Laker cross country runner breaks new ground

KINGSTON, ON - The 2005 Queen's cross country invitational was a hotly contested meet with most schools wanting a dress rehearsal on the course that will host the Ontario University Championships on October 29th. The women's field was the biggest in event history with 140 finishers while the men had 111 finishers.

The weather somewhat cooperated with the rain holding off although the blustery wind conditions made things challenging. Despite a high quality field only 20 women broke the 20-minutes barrier and only 9 men were under 34-minutes speaks to the challenge of the course and weather conditions.

The University of Toronto won (52-points) on the women's side, followed closely by Windsor (61-points) then Western (104-points). Former Golden Gael Beth Wightman, now running for University of Toronto ran away with the meet winning handily in 18:19.97.

Lakers assistant coach Donna Mae Robins placed 7th in 19.13 but was only 21 seconds from second place. The Lady Lakers raced with three runners as the three remaining athletes were on teaching practicum placements across the province. Rookie Meghan Gibson led the team placing 83rd in 23.02 followed by Kathleen Crawford in 90th in 26.00 a 60 second improvement from last year followed by rookie Kelsey Piper 91st in 27.41.

“Everyone is improving on the team and we will have Melanie Prouse, Heather Edwards and Heather Hardie in the line-up when we compete at Brock University in our final tune-up race on October 22nd.” commented assistant coach Donna Mae Robins.

In the men’s race, the Lakers brought the majority of the team that will be racing in the championships. Kevin Beatty in his first race as a Laker placed 23rd in the deep field to become the first Laker in school history to crack the top 25.

“I thought he ran a gutsy race,” commented head coach Tim Uuksulainen.

“He ran a marathon less then a month ago and his hamstrings have been problematic causing him to miss some training. I though he ran very well under the circumstances. He went for it and was in the top 15 until later in the race. Kevin is a warrior and will continue to regain his sharpness”

Jon Pratt had his best race of the year with some good pacing through the entire race to place 58th in 37.43. First year Laker Rory Currie handled himself well in his longest cross country race leading the rest of the team in 40.36 (71st), followed by Jesse Jewell who also posted his first race placed 72nd in 40.50 and assistant coach Ian Aseltine 41.04 and rookie Craig Browne both battled cramping problems for much of the race.

“It was nice to beat Wilfred Laurier for the first time. Realistically, the big 5-6 schools are beyond us at this time, so we will focus on battling Trent, Brock and Laurier for position in the championships. All the schools have improved, so it should be fun. It will come down to which team is firing on all cylinders on the day. We will rest some of our runners, while taking others for some last minute sharpening at Brock this coming weekend.” said Uuksulainen.


Submitted to BayToday.ca