KINGSTON, Ont. – The University of Guelph Gryphons once again dominated the CIS Cross Country Championships, while the Calgary Dinos fell short in their quest to defend their Canada West titles.
The Dinos finished sixth overall on the women's side and fourth in Canada West, while the Dinos men were fifth in the CIS standings and second in the Canada West race.
Riley McQueen was the Dinos' top finisher in the women's 5km race, crossing the line in 31st position in 18:21.3.
Faye Stenning (39th),
Debby Querengesser (42nd) and
Katie Fenton (45th) also scored for Calgary in the team standings. Fenton, a native of New Zealand, earned Canada West rookie-of-the-year honours after crossing the line in 15th position in the women's standings at the conference level.
For the Dinos men,
Matt Cloutier's 22nd-place finish in 32:28.2 was the standard, with
Scott Nicol (25th),
Ryan Russell (52nd), and
Sam Dorosz (60th) rounding out the top four. Nicol and Cloutier finished 7-8 in the Canada West standings.
Regina won its first-ever conference banner in men's cross country, with the Victoria Vikes grabbing the Canada West women's title.
The Guelph women's squad won its fifth straight national title, while the men earned their fourth straight title on Saturday afternoon at Fort Henry Hill in Kingston, Ont. The Gryphons proved they are in a class of their own, having won both team titles for the fourth straight year.
The Gryphons became the most successful team in CIS history with the most CIS banners captured by a single school with 15. Guelph has obtained nine men's and six women's titles. The Gryphons entered the event tied with the University of Victoria at 13.
The Guelph women also entered the history books becoming the first team in CIS cross country to earn five straight championship banners. The women were crowned for the fifth consecutive season today, beating a CIS mark set by Western Ontario from 1981 to 1984, equalled by Victoria from 1998 to 2001.
The Gryphon men claimed their fourth straight banner and eighth banner in 11 years. Overall it is Guelph's ninth banner since the inaugural men's championship was held in 1963, tying a CIS all-time record for most national titles with the Toronto Varsity Blues.
On the men's side, the Gryphons cruised through the 10-kilometre race finishing with 31 points. Windsor was second with 92-points and St.FX was third at 170. Three Guelph teammates were among the first five runners to cross the finish line, including individual champion Matt Brunsting of Stirling, Ont. who earned back-to-back CIS gold medals. Brunsting finished the course with an impressive time of 30:34.3.
The silver medal went to Guelph's Kyle Boorsma of Guelph, Ont. with a time of 30:44.8, while University of Regina's Kelly Wiebe was third at 30:49.8.
Matt Hulse of Kingston, Ont. was the top runner from host Queen's University placing 17th
The Guelph women won with a 57-point tally blowing away the competition as the Toronto Varsity Blues were second at 144-points and the McMaster Marauders third with 147 points.
Toronto's Megan Brown from Guelph, Ont. claimed back-to-back CIS gold medals and her third title in four years, winning in 2006, 2007 and 2009. She completed the five-kilomentre event with a time of 16:55.9.
“I wanted to run under 17 minutes,” said Brown. “I went in today very strong. I decided that I was going to dictate the race and I ran aggressive from the start which is what I wanted to do. This course is always good to me. I'm very excited to finish my university career off here and to win is great.”
Guelph's Lindsay Carson of Kitchener, Ont. led the Gryphons contingent and finished second overall with a time of 17:14.3. In a race for the third and final podium spot, University of Sherbrooke's Valerie Belanger finished with a time of 17:23.1 edging out Toronto's Erin McClure by less than one second at 17:23.9.
Brown and Brunsting earned athlete-of-the-year honours for the second straight season, while Guelph's Genevieve Lalonde of Moncton, NB and Regina's Wyatt Baiton of Lumsden, SK were named CIS female and male rookies of the year after they both finished ninth and 13th respectively. Head coach Dave Scott-Thomas of the University of Guelph was named the male and female Coach of the Year.
Host Queen's University finished seventh in the men's competition and 10th in the women's. Leah Laroqcuqe of Ottawa was the top Gael on the women's side finishing 33rd.
The event saw 25 schools compete, featuring 323 student-athletes from across Canada.
On Friday morning, the CIS announced the Student-Athlete Community Service Awards. Gwendolyn Muir (Knowlton, Que) of Dalhousie University and Matt Hulse (Kingston, Ont.) of Queen's University were named this year's recipients. Calgary's
Sam Dorosz earned the Canada West student-athlete award.
Fort Henry Hill will be the site of the FISU World University Cross Country Championship set for Saturday, April 11, 2010. Officials from FISU were on hand to conduct a progress update and officially pass the FISU banner to organizers during today's event.
For all the info on the CIS Cross Country Championship including complete results: www.cis-sic.ca
The top seven finishers in the women's and men's races earn first-team All-Canadian status. Finishers eight through 14 are second-team CIS all-stars.
WOMEN'S RESULTS (5 km)
Team standings
1. Guelph, 57
2. Toronto, 144
3. McMaster, 147
4. Victoria, 178
5. Alberta, 210
6. Calgary, 213
7. Manitoba, 218
8. St. Francis Xavier, 227
9. Laval, 232
10. Queen's, 237
11. Windsor, 251
12. Saskatchewan, 293
13. Dalhousie, 306
14. Sherbrooke, 307
15. Western, 317
16. McGill, 353
17. Laurentian, 467
18. Concordia, 568
19. RMC, 626
Individual honours
Athlete of the year: Megan Brown, Toronto
Rookie of the year: Genevieve Lalonde, Guelph
Student-Athlete Community Service Award: Gwendolyn Muir, Dalhousie
Coach of the year: Dave Scott-Thomas, Guelph
First All-Canadian team
1. 16:55.9 – Megan Brown, Toronto
2. 17:14.3 – Lindsay Carson, Guelph
3. 17.23.1 – Valerie Belanger, Sherbrooke
4. 17:23.9 – Erin McClure, Toronto
5. 17:24.2 – Jessica Pearo, McMaster
6. 17:30.0 – Tamara Jewett, Toronto
7.17:30.3 – Jodi Souter, Saskatchewan
Second All-Canadian team
8. 17:32.3 – Rachel Cliff, Guelph
9. 17:33.7 – Genevieve Lalonde, Guelph
10. 17:34.3 – Ashley Ryer, Saint Mary's
11. 17:34.4 – Catherine Cormier, Laval
12. 17:37.9 – Caroline Schlosser, Dalhousie
13. 17:40.9 – Lynn Mockler, Western
14. 17:41.0 – Dayna Pidhoresky, Windsor
MEN'S RESULTS (10 km)
Team standings
1. Guelph, 31
2. Windsor, 92
3. St.Francis Xavier, 170
4. Regina, 186
5. Calgary, 222
6. Alberta, 225
7. Queen's, 227
8. Western, 242
9. McMaster, 243
10. Sherbrooke, 251
11. Victoria, 252
12. Toronto, 280
13. Dalhousie, 341
14. Laval, 343
15. Manitoba, 361
16. Laurier, 459
17. Concordia, 462
18. Saskatchewan, 495
19. RMC, 600
Individual honours
Athlete of the year: Matt Brunsting, University of Guelph
Rookie of the year: Wyatt Baiton, University of Regina
Student-Athlete Community Service Award: Matt Hulse, Queen's University
Coach of the year: Dave Scott-Thomas, University of Guelph
First All-Canadian team
1. 30:34.3 – Matt Brunsting, Guelph
2. 30:44.8 – Kyle Boorsma, Guelph
3. 30:49.8 – Kelly Wiebbe, Regina
4. 30:54.3 – Dave Weston, Windsor
5. 30:57.9 – Allan Brett, Guelph
6. 31:01.8 – Matt Pieterson, Victoria
7. 31:32.1 – Russell Christie, Dalhousie
Second All-Canadian team
8. 31:34.0 – Adam Kellar, Windsor
9. 31:37.9 – Johannes Mallie, Victoria
10. 31:42.0 – Kyle O'Neill, Western
11. 31:43.9 – Nigel Wray, Guelph
12. 31:49.2 – John Parrott, Guelph
13. 31:59.9 – Wyatt Baiton, Regina
14. 32:13.0 – Bagdad Rachem, Sherbrooke
Full Results:
Women :
http://www.sportstats.ca/display-results.php?lang=eng&racecode=45510
Women Team:
http://results.sportstats.ca/res2009/ciswt.htm
Men:
http://www.sportstats.ca/display-results.php?lang=eng&racecode=45927
Men Team:
http://results.sportstats.ca/res2009/cismt.htm
About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Fifty-two universities, 10,000 student-athletes and 550 coaches vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca.
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