Reddy leads Tigers to 9th place finish
Michelle Reddy placed 19th at the U SPORTS Cross Country Championships, leading the Tigers to a ninth place team finish.
The Tigers women's team placed ninth at the 2018 U SPORTS Cross Country Championships hosted by Queen's University.
INDIVIDUAL FINISHES
WOMEN
19. Michelle Reddy
20. Savanna Jordan
41. Sophia Watts
101. Ellen Chappell
103. Georgia Waller
131. Jessica Needham
141. Olivia Ross
MEN
78. James Cromack
99. Bryn Smith
DNF Callum Drever
Official Event Recaps
KINGSTON, Ont. (U SPORTS) – It was a close race throughout but in the end the Laval Rouge et Or claimed their first U SPORTS Women's Cross Country Championship – becoming the first RSEQ school to capture the banner - on Saturday afternoon at Fort Henry Hill in Kingston, Ont.
Laval finished with two individual medalists as Aurélie Dubé-Lavoie and Catherine Beauchemin claimed the silver and bronze medals individually. Combined with two more All-Canadians in Anne-Marie Comeau and Jessy Lacourse and a 37th place finish from rookie Jade Bérube gave Laval the top spot with a total of 55 points. The Rouge et Or finished seven points ahead of second-place Queen's and 53 points ahead of third-place Guelph.
"We're really happy. It's our first time winning a national championship," said Laval head coach Félix-Antoine Lapointe "The team has improved a lot over the past two years. We did the race we had to do to have a shot to win. I'm really proud of the girls, they raced hard and smart, they improved in all of the places they needed to in the last half of the race.
"We like competing here (at Fort Henry), the course is great but of course the weather was not easy, a lot of wind and it was cold. We've been training in this kind of weather in Quebec City over the past couple of weeks so the girls were ready to run fast even with the weather not being easy."
The host Queen's Gaels, who had been ranked No.1 all season fell just short of the national title with a team total of 62. The individual national champion was also a rookie as rookie Brogan MacDougall ran a 27:48.6 to claim the gold medal. Her sister, Branna, was close behind with a ninth-place finish for the Gaels.
Brogan not only finished as the Athlete of the Year but was also the top rookie for the women.
Following the race, the U SPORTS All-Canadians and major award winners were presented and included Lapointe, who took home Coach of the Year honours.
Team Standings
- Laval, 55
- Queen's, 62
- Guelph, 108
- UBC, 191
- McGill, 195
- Victoria, 206
- Trinity Western, 224
- Calgary, 227
- Dalhousie, 277
- Laurentian, 306
- Montreal, 376
- StFX, 381
- Toronto, 386
- Western, 389
- McMaster, 402
- Sherbrooke, 417
- Saskatchewan, 450
- Laurier, 501
- Regina, 596
- Manitoba, 701
First Team All-Canadians
1. Brogan MacDougall, Queen's (27:48.6)
2. Aurélie Dubé-Lavoie, Laval (28:02.1)
3. Catherine Beauchemin, Laval (28:05.4)
4. Danielle Jossinet, Guelph (28:11.8)
5. Melissa Jones, Calgary (28:28.7)
6. Anne-Marie Comeau, Laval (28:31.8)
7. Jessy Lacourse, Laval (28:33.5)
Second Team All-Canadians
8. Alison Irvine, Victoria (28:34.0)
9. Branna MacDougall, Queen's (28:45.8)
10. Hannah Woodhouse, Guelph (28:49.4)
11. Courtney Hufsmith, Saskatchewan (29:00.4)
12. Meggie Dargis, McGill (29:01.2)
13. Makenna Fitzgerald, Queen's (29:07.5)
14. Nicola Symonds, UBC (29:09.6)
Major Award Winners
Athlete of the Year: Brogan MacDougall, Queen's
Rookie of the Year: Brogan MacDougall, Queen's
Student-Athlete Community Service Award: Alison Irvine, Victoria
Coach of the Year: Félix-Antoine Lapointe, Laval
MEN
KINGSTON, Ont. (U SPORTS) – The Calgary Dinos finished with a strong team showing across their top five to claim their first U SPORTS national championship in cross country as athletes battled strong winds in Kingston, Ont., at Fort Henry Hill.
A balanced attack that included the individual bronze medal going to Russell Pennock saw the Dinos climb to the top of the podium for U SPORTS gold.
Calgary finished with three All-Canadians in the race as Pennock was followed close behind by Eric Lutz in ninth and Stefan Daniel in 10th. Ryan Grieco (21st) and Tyler Kiyonaga (32nd) rounded out the top five for Calgary as they finished with a team score of 75 which was 14 points ahead of second-place Guelph and 19 ahead of third place McMaster.
"It's quite amazing that the guys were able to do this. I'm really proud of them, they showed up, aimed towards a national championship and did everything they could," said Dinos head coach Doug Lamont. "In cross country, nothing's typical. Everybody has to deal with the conditions and our guys showed up today prepared to compete and did it all. It wasn't any one individual who made it all happen for us it was because all seven of us stepped up on the day."
The U SPORTS men's champion was Connor Black from the Guelph Gryphons who ran the 10km race in a time of 31:13, which included a tight sprint down the finish as he fended off silver medalist Jean-Simon Desgagnés of the Laval Rouge et Or by a fraction of a second.
"There's no words," said Black, the U SPORTS Cross Country Male Athlete of the Year. "I told myself I was going to let things play into my hands and I went out there and capitalized. The weather was fine, just had to hang back early and then hang in for the rest of the race."
The host Queen's Gaels were still able to come away with some hardware as Ruben Sansom took home the Rookie of the Year honours, while Lamont was named the Coach of the Year.
Team Standings
- Calgary, 75
- Guelph, 89
- McMaster, 94
- Laval, 131
- Queen's, 149
- Western, 173
- UBC, 235
- Trinity Western, 242
- Victoria, 243
- Toronto, 279
- Manitoba, 331
- StFX, 344
- Laurentian, 385
- Alberta, 405
- Sherbrooke, 427
- Regina, 540
- Laurier, 541
- UQAM, 650
- Montreal, 700
First Team All-Canadians
1. Connor Black, Guelph (31:13.0)
2. Jean-Simon Desgagnés, Laval (31:13.6)
3. Russell Pennock, Calgary (31:16.2)
4. John Gay, UBC (31:17.0)
5. Isaiah Frelink, Western (31:18.5)
6. Caleb De Jong, Trinity Western (31:25.3)
7. Nick Colyn, Trinity Western (31:28.3)
Second Team All-Canadians
8. Jack Sheffar, Western (31:33.1)
9. Eric Lutz, Calgary (31:34.1)
10. Stefan Daniel, Calgary (31:36.7)
11. Max Turek, McMaster (31:38.0)
12. Mitchell de Lange, Queen's (31:42.0)
13. Alexis Lepage, Laval (31:44.0)
14. Alex Drover, McMaster (31:45.1)
Award Winners
Athlete of the Year: Connor Black, Calgary
Rookie of the Year: Ruben Sansom, Queen's
Student-Athlete Community Service Award: Craig Klomp, Toronto
Coach of the Year: Doug Lamont, Calgary