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2010 Canada West CIS cross country preview
Alberta Golden Bears & Pandas
2009 CIS Men: 6th
Last CW Men’s Title: 1997
Last CIS Men’s Title: 1980
2009 CIS Women: 5th
Last CW Women’s Title: 2004
Last CIS Women’s Title: N/A
EDMONTON - The Alberta cross-country teams are headed to the CIS
national championships, November 13-14 at Sherbrooke University,
where the men will compete over a distance of 10 km, while the
women will race 5 km.
Head coach Georgette Reed currently has both of her Alberta teams
in the CIS top 10 - the Pandas are ranked No. 6 in the country,
while the Golden Bears are nationally No. 9.
As there is no conference championship in cross-country, the CIS
meet also serves as the Canada West event as well, meaning the top
placing Canada West teams will take home the conference banner.
The Pandas are poised to improve on a fifth-place national finish.
Hayley Degaust, Danika Medinski and Alana Soderberg are key
returnees, while Nicole Soderberg, Jessica Van Soest and Sarah
Bergeron-Larouche are the newcomers.
One wild card for the Pandas team is the possible inclusion of
Canadian triathlon star Paula Findlay, who ran for the Pandas in
2007 and 2008, but took the 2009 season off to train with the
Canadian national program.
The Golden Bears, meanwhile, finished sixth at last season’s
CIS championship, and also grabbed Canada West bronze, finishing
behind Regina and Calgary, respectively.
Five runners from that team are on the 2010 squad, as the Bears
will be led by Joel Lauzon, Graeme Law, Maxime Leboeuf, Jaden
Ostapowich and Jamie Weikum.
Sean Hawryluk and Patrick Kong have made the CIS team this year as well, and look to bolster the Bears to a higher finish in Sherbrooke.
Calgary Dinos
2009 CIS Men: 5th
Last CW Men’s Title: 2008
Last CIS Men’s Title: N/A
2009 CIS Women: 6th
Last CW Women’s Title: 2008
Last CIS Women’s Title: 2003
CALGARY – The Dinos cross-country teams are anticipating
strong performances Saturday at the 2010 CIS cross country
championships in Sherbrooke, Que.
Both the Canada West and CIS titles are being contested for, and
Dinos head coach Doug Lamont is optimistic about his team’s
chances.
Calgary has taken the team titles at all three events that they have participated in this season, and would love to reclaim the Canada West titles that the men and women last won in 2008.
The men’s team enters the championships ranked fourth in the country and second in Canada West, one spot behind the Victoria Vikes. Seniors Scott Nicol and Matt Cloutier lead the charge, and both will be striving to achieve All-Canadian status. Nicol will attempt to build on a tremendous season that includes podium finishes at the Saskatoon and Spokane events, while the steadily progressing Cloutier hopes that he has saved his best for last.
The team also boasts a duo of intriguing rookies in Curtis Merry and Gareth Hadfield. Merry is a cross-country skier pursuing CIS Rookie of the Year honours. Hadfield, a Team Canada member at the World Youth Championships in steeplechase, is coming of his strongest performance of the year at the Stewart Cup in Calgary.
Bradley Bickley, Samuel Dorosz, and Spencer Pootz round out the men’s contingent that will try to better last year’s fifth-place finish.
Faye Stenning and Madeline MacDonald pace a women’s team that is ranked fourth in CIS and second in Canada West – also behind the University of Victoria. Stenning is at the top of her game and has earned a pair of runner-up finishes, and MacDonald is eager to excel after two top-five finishes. Like Nicol and Cloutier, All-Canadian finishes are a strong possibility for both
Emma Hahn, Gloria Kanuka, Grace Kary, Cassandra Maier, and Deborah Querengesser complete the squad and provide considerable experience.
Manitoba Bisons
2009 CIS Men: 15th
Last CW Men’s Title: 1989
Last CIS Men’s Title: N/A
2009 CIS Women: 7th
Last CW Women’s Title: 2002
Last CIS Women’s Title: N/A
WINNIPEG - The Bison men’s cross country team have only two
of five members from last season’s squad who ran at the CIS
championships.
This season has already been an improvement from last year. The team has been buoyed by the performances of two rookies (Sam Vincent, Thomas Miller) and the return of veteran Paul Carr for his fifth and final season with Manitoba. Vincent has steadily improved during the season and has huge potential as evident when he nipped Carr for first place at the Chris McCubbins Provincial Championship. Miller and second year Calvary deJong have continued to run faster throughout the season. Fifth-year Adam Penner and fourth-year Colin Shepherd have previous CIS championship experience, plus third-year Elliott Cooke will gain experience at his first Nationals
Head coach Claude Berube believes a top 10 finish is attainable and has expectations for Carr to be a top 25 finisher and conference First Team All-Star while deJong and Vincent to push for a conference All-Star team.
The Bison women’s cross country team has five of seven returning members from last season’s team who competed at the CIS championships.
The Bison women’s squad is led by 2009 Canada West First Team All-Star Melanie Gregoire. She looks to improve on her 24th finish last season.
The team has good depth, as all other runners will battle to be in the top five for Manitoba. Fourth-year Lacey Ginter was a conference All-Star last season. Third-year Alice Sherwin has past CIS National experience, while fourth-year Nicole Barrett has another year of experience and results to prepare for her second Nationals. Fourth-year Alex Bell, second-year Nicole Dubois and second-year Sara Weselake have all steadily improved this season.
Regina Cougars
2009 CIS Men: 4th
Last CW Men’s Title: 2009
Last CIS Men’s Title: N/A
2009 CIS Women: N/A
Last CW Women’s Title: N/A
Last CIS Women’s Title: N/A
REGINA - The University of Regina men’s cross country team enters the CIS championships as the reigning Canada West champions after recording their first conference title last November. The Cougars were ranked No. 6 in this week’s CIS Top 10.
Three members of the 2009 squad return for the Cougars this season, including Kelly Wiebe, who finished in third place in the overall standings at last year’s nationals and has finished in first place in four of the team’s five meets this season. Wiebe’s impressive resume includes a win in the Division II category of the Roy Griak Invitational, where he placed first out of a field of 334 runners.
Iain Fyfe and Dale Wig are the other two returning members from last year’s team. Fyfe has been running strong behind Wiebe all season long, while Wig will be making his fifth and final appearance at the CIS championships.
Matt Johnson and Michael Middlemiss will both run for the Cougars as rookies, while third-year runner Marc Beaton will compete in his first national meet.
Lisa Benz will represent the U of R’s women’s team as an individual.
Saskatchewan Huskies
2009 CIS Men: 18th
Last CW Men’s Title: 1979
Last CIS Men’s Title: 1968
2009 CIS Women: 12th
Last CW Women’s Title: N/A
Last CIS Women’s Title: N/A
SASKATOON - The University of Saskatchewan Huskie cross country team has built on strong finishes at competitions throughout 2010 and are poised to have success at the CIS championship.
With three first place finishes and two in second at non-conference races earlier this year, the women’s cross country team will look to improve on the fifth-place Canada West finish and 12th CIS finish from one year ago.
With the departure of Jodi Souter, Caitlin Warkentin will be asked to the lead the Huskies. Winning both the Regina hosted Cougar Trot and Saskatchewan hosted Huskie Open, Warkentin also finished first among University athletes at the Stewart Cup in Calgary. She has twice been a Canada West First Team All-Star and once a Second Team All-Star. In 2009, she finished fourth in the Canada West and 18th in the CIS in a time of 17:50.2
Also competing for the Huskie women’s squad will be fourth-year athletes Marcia Richards, Christine Foth and Erin Humphreys, as well as first-year athlete’s Paule Bertholet, Joanne Traves and Rachel Edwards. Richards is the only other Huskie athlete with CIS Championship experience.
For the second straight year, the Huskies will enter a men’s team. Last year was the first time since 2004, the men entered as a team entry. They finished sixth in the Canada West and 18th in the CIS.
Led by veteran fifth-year athlete Matt Mazurik, who finished 31st in the conference and 115th in the CIS, the Huskies look to improve on that performance. Samir Marin, who finished 30th in the conference and 109th in the CIS last year, has had the best results so far this season for the Huskies. Finishing sixth in the Stewart Cup, fifth in the Huskie Open and third at the Cougar Trot.
Also joining the Huskie men’s team first year athletes Cuylar Conly, Eric Mueller and John Patrick Waslen as well as third-year Riley Magee and fourth-year Stephane Gerard. Gerard is the only other competitor with CIS experience. He finished 23rd in the Canada West and 75th in the CIS in 2009.
Trinity Western Spartans
2009 CIS Men: N/A
Last CW Men’s Title: N/A
Last CIS Men’s Title: N/A
2009 CIS Women: N/A
Last CW Women’s Title: N/A
Last CIS Women’s Title: N/A
LANGLEY, B.C. - The Trinity Western Spartans return to the CIS cross country circuit for the first time since 2002.
Trinity Western competed in four events this year, which included the Whistler Spirit Run, the Western Washington tune-up race, the Western Washington Invitational and the B.C. Athletics Club Championships. After the four events, the Spartans have seen Marissa Ratzlaff from the women’s side and Mihai Prajea from the men’s side emerge as the consistent team leaders.
Raztlaff, who last year played for Trinity Western’s women’s soccer team, most recently finished 11th at the B.C. Athletics Club Championships where she posted a time of 25:47.01 in the 6km race.
Prajea has been the Spartans top male runner since his first race at the Western Washington tune-up in Bellingham, WA where he posted a time of 28:10 in the 8km event. Most recently, at the B.C. Athletics Club Championship, Prajea finished 12th with a time of 37:50.28 in the 10km race.
One other female, Kendra Peters, and five other males, Gary Cymbaluk, Drew Gibson, David Kostelyk, Andrew Ott and Christopher Voth, will run in Sherbrooke.
Victoria Vikes
2009 CIS Men: 11th
Last CW Men’s Title: 2006
Last CIS Men’s Title: 1997
2009 CIS Women: 4th
Last CW Women’s Title: 2009
Last CIS Women’s Title: 2001
VICTORIA - The UVic Vikes cross country teams should place prominently among the national and conference leaders.
The Vikes teams have won a combined 13 CIS titles and 28 Canada West crowns. The women are defending conference champs, and the Vikes are chasing their first national title since 2001. The men's lineup is young, but a couple of returning all-stars will give them a shot at their first conference crown since 2006.
Brent Fougner, who has coached the Vikes women to four CIS titles, says this year’s lineup is the best they've sent to nationals since their last CIS victory in 2001. The Vikes are deep on experience, returning four former conference all-stars, including Julia Tschanz, Claire Jean, Alicia Roske, and Deidre Moran. Moran was the top finisher last season, earning All-Canadian status in 16th place, and Tschanz has been the Vikes top runner this fall.
Pieterson and Cliff Childs lead another young men’s team. Pieterson was the Vikes top finisher a year ago with the Ottawa native placing sixth overall. Childs placed 34th in last year's race to clinch his third consecutive all-star finish. Former B.C. Champion and National junior team member Dylan Haight leads a talented group of recruits who will be competing at their first CIS meet. Coach Keith Butler figures the experienced pair, combined with some solid recruits, will have the Vikes contending with Calgary for the conference crown and a spot on the national podium.
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About Canada West Universities Athletic Association
Canada West is consistently the most decorated of the four
conferences in Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS), winning at
least 10 CIS national titles every year since 1997-98. Comprised of
14 schools, from the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta
and British Columbia, Canada West produces numerous major award
winners and Academic All-Canadian student-athletes each year, with
many going on to athletic success around the globe in pro leagues
or events such as the Olympics, Paralympics or Universiade
Games.
-Canada West-
