October Occurrences:
1. Guelph – This is getting repetitive. The Gryphons remain in the top spot after a ridiculously strong team effort at Paul Short without their number 2 Lalonde. A 2nd place team finish to top 10 D1 team WVU makes this most definitely the strongest Canadian women’s xc team we’ve ever seen. (And we’d say the best CIS women’s team ever, but we don’t want any flack from the old guys (re: everything and everyone 30 years ago was better)). Carson put up a very strong run and looks like she’ll be an absolute force for the individual title. Backed up by solid depth (well, depth on this team, but studs on any other team in the CIS) with 7 runners well under 22 for 6km and a team average of 20:58 for 6km. I think this team would be better off towing the line in the men’s field at CIS if they are up for a challenge. All joking aside, it’s fantastic to see a Canadian squad go down south and thrash big US programs like Wake Forest and NC State.
2. Toronto - Well, considering the plethora of vocal supporters for Calgary, we are going to take some heat for not having them in the top 3, but how can you argue with 4 potential All-Canadians? Brown ran a 77 minute half a week ago, Jewett is rollin’ - running one of the fastest times ever at UWO, and McClure and Gollish ran very well at Waterloo. Interesting fact: all four of these women were CIS Rookies of the Year, in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2008. This group of 4 may even be able to keep it even with the Gryphs, but the 5-woman will be of utmost importance. Considering the depth of the Guelph squad, we just don’t see the upset happening. A women’s national championship team not starting with the letter ‘G’ would be like Usain Bolt not breaking 10 seconds for the 100m. (oh wait, he came to Toronto and didn’t do that, bad comparison…)
3. Mac Marauders- Another great showing for this team down at Loyola with 5 girls in at 19:10. This team is showing good depth beyond the 5 which will most certainly come in handy when midterms and disrupted residence sleeps catch up to Sneyd’s rookies. Wyman and Pearo fit the part of top 10ers at CIS and that’s what is required for this team to get into the medals. The unfortunate part for Mac and many other elite CIS women’s teams this year is that it appears to be a very strong year on the women’s side. There really are only two team medals up for grabs and there are three teams that would almost definitely be in the medals any other year. Unfortunately, one of them will be left off the stage at the Queen’s cafeteria on Nov. 14th.
4. Dinettes- It appears a pack run was all Lamont sent the troops out to do this past weekend. The group was fairly far back of the leaders, but the ridiculous depth they showed means they have room for error, something that many teams can only dream of. Stenning, Fenton, Kary, and McQueen seem to be fit and suitable to be relied upon for a pretty good score. However, as of yet, this group hasn’t shown any thoroughbreds who are ready to battle in the lead pack at CIS. That one flaw means that the three flawless teams ahead of them will have the upper hand. Those top 3 teams have strong front-runners, and they’ll get their fifth in fairly soon after. Calgary has great depth, but their front-end will lose just a little too much ground to Toronto and Mac to be made up by Kary and McQueen.
5. St. F X- 7 girls under 18:50 on the track...I mean road...I mean grass down at Murray Keating. The times are very impressive; the depth even more so. Preibiscbova was 4th in ’07 and X had 4 others within a minute of her. That’s pretty damn good. Fouskova, MacDonald, Kannenberg, and Bates completed the scoring and will help make this team a strong threat to sneak ever closer to the medals. Coach Chisholm knows what he’s doing, and that gives us some faith that this team will perform better at CIS then they did in Maine. That’s not to say they didn’t run admirably, but anytime we see a team run well down south in early October, it brings back painful memories of our own misguided undergrad cross-country careers. Let’s hope X can keep it together and bring it at CIS so that the East can get some much needed representation at the banquet.
6. UWO- Well, after 3 straight weeks of racing the ‘Stangs are holding strong and seem to be getting better. With a week off now hopefully they can rest their legs from the beating of a grueling race schedule and get back to the long intervals and threshold work. Mockler and Convery had great races in Chicago and provide this team with two low sticks that should be battling for All Canadian spots. That is a huge plus for this team that last year was strong on depth, not front-end skill. This team is better than last year’s 5th place version; however, the strength of the women’s teams is such that they are going to have step it up even more if they are going to get closer to the medals. Another interesting fact: did you know that Bob Vigars has won Women’s Coach of the Year 7 times, more than any other coach in the CIS?
7. Sherby – These ladies dominated the competition at their home meet this weekend. We’re not sure what that’s worth. Sherbrooke had a pack of five runners all within five seconds of each other, which is promising, but these five were 1:20 back from their top runner, Belanger. If Belanger is super fit (ie: first team All-Canadian), this is promising. But 1:20 is a big gap on this short course, and there are going to be a lot of bodies at CI’s filling that gap. We’re always encouraged when we see this sort of pack running, in the hope that it’s evidence of a great group training environment that will lead to some big performances at the end of the season. If this is the case, then that Sherbrooke group could be rolling past a lot of fading runners over the second half of CI’s and securing a solid team finish. But Belagner had better be really rolling or else that 1:20 gap becomes a deal-breaker. With 1 low stick and a capable group a fair ways back, this squad is firmly in the top 10, but needs to improve to move up any higher.
8. Prancers- This squad was only 9 points back of Western in Chicago and appears to be following Coach Fairell’s training plan quite well. Looking back over the years, even a fool can recognize that the Prancers are a program that performs when it matters, and this team is likely no exception. The only hesitation is that this version appears to be relying on some shorter distance athletes, who are far more likely to cave under the pressure of a cold, muddy, ugly day at Fort Henry. Not like those tough, battle-ready distance athletes who salivate at the thought of losing their shoes (and their breakfest) in the mud of a chewed up cross-country course. That being said, this team is good with Pidhoresky and Hunter leading the way with All-star type ability backed up with 10th placeish team depth. This group will lose substantial ground if they can’t shore up the back end a little bit better.
9. Vikes- Nothing has changed on this front having not raced yet this season. This is a storied program that never seems to drop too far down the top 10. They are racing this weekend in San Diego and that should give us some indication of where they stand relative to the rest of the country. No matter who the core is this team always seems to have a couple potential All-Canadians, which they appear to have in Estey and Jean. Two low sticks is good enough that Coach Fougner can go out to the Nordic ski practice (I guess there is no Nordic team at UVic, in which case he’d have to recruit from the women’s soccer team) to get three woman who can race at CIS. This isn’t to say that UVic doesn’t have any depth, but with a solid front end anything is possible.
10. unGolden Gales- A deep team gives this group the potential to capitalize on others’ mistakes. Roney lead the way at UWO in 18:52, with Hutton, Tatlow, and Hulse running as a unit and finishing within 9 seconds of each other. The fifth on this team, Larocque, is a 2-time OUA all star. What’s more, they ran conservatively at Western, clearly holding back in the early stages of the race. We like that. You gain nothing by collapsing from exhaustion at the end of the Western Invitational. The trouble is, this team doesn’t have a big gun…yet. If a lady or two steps up and gets in the mix at the front of the OUA, this team could catapult way up in the team rankings. As it is, though, great depth doesn’t get you very far into the top 10 on the women’s side. Still, if the tame Queen’s homecoming this year (only 250 tickets were given out, and no cars were burned) is any indication, this group is in the right headspace to actually do something at CIS, unlike so many of their predecessors.
11. ‘Toba- A solid team effort at U of S open moves this team into the top 11 this week. Bruckschwaiger lead the way with solid runs from Gregoire and Ginter to get this group within 7 points of Calgary. However, I caution Bison fans: when your fifth runner is 1:40 behind your lead runner, you are in a fair bit of trouble. This group was able to stay close to Calgary, because the field at U of S was small and the bodies were pilling in during that 1:40 at a much slower rate than they will at CIS. A solid run by the front 3 at Griak shows this group is legit, but the back end has to get better if ‘Toba wants any chance of moving up the Slanders’ list.
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