1. Guelph – “Hmm.. Now I'm depressed because I am an old and lame. Good news though, we have a hard 5xMile workout today and I am going to absolutely drill the shit out of those young kids on the Guelph team, that'll make me feel better”. Statements like this one, made by one of the training partners of the Gryphs, make us wonder whether or not these boys, who are on fire right now, will have enough gas to make it through ‘til the end of the season! Coach DST better be able to restrain his varsity guys, or else they might go the way of one of those many teams who show great promise early, only to fizzle late. All that being said, a couple of very strong weekends of racing for the Gryphs only solidifies what everyone already knows – this team is far and away the best in the nation. Proudfoot got the W at Western, which is unbelievably impressive for a young pup like him (interestingly, etymologically, the word “Guelph” shares its root with the word “whelp” meaning young pup). The first 4 at Lehigh were absolutely stellar. Boorsma is on fire this fall, as one should expect, given he’s in his fifth year. Genest is running well, and always gets better as the season progresses, as does Brett. This team has guys who are potential All Canadians that won’t even make their top 7.
2. Windsor – Good runs at Chicago make this team a clear number 2 in Canada. Keller, Sinclair, and Colonel Saunders ran ~25:20 and are potential ACs. Weston is laying low. His only outing being a tempo at Western. This bodes well for his chances at the individual title. We rank this man among the Lancers greats, along with such legends as Ryan Mackenzie, Goose Gosselin, and Mark Kitely. Agaunno, Walters x 2 and Berkis give this team even more fast dudes to rely on at CIS. Windsor basically has no flaws; however, the 2010 Guelph team is just unbelievably good. This Lancer squad should win CIS, but they’ve run into yet another amazing squad from up the 401.
3. Victoria – A couple of 24:30s on theFAST course at Willamette by Chainsaw and Pieterson lead UVic a solid opener. Cliff Childs backed those two up with a 25:10, providing the Vikes with the tools to do some damage in the CIS. Dylan Haight (25:26), Bocksnick (25:44) and Irvine (25:47) mean there are 6 legitimate guys to fill out the 5 scoring spots on this team. UVic is a good team, in fact, we’d go as far as to say UVic is a great team. Only time will tell if they are good enough to knock off Calgary. We are starting to think that bronze medal will be a dogfight between these two CanWest rivals. It’ll come down to a battle between the proven, more naturally talented vets from Victoria vs. the blue-collar, heavy-drinking lads from Cow-town… who will prevail?
4. Calgary – Nicol led the Dinos at the U of S meet running just off of Regina’s number 2. But, like last year, Calgary beats most other CIS teams with their impressive depth. Cloutier, Merry, Bickley and Pootz packed it in well, with a few other Dinos not much further behind. This incredibly deep team has a lot of firepower; however the question - much like last year - is who will step up enough to get the Dinos close to UVic. Up front, UVic holds a big advantage, but Calgary’s depth will allow them to take risks. Mr. Nicol, are you willing to get after an AC spot and try to give your team a boost in their hopes for a medal? If I was your fifth man, I’d sure be hoping my leader was going to lay it down at CIS. In other words, unless Nicol runs like an absolute stud, UVic will be stealing what could belong to the Dinos.
5. Western – Similar to most editions of the Mustangs that we’ve seen in recent years, this squad ran very well at Chicago with Armstrong proving he’s getting back into his 2008 form quickly. Huff is having a career year and running like a potential AC guy. O’neil, not as much. This guy is usually clutch in the fall – but perhaps his long year last year including cross, indoors, FISU, summer track, and a ton of ballin’ is catching up to him. If he can get it going soon, this UWO team could be a force at OUAs and CIS. The depth men Smith and Adrin ran capably in 26ish on a quick course. These 5 should be good enough for their 6th place rank, but with 6-7 awfully far back, this team is as delicate as a house on stilts, on a foundation of sand. Just a little bad luck could be the Mel Gibson that pulls the whole structure down. “It’s just been revoked.”
6. Regina – Wiebe slaughtered everyone at the U of S open – what a surprise. Guess he wasn’t all that injured afterall. Fyfe also ran very well for 2nd and gives Regina that strong 1-2 punch needed to catapult them up the rankings. Beyound those two, they have some returners from last year’s 4th place team that are in similar shape to last year, and a couple new faces who should help them get their fifth man in before 117th (as in 2009). The Cougars are good, but not good enough to improve upon their placing last year. We’re sure they are dreaming of hardware, but Calgary and UVic are too strong for Regina to sneak into the medals.
7. McMaster – Abbott had a strong opener at UWO, but not a great outing in Chicago where he was barely under 26 minutes. Yorke stepped in though, and showed that a summer of triathlon training is good for something other than learning the most efficient method for shaving one’s legs. Helluva run for him in 11th place in a good field. He was backed up by another good run by sophomore sensation, Reid. The depth wasn’t too strong, but given these top three, Mac stands a good chance at being a top 10 team in the country with a good peak late in the season. And, speaking of peaking well, Sneyd knows his stuff and you can count on Mac having their best effort in November.
8. Queen’s – Patterson and Courchene are running as expected. Low 26s at Lehigh makes them legit front-men on a top 10 team. Hulse hasn’t shown his cards yet, but should be ready to go when the real racing starts in a few weeks. His presence up front will help Queen’s tremendously, as right now they are lacking the low stick that pushes them up the top 10 list. Beyond these three, there is a slew of guys who are gunning for the remaining scoring spots, which will hopefully propel a few to new, faster levels. Boyd is holding his cards close to his chest, having not run a full “A” squad yet. Look for the Queen’s open to give a clearer indication of how good (or average) this team will be in 2010.
9. Toronto – Boring. Can U of T please do something interesting before the post-season starts? This team is always a difficult one to size-up. They have names, and stats, but they never run their whole team at the same meet, and they rarely even race hard until OUAs. A couple of mediocre 26 – 26:30 8kms from their expected top 4 at Chicago means TO is a safe bet for a top 10 at CIS. Pettes seems to be the type of guy who needs to have someone holding his hand every waking moment, whether it’s Nicholl (one step ahead in Chicago) during XC races or his girlfriend every other minute of the day- this is not the kind of quality you want to see in your Captain. Mountain running legend Gavin Hamilton boosts their shot at an upper tier placing, given he was 20th at UWO and the fact that he will run very well at the end of the season. Although we’ve never met him, we will pretty much guarantee that he steps up big at CIS.
10. Alberta – Although they didn’t field their A team at the U of S Open, Alberta has been totally unimpressive so far in 2010. Gone are the glory days of the blue-collared guys who worked hard and played hard. This group got dusted in Saskatchewan and needs to regroup in a hurry if they have any visions of repeating their 2009 heroics. That being said, there are some positive things this team can take away from the early season meets. They have been so bad that most other Canwest teams are probably counting them down and out. If there’s anywhere in Canada that knows about being at the bottom of the rankings list, it’s Edmonton. Can Da Bears regroup the way Tambellini has with the Hall, Eberle and Paajarvi acquisitions?
2. Windsor – Good runs at Chicago make this team a clear number 2 in Canada. Keller, Sinclair, and Colonel Saunders ran ~25:20 and are potential ACs. Weston is laying low. His only outing being a tempo at Western. This bodes well for his chances at the individual title. We rank this man among the Lancers greats, along with such legends as Ryan Mackenzie, Goose Gosselin, and Mark Kitely. Agaunno, Walters x 2 and Berkis give this team even more fast dudes to rely on at CIS. Windsor basically has no flaws; however, the 2010 Guelph team is just unbelievably good. This Lancer squad should win CIS, but they’ve run into yet another amazing squad from up the 401.
3. Victoria – A couple of 24:30s on the
4. Calgary – Nicol led the Dinos at the U of S meet running just off of Regina’s number 2. But, like last year, Calgary beats most other CIS teams with their impressive depth. Cloutier, Merry, Bickley and Pootz packed it in well, with a few other Dinos not much further behind. This incredibly deep team has a lot of firepower; however the question - much like last year - is who will step up enough to get the Dinos close to UVic. Up front, UVic holds a big advantage, but Calgary’s depth will allow them to take risks. Mr. Nicol, are you willing to get after an AC spot and try to give your team a boost in their hopes for a medal? If I was your fifth man, I’d sure be hoping my leader was going to lay it down at CIS. In other words, unless Nicol runs like an absolute stud, UVic will be stealing what could belong to the Dinos.
5. Western – Similar to most editions of the Mustangs that we’ve seen in recent years, this squad ran very well at Chicago with Armstrong proving he’s getting back into his 2008 form quickly. Huff is having a career year and running like a potential AC guy. O’neil, not as much. This guy is usually clutch in the fall – but perhaps his long year last year including cross, indoors, FISU, summer track, and a ton of ballin’ is catching up to him. If he can get it going soon, this UWO team could be a force at OUAs and CIS. The depth men Smith and Adrin ran capably in 26ish on a quick course. These 5 should be good enough for their 6th place rank, but with 6-7 awfully far back, this team is as delicate as a house on stilts, on a foundation of sand. Just a little bad luck could be the Mel Gibson that pulls the whole structure down. “It’s just been revoked.”
6. Regina – Wiebe slaughtered everyone at the U of S open – what a surprise. Guess he wasn’t all that injured afterall. Fyfe also ran very well for 2nd and gives Regina that strong 1-2 punch needed to catapult them up the rankings. Beyound those two, they have some returners from last year’s 4th place team that are in similar shape to last year, and a couple new faces who should help them get their fifth man in before 117th (as in 2009). The Cougars are good, but not good enough to improve upon their placing last year. We’re sure they are dreaming of hardware, but Calgary and UVic are too strong for Regina to sneak into the medals.
7. McMaster – Abbott had a strong opener at UWO, but not a great outing in Chicago where he was barely under 26 minutes. Yorke stepped in though, and showed that a summer of triathlon training is good for something other than learning the most efficient method for shaving one’s legs. Helluva run for him in 11th place in a good field. He was backed up by another good run by sophomore sensation, Reid. The depth wasn’t too strong, but given these top three, Mac stands a good chance at being a top 10 team in the country with a good peak late in the season. And, speaking of peaking well, Sneyd knows his stuff and you can count on Mac having their best effort in November.
8. Queen’s – Patterson and Courchene are running as expected. Low 26s at Lehigh makes them legit front-men on a top 10 team. Hulse hasn’t shown his cards yet, but should be ready to go when the real racing starts in a few weeks. His presence up front will help Queen’s tremendously, as right now they are lacking the low stick that pushes them up the top 10 list. Beyond these three, there is a slew of guys who are gunning for the remaining scoring spots, which will hopefully propel a few to new, faster levels. Boyd is holding his cards close to his chest, having not run a full “A” squad yet. Look for the Queen’s open to give a clearer indication of how good (or average) this team will be in 2010.
9. Toronto – Boring. Can U of T please do something interesting before the post-season starts? This team is always a difficult one to size-up. They have names, and stats, but they never run their whole team at the same meet, and they rarely even race hard until OUAs. A couple of mediocre 26 – 26:30 8kms from their expected top 4 at Chicago means TO is a safe bet for a top 10 at CIS. Pettes seems to be the type of guy who needs to have someone holding his hand every waking moment, whether it’s Nicholl (one step ahead in Chicago) during XC races or his girlfriend every other minute of the day- this is not the kind of quality you want to see in your Captain. Mountain running legend Gavin Hamilton boosts their shot at an upper tier placing, given he was 20th at UWO and the fact that he will run very well at the end of the season. Although we’ve never met him, we will pretty much guarantee that he steps up big at CIS.
10. Alberta – Although they didn’t field their A team at the U of S Open, Alberta has been totally unimpressive so far in 2010. Gone are the glory days of the blue-collared guys who worked hard and played hard. This group got dusted in Saskatchewan and needs to regroup in a hurry if they have any visions of repeating their 2009 heroics. That being said, there are some positive things this team can take away from the early season meets. They have been so bad that most other Canwest teams are probably counting them down and out. If there’s anywhere in Canada that knows about being at the bottom of the rankings list, it’s Edmonton. Can Da Bears regroup the way Tambellini has with the Hall, Eberle and Paajarvi acquisitions?
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