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Cross country championships: Dalhousie, Windsor looking to defend team titles
OTTAWA (CIS) The 2005 CIS cross country championships are set to get under way on Saturday at Point Pleasant Park in Halifax.
The championships are hosted by Dalhousie University for the first time since 1993. The Point Pleasant Park race course has been the home course for the Dalhousie teams since the 1993 nationals.
The women's five-kilometer race is scheduled for 1 p.m. AT (noon ET), with the men's 10-kilometer event set to follow at 1:40 p.m. AT (12:40 p.m. ET).
The Dalhousie Tigers women and Windsor Lancers men enter the 2005 university nationals as defending champions after capturing the CIS banners a year ago at the Guelph Lakes Golf Course in Guelph, Ont. The Tigers became the first team champions from the AUS conference since the inception of the women's competition in 1980, while the Lancers were crowned for a second straight season on the men's side.
The Tigers won a very close race in 2004 finishing with 59 points to edge Guelph by a mere 15 points, and Calgary by 20. 2003 CIS rookie of the year Janice Ashworth of Dunrobin, Ont. was the top Tiger performer with her second silver-medal finish in as many years. Guelph Gryphon Kristina Rody of Maryhill, Ont. was the first runner to cross the finish line.
On the men's side, Windsor's Cristiano Mauricio of Leamington, Ont. claimed individual gold and teammates Brandon Young and James Gosselin rounded out the podium, marking the first 1-2-3 finish since the Ottawa Gee-Gees accomplished the feat in 1986. The Lancers posted one of the most dominating team wins in history, their 32 points leaving them well in front of Guelph (88) and Alberta (114).
143 female runners from 24 schools and 132 men from 22 institutions are on the start list for Saturday. As usual, the top seven finishers of both races will be recognized as first-team all-Canadians, while finishers 8-14 will find a spot on the second all-CIS squad.
Ashworth claimed individual gold for the third time in as many seasons at the 2005 AUS championship leading the Tigers to the team title. Dalhousie also won the AUS men's banner as Tiger Paul Chafe of Kingston, Ont. was the individual champion.
McGill swept the team banners in Quebec with Martlet Lauren Whyte of Belleville, Ont. and Redmen Adrian Walton of London, Ont. claiming the individual titles.
In the OUA, the Guelph Gryphons were also declared team champions on both the women's and men's sides but couldn't put their hands on the individual crowns. The gold medals went to Beth Wightman of Unionville, Ont., a two-time CIS champion while at Queen's now running for the University of Toronto, and Windsor's Mauricio.
The Canada West conference doesn't hold cross country championships.
The final national team rankings entering the CIS championships are:
WOMEN: Calgary (1), Guelph (2), Toronto (3), Victoria (4), StFX (5), Western (6), McGill (7), Saskatchewan (8), Windsor (9) and Dalhousie (10).
MEN: Guelph (1), Windsor (2), Dalhousie (3), Alberta (4), Victoria (5), Queen's (6), Manitoba (7), McGill (8), Calgary (9) and Laval (10).
Championship web site: www.cisport.ca/e/champi
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