Both
the Laurentian men's and women's cross-country teams cracked
the top ten this past weekend as 13 universities gathered
to competed at the 49th Annual Vigars and Salter Western
Invitational (8km) in London (ON) on the rolling setting
of the Thames Valley Golf Course.
Led by fourth year nursing
student Kristen Mrozewski (44th - 32:54), the Voyageurs
girls finished with 231 points, edging out the Laurier
Golden Hawks (235) to secure eighth place.
Right on the heels of the
Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School graduate was teammate Angela
Mozzon (46th - 33:00), followed by Sarah Booth (60th -
33:57), Abby Lanteigne (79th - 35:08) and Georgia Lepage
(85th - 35:53), all of whom scored for L.U.
Rounding out their women's
race lineup in London were Sudbury native Charlotte Grenier
(99th - 37:18) and Ariel Gibbons (109th - 40:08) from
Renfrew.
The Laurentian men overcame
the absence of their top runner (Keon Wallingford) due
to injury, squeezing all five counting members between
68th place and # 104 in a field of 135 athletes.
Perhaps most encouraging
is that just one of their top five is in his senior years
of studies (4th or 5th), as Brandon Radey (3rd year -
68th - 28:22), Patrick Leroux (4th year - 75th - 28:35),
Owen Roney (2nd year - 81st - 28:52), Travis Annett (3rd
year - 103rd - 29:55) and freshman TJ Green (104th - 30:02)
helped Laurentian to a 9th place team finish.
Also racing for the L.U.
men were Renato Zegarra (115th - 30:41), Alan Wilkin (128th
- 32:27) and Patrick Wiss (131st - 33:47).
"The temperature jumped
to around 30 degrees Celsius by the time the women raced
today, so I was pleased with how we managed the heat",
noted Vees head coach Darren Jermyn. "Despite the
warm temperatures, several of our veterans ran to new
lifetime bests on this course."
"That's a good indication
of our current fitness", he added. "Both squads
are ahead of where they were last year so we'll look to
build upon that as the season continues."
The Voyageurs return to action
next weekend, tackling a six kilometres circuit at the
Don Mills Open at the University of Waterloo.
|
219.jpg)
