Lakers cross-country running building strength

WATERLOO, ON - The 2008 Men’s and Women’s Lakers Cross-Country Running Teams at Nipissing University are showing signs that a summer of hard training and a pre-season training camp in August are beginning to pay dividends.

This past weekend, the Lakers teams traveled to Waterloo to participate in the Don Mills Memorial Cross-Country Race. The weather and conditions were appropriately cross-country – overcast and drizzle – making for an exciting race for athletes and spectators alike.

The Women’s Varsity Cross-Country team placed an impressive 4th place, led by rookie Mabel Plourde-Doran of Kapuskasing, Ontario, in 32nd place. The University of Toronto, Waterloo, and Wilfrid Laurier secured the top-3 team spots respectively. North Bay’s Marina Demarco (47) and Carly Drake (51) rounded off the top-3 Lakers finishers in the women’s 4km race. The 4km women’s race was won by Toronto’s Meghan Brown in 13:44.

On the men’s side, the Lakers were led by second year student Kevin Gallagher, whose 28:38 time over 8km in very deep men’s field was good enough for 38th overall. Close behind were Ryan Lahti (28:47) and Paulo Carvalho (29:19) rounding off the top-3 for the Lakers. An injury prevented one of the men from finishing the race, and thus the team did not score in the overall results, but the times of all men were significantly faster than previous years.

Overall winner in the men’s 8km race was Paul Chafe from the University of Toronto Track Club in 25:13. This weekend the men’s and women’s teams travel to Kingston, Ontario, to race at the preview course for the 2008 Ontario University Athletics Championships.

Submitted to BayToday.ca