaching. 

“If I keep getting better, maybe I’ll have a future in track and field and can represent Canada on the national stage,” he says. “For now, I’m going to focus on these short-term goals and try to improve as much as I can.”