Marc Larochelle, sports information officer at Nipissing University, submitted the following article:
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TORONTO - The Nipissing Lakers cross country team made its first appearance at the Ontario University cross country championships in Toronto on the weekend.
Facing the best runners from the province proved to be a daunting task for the relatively inexperienced, but motivated Lakers squad.
“This was our first visit to the championships and when you put that in perspective we did well,” said assistant coach Donna Mae Robins.
The Lakers rookie Jenn Litt led the team with a solid run pulling along teammate Denise Dietrich and Jill Edmunds who ran despite being under the weather.
Heather Hardie had a huge race knocking two minutes off her personal best coming in ahead of Kathleen Crawford. Sheila Merkley sprained her ankle badly with two kilometres to go and showed true grit and determination finishing the race despite being in severe pain. An x-ray later revealed that her tendon had actually detached from the bone.
The University of Guelph won the women’s title over the University of Western Ontario by a narrow margin. The Laker squad placed 13th.
In the men’s race Jon Pratt continued to show his leadership by being the first Laker to cross the finish line for the fourth time in five races followed by Andrew Bubar, Jason English, Graham Henderson, Cam Hodgins and Salman Khan.
“It was a bit of mixed bag out there today with some of our guys having a good race and a few others who struggled a bit, but that’s cross country, no guarantees out there,” said head coach Tim Uuksulainen. “Our primary goal this year was to develop both a men and women’s team that we could take to the provincial championships. I think this race and this season was all about our athletes gaining experience and seeing what it takes to compete at this level. We have a good nucleus and we need to add some depth and quality to support them.
“We faced some adversity and growing pains this year, but they're a tough bunch and I'm proud of how they competed." added Uuksulainen.
The men’s race turned into a dramatic nail biter with defending champions Windsor Lancers holding off a determined University of Guelph team. The Lakers placed 12th.