Lakers cross-country in London
This past weekend, Nipissing’s men’s and women’s Lakers Cross-Country teams raced in the 38th annual Western International race at Thames Valley Golf Course in London, Ontario. Under cool and overcast skies the Lakers toed the line with 122 men in the 8km event and 136 women in the 5km event.
Guelph stole the individual and team titles on the men’s side, followed closely by Windsor and Laval. McMaster University upset the perennial national champion Guelph to take the team title on the women’s side, with Western finishing 3rd overall. The Lakers finished 14th overall in the men’s competition.
In the women’s team competition, Nipissing finished 15th, just off the pace of Brock, Laurier, Concordia and Laurentian. What the results don’t show, however, is that Nipissing has continued to improve at the Western International each year, posting an improvement in the average pace of the top-5 scoring runners in both the men’s and women’s races.
Nipissing’s top racer on the day in the women’s race was 2nd-year athlete Stephanie Leggat (21:22) in 105th place overall and the fourth fastest Laker time on the course since we began in 2007. Team captain Felicia Saunders (108th, 21:32) and Amy Claridge (112th, 21:38) were only seconds behind and in the top-6 fastest Laker times recorded in London. Melissa McKiel battled through some physical ailments to finish in 130th (22:30) followed by Brianna Yard (133rd, 22:59) to round out the top five scorers.
In the men’s race, second-year BPHE student Terry Doiron was the fastest Laker of the day, finishing 87th in 28:03. For the first time in 38 years, the Western International distance was 8km for men instead of 10km, so no school records yet exist; thus Doiron officially claims the first 8km record for London. Team captain Jordan Scott (109th, 29:45) and rookie Matt Chalmers (113th, 30:12) were second and third for the team, with Kevin Durkee (118th, 32:13 and finishing in barefeet no less!) and Brandon Brown (121st, 32:54) completing the top five scorers.
The Lakers will compete again on October 4 at Thompson Park for a practice intrasquad event before their next major competition, on October 12, at the Vic Matthews Open in Guelph.