VICTORIA – For the first time since 2008, the University of Calgary Dinos men's cross country team is Canada West champions.
The 2017 Canadian university cross country season came to a close Sunday in Victoria, as the U SPORTS national championships were staged at Beacon Hill Park. The event, which doubled as the Canada West conference championship, returned to Western Canada for the first time in a decade, as the University of Victoria welcomed the nation's top university runners for the men's 10 km race and the women's 8 km race.
The Dinos finished second overall in the U SPORTS team standings.
Russell Pennock played a major role in the Dinos' success, as the third-year runner posted a time of 31:36.35 – tops in CW, and fourth nationally.
"It's pretty cool, I am just thankful that I can race because last year I got a stress fracture and missed out on nationals and it was gut-wrenching so just to be out here competing was awesome," said Pennock.
Thanks to his CW best time, Pennock earned the title of 2017 CW Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Year.
Topping the national team standings on the men's side were the Guelph Gryphons with 57 points, while the Toronto Varsity Blues captured the women's national title with 73 points.
Guelph's victory marked the first for the men's program since 2014, while Toronto's win on the women's side snapped a 12-year run by Guelph as national champs.
In terms of Canada West content, the host Victoria Vikes were the 2017 women's conference champions. Led by Alison Hooper, who finished fourth in CW with a time of 29:02.18, the Vikes earned their first CW title since 2012 and finished fourth nationally.
For the women, no CW runner was better than Trinity Western's Regan Yee, who was the 2017 CW Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Year after her time of 27:54.95, which was good for fourth nationally.
The Dinos women's cross country team finished fourth in CW and 10th nationally. The team's top performer was
Melissa Jones, who placed second in the conference and eighth nationally.
Also earning CW awards thanks to their performances were Brandon Vail (men's - 32:01.79) and Jouen Chang (women's – 30:25.68) as the conference's top rookies.
The conference's gold medal winning coaches were also named as Canada West award winners, with Calgary's Doug Lamont earning the men's award, and Victoria's Brent Fougner taking home the women's award.
"It went pretty well as we planned. We knew what we had to do and knew that on any given day we were capable of taking home a trophy," said Lamont.
"Both Russell and Alex (James) ran the way we knew they could run. Actually the whole team ran the way we were hoping they would on the day. It was a great day for us."
Rounding out the CW major award winners were Regina's Adam Strueby and Alberta's Danae Keddie, as the 2017 Student-Athlete Community Service Award winners.
CANADA WEST MEN'S AWARD WINNERS
ATHLETE OF THE YEAR - Russell Pennock
Calgary Dinos
Calgary, Alta.
3rd-year
Kinesiology
Time: 31:36.35
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR - Brandon Vail
Victoria Vikes
Edmonton, Alta.
Engineering
Time: 32:01.79
COACH OF THE YEAR - Doug Lamont
Calgary Dinos
STUDENT-ATHLETE COMMUNITY SERVICE - Adam Strueby
Regina Cougars
Regina, Sask.
5th-year
Kinesiology and Health Studies
CANADA WEST MEN'S ALL-STARS
First Team All-Stars Men:
NAME / SCHOOL / YEAR / TIME
Russell Pennock / University of Calgary / 3 / 31:36.35
Alexander James / University of Calgary / 3 / 31:37.41
Declan White / Trinity Western University / 5 / 31:50.24
Stefan Daniel / University of Calgary / 2 / 31:51.67
Brandon Vail / University of Victoria / 1 / 32:01.79
Adam Strueby / University of Regina / 5 / 32:03.42
Caleb De Jong / Trinity Western University / 4 / 32:03.71
Second Team All-Stars Men:
NAME / SCHOOL / YEAR / TIME
Benjamin Weir / University of Victoria / 4 / 32:05.51
Eric Lutz / University of Calgary / 1 / 32:05.55
Ryan Grieco / University of Calgary / 4 / 32:10.61
Joshua Kozelj / University of Victoria / 2 / 32:18.07
Alexander Eiswerth / University of Regina / 3 / 32:22.25
Kieran McDonald / University of Alberta / 5 / 32:23.02
Marc Turmel / University of Regina / 4 / 32:25.49
CANADA WEST WOMEN'S AWARD WINNERS
ATHLETE OF THE YEAR - Regan Yee
Trinity Western Spartans
South Hazelton, B.C.
5th-year
Time: 27:54.95
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR - Jouen Chang
Trinity Western Spartans
Langley, B.C.
Sciences
Time: 30:25.68
COACH OF THE YEAR - Brent Fougner
Victoria Vikes
STUDENT-ATHLETE COMMUNITY SERVICE - Danae Keddie
Alberta Pandas
Whitecourt, Alta.
2nd-year
Science
CANADA WEST WOMEN'S ALL-STARS
First Team All-Stars Women:
NAME / SCHOOL / YEAR / TIME
Regan Yee / Trinity Western University / 5 / 27:54.95
Melissa Jones / University of Calgary / 3 / 28:24.69
Courtney Hufsmith / University of Saskatchewan / 2 / 28:52.88
Alison Hooper / University of Victoria / 3 / 29:02.18
Paula Findlay / University of Alberta / 3 / 29:07.85
Chloe Hegland / University of Victoria / 4 / 29:14.37
Emma Edmonds / University of Victoria / 2 / 30:13.27
Second Team All-Stars Women:
NAME / SCHOOL / YEAR / TIME
Chloe Hewitt / University of Victoria / 2 / 30:18.38
Hannah Leggatt / MacEwan University / 3 / 30:19.33
Jouen Chang / Trinity Western University / 1 / 30:25.68
Emma Bibault / University of Victoria / 4 / 30:27.96
Mikaela Smart / Trinity Western University / 3 / 30:30.06
Anushree Patel / University of Alberta / 3 / 30:32.10
Joanna Williams / Trinity Western University / 3 / 30:41.91
