The firing of the starter’s pistol officially kicked off the 35th annual Western International cross-country meet at the Thames Valley Golf Course. Teams from all over Canada, including a number of American squads, competed for gold this past Saturday afternoon at the London course.
The Mustangs had a strong showing against tough competition. The women won the bronze medal and the men finished just short of the podium, taking fourth place.
Meanwhile, the Guelph Gryphons women’s team finished in first place, while the New York-based Geneseo Knights took top honours for the men.
The women impressed by having four runners finish in the top 25. Lorelle Convery and Lynn Mockler, both 2008 Ontario University Athletics second team all-stars, led the team placing 10th and 13th, respectively.
“It was a very tough field,” Convery said. “The top girls went out at a very fast pace, but they pulled us to go faster.”
“This meet definitely gave us a better idea of the competition we will be facing,” rookie Laura Desjardins added.
The McMaster Marauders claimed the silver medal, while the Queen’s Gaels finished fourth, just edging out the fifth place Geneseo Knights by one point
“We knew this was going to be a test for us and we answered it quite well. I’m impressed by the results today,” Mustangs head coach Bob Vigars said.
From the start, Lindsay Carson of the University of Guelph led the field without much competition, finishing 30 seconds ahead of second place. The multiple Canadian Interuniversity Sport gold-medalist also smashed the meet record, set in 1987 by Mustang Sandra Anschuetz. Carson ran 13 seconds faster with an outstanding time of 17:01.
“This was my first race of the season,” Carson said. “I just really went for it today [and] I felt good; I knew my legs were with me. As I crossed the finish line, I was just happy with my accomplishment.”
On the men’s side, the Mustangs finished fourth, with three runners placing in the top 25 at the competition.
“The competition was pretty strong today,” co-captain Matt Suda said. “This is still a building point in the year; we’re focusing on the OUA and the CIS Championships.”
The team has been working to improve its strength and mileage, and have not worked on a lot of speed yet.
“Once we get into the speed workouts, we should be zipping along,” co-captain Ryan Huff said.
Kyle O’Neill led the Mustangs with a fifth place finish. He almost took fourth but was edged out at the very end by Guelph’s Allan Brett.
“We’re not thinking about Guelph too much,” O’Neill said. “It’s more realistic for us to just be in the hunt for a medal at the OUA championships. I know we can do it.”
Missing the podium was disappointing for the Mustangs. However, all five of the scorers performed a personal best time for this course.
Despite the impressive performance from his veterans, Vigars feels the team is still growing and will get better as the year goes on.
“Our men’s team is not 100 per cent right now,” Vigars said. “We have a few runners who sat out today due to injury. Based on how the guys did today, I’m happy.”
Guelph’s men, despite not running their top two runners, finished second to the Knights from Geneseo, while the Windsor Lancers claimed the bronze medal.
“One of the keys to our success is a tight team atmosphere,” Guelph coach Dave Scott-Thomas said. “We don’t let our individual egos get in the way of team stuff.”
Next weekend the cross-country team will be in Chicago facing several NCAA Division 1 schools at the Loyola of Chicago Lakefront meet.