Cross Country
Women’s Race: Host Gaels crowned champions, claim first national title at home in Kingston
For the second straight year, it was the Calgary Dinos atop the team podium in Kingston scoring 63 points for the championship banner.
In an extremely tight race, Calgary repeated as U SPORTS national champions as Russell Pennock (30:55.2) and Matthew Travaglini (30:58.4) finished in third and fourth place respectively.
🏃💨 FINISH LINE:#ChaseTheGlory | #ViserHaut@USPORTSca @AthleticsCanada @queensu pic.twitter.com/OlepfBZLey
— U SPORTS Cross Country (@USPORTS_XC) November 9, 2019
“I think we just had to be prepared the best we could so we just had to commit to the plan today and execute. Whatever’s meant to be happened and we came out on top this year,” said Dinos head coach Doug Lamont, who was named Fox 40 Coach of the Year.
“It’s been a great group of athletes that we have and I’ve been lucky enough to work with (them), so we will have to rebuild again next year and see what we can do.”
UBC’s Kieran Lumb (30:41.8) won the competition and was trailed by silver medalist Mitchell Ubene (30:49.3) and Pennock, who rounded out the podium.
“I’m really proud of everyone on our team, the coaches, everyone has done such a great job this year and it’s nice to see the results pay off,” said Lumb, the U SPORTS Athlete of the Year as individual champion. “All the work that I’ve done in the last two months really allowed me to stay comfortable and really relaxed through that first nine kilometres or so and really push hard at the end.”
In a tight battle for second overall, the McMaster Marauders (82 points) narrowly edged the Guelph Gryphons (82 points), as McMaster’s fifth-place runner Evan Ubene’s time of 32:13.1 provided the Marauders with the advantage to break the tie between the two OUA powerhouses.
The Marauders posted three runners within the top 10, as Alex Drover came in fifth (30:59.3), followed closely behind by Max Turek (31:01.9) in sixth and Andrew Davies (31:08.8) finished in ninth.
The host Queen’s Gaels finished in seventh place, as Mitch de Lange rounded out the top 10 with a 10th-place result (31:09.8) earning a spot with the Second Team All-Canadians.