1. Guelph – Thank you Anthony Berkis! Although this Guelph squad deserves nothing but praise for the dominant performance they laid down at the OUAs, it was good they didn’t get the perfect score. That would’ve been embarrassing for the OUA and the CIS. Genest is ready to win, as is Boorsma in his 5th year, and Alan Brett. Brett has been top 3 at the OUAs three years running now, but still hasn’t managed a podium run at CIS – will this be the year? Proudfoot is a prodigious talent. He beat all of his competitors (just not three of his teammates) as a rookie which is incredibly impressive. Look for him for ROY at CIS by a long shot. Nixon got ‘er done in 6th to round out the scoring. Mosher has had a great year and this team even has a few guys who didn’t run OUAs who could be ACs this weekend. DST’s troops are going to score under 30 points, and possibly as few as 20. Perhaps the only way for them not to totally dominate the awards podium is if someone can steal away the individual title.
2. Windsor – Solid run for them at OUAs but still nowhere near the Gryphs. Berkis deserves much praise for his desperate kick into the top 5 as does Weston for his ballsy (albeit somewhat stupid) early running. That being said, Weston is a gamer and since we’ve been singing his praises all fall, we won’t stop now. This guy poses one of the only serious threats to stopping Guelph from a clean sweep of the podium. He’s been “the” guy for Fairell for five years now and we expect him to close out his Lancer career in style. Walters, Agaunno, Keller, Janikowski et al will run well and secure a silver for Windsor. It’s a shame for these guys that they are up against Guelph. All of these boys would be big time players collecting CIS team titles just a few years ago. Unfortunately for them, they stand absolutely no chance of winning the title this year. That being said, all they can do is try. And, how cool would it be to see 5 lancers and 5 gryphs up at the front 5km into the race this weekend? Head-to-head, mano-a-mano, laying it down and getting after it. Go Lancers!
3. UWO – Being proud Queen’s grads, it pains us more than you know to say that the ‘Stangs are for real and are peaking well. Huff, Armstrong, and O’Neil are solid athletes and have upside. O’Neil is a two-time AC and Armstrong has shown flashes of brilliance in the past (5th at OUAs in ’08) so look for them to be in the AC pack throughout the CIS race. The most important piece on this team though is Brent Smith. This guy is running out of his mind in 2010 and had a courageous run at OUAs. If he can show up one more time and run like an animal, UWO stands a chance at a medal. The fifth man is going to be there for them this year, and so are the 1-2-3. Vigars’ squad can win a medal - their first in 13 years - if they have their best race of the year on Saturday. If they don’t, our beloved Gaels just might be able to take another scalp from UWO at the big dance – something they’ve done many times before.
4. Calgary – Sorry fellas, you’ve had a great year but just haven’t quite lived up to our expectations. Cloutier is running very well, and so are Merry, Pootz, and Hadfield. Nichol was off at Stewart Cup, perhaps a good thing as he’s now less under the gun heading into CIS. If Nicol and Cloutier can get rolling and match Huff, O’Neil, and Armstrong the Dinos can take down the ‘Stangs. In fact, if Calgary runs their best race they can beat UWO on their best day. The problem is, Stewart Cup sent some warning signals that the Dinos are tailing off a little bit. Calgary will determine its own fate this weekend. They are good enough for bronze; it’s a question of how badly they want it. I’m sure Lamont wants a medal pretty badly. His teams have been 4th, 5th, and 5th the last three years. Go get those medals, boys!
5. Queen’s – Matt Hulse anyone? Check out his blog at www.matthulsemiler.blogspot.com. Not only is he a good runner, he’s a pretty good writer, too. It appears Hulse might be able to compete this coming Saturday, and if he does, the Gaels stand a chance at 5th or 6th. If he doesn’t, they will be 9th. Patterson and Courchene are doing everything they can to match the front-runners of the medal teams, but didn’t quite have the legs to carry the Gaels to a top 3 at OUAs. Greener is running like a beauty in his last year as should be expected from a vet. If only Potvin hadn’t hurt himself saving lives this summer, this team would be a force. That said, Boyd has done a great job with an injury-depleted roster this fall. It’s going to get dirty between 3rd and 6th on the team front. You can use all the clichés in the world about every spot counting…etc, but at the end of the day it comes down to who steps up under pressure. Will the Gaels collapse like King Suryavongsa’s Lan Xang Kingdom did in the 17th century? That’s up to Hatheway, the heart and soul of this Gaels squad.
6. UVic – Here is one of our teams with an asterisk beside their rank. Chainsaw’s last outing was nearly a month ago and it wasn’t pretty (26:50 for 8km). Two weeks before that though, he ran 24:30. If he’s healthy, and ready to roll, he and Pieterson will win UVic the bronze. But, we’d be foolish if we made no mention of Childs, Robertson, and Haight who have proven themselves to be reliable 3-4-5 guys. Childs seems to come up big at CIS year-in, year-out and we expect big things from him this weekend. Maybe a top 20? Ready for a big one, Mr. Childs? Like most teams, UVic is relying heavily on its big hitters. If Pieterson or Chainsaw blow up (or don’t run altogether as might be the case for Rejean) UVic is in big trouble. But, with last year’s awful team performance, we are sure these Vikes are ready to come back and show the rest of Canada why Victoria has consistently been a power player in XC.
7. Regina – Wiebe is going to challenge for the win. His run at Stewart Cup, much like last year, was VERY impressive. 10 seconds behind Kangogo makes him the likeliest threat to the Gryphon machine. Last year he won bronze, this year we think he’ll take silver. Behind him, Fyfe has developed into a beast and will likely be an AC. After these two, there is a big gap back to Johnson and Wig. Wig has placed well the last few years and we expect him to step-up his game this weekend. Yet again, this Cougar squad is relying heavily on their fifth man (Middlemeiss, a rookie) to stop the bleeding. He was nearly 4 minutes behind Wiebe at Stewart Cup, too large of a gap for Regina to be sniffing the medals, but likely enough to keep them in the mid top-10 mix. This team ran very well last year at CIS and we expect them to do the same this year, probably exceeding our expectations of them.
8. McMaster. Oh boy, we’ll probably get in trouble for this one given the Mauraders beat the Gaels at OUAs behind Yorke’s brilliant run. Abbott had his usual below-average OUA performance but will no doubt have the race of his life this weekend. Look for both Yorke and Abbott to be close to, if not in the top 14. Behind them, Reid, Bierema, and McCurry will have to run tough if they hope to rise up the ranks in the top 10. Queen’s, Regina, and Mac will be close in the team standings, which means the 4-5 on each team is likely going to determine their fate. Sharpen those elbows, put in the extra long spikes, and get your game faces on, boys. You’ve gotta get nasty out there!
9. Alberta – Before we get to the Championship squad, it’s good to see some other members of the team are keeping up their off-season training, namely, Dr. Harry Moore: www2.macleans.ca/2010/11/11/drink-and-run-instead/
"After the first lap, Harry Moore, a University of Alberta student, is in the lead. Muldrew, the veteran, is a close second."
"For Muldrew, every sober training run pays off. He sets a new Wineman record: 36 minutes, 55 seconds. More than half an hour later, Moore is still working on his last beer. The sips are short; the beer is long. But as he said, in a more coherent state after lap three, “This is a sport that rewards experience. Being only 21, I know that my best Wineman-ing days are ahead of me.” "
Back to the point of this preview: Weikum is coming on strong and will challenge for an AC spot. Leboeuf ran solidly at Stewart Cup but needs to run even better on Saturday. This team’s front 2 are going to play a big role in how they stack up to the three teams in front of them. Based on conference results, Alberta is sitting in no man’s land right now. Well clear of ‘Toba but substantially back of the 6-8 teams. In 2009 they stepped up and had a great meet to grab 7th. They are going to need more of the same if they hope to repeat that performance in 2010. Law ran bravely at Stewart Cup hanging in the top 10 as best he could but ran out of steam down the stretch. At sea level, he just might be able to last the entire 10km. Kong and Lauzon need to step it up and they are capable. Playfair will have his troops fired up to go after those Dinos. The hatred these Bears have for their rivals to the south is intense and given the whooping their endured at Stewart Cup, we know Da Bears will be out for revenge at CIS.
10. Manitoba – With Toronto not sending a team, the Bisons are next in line and will sneak into the top 10 to close out the 2010 season. Carr is a solid front man, with de Jong and Penner providing some solid back up. The Bisons should consider scalping Alberta a reasonable goal for the CIS meet. They matched up fairly well at Stewart Cup and given the size of the field at CIS, Manitoba stands a chance at closing the gap to Da Bears. This is a team that wasn’t even close to the top 10 last year, but has made big strides in the past 12 months. Berube usually gets a solid performance out of his team at CIS, and with a decent day the Bisons have the legs to hold off Waterloo, the next team in line.
Individuals:
Tier 1: Genest, Boorsma, Brett, Proudfoot, Pieterson, Wiebe and Weston
Tier 2: Berkis, Nixon, Kellar, Chainsaw, Hulse and Fyfe
Tier 3: Yorke, Walters, Huff, Hosier, Janikowki, Weikum, Lavoie and Colle
Winner: Wiebe, Boorsma, and Genest will be battle it out. Wiebe is a machine at XC, and Boorsma is on fire, but Genest is just too nasty at the end of the race. Top 3 in order will be Genest, Wiebe, Boorsma.
ROY: Proudfoot, Proudfoot, Proudfoot. No question. Janikowski, Hosier and Boychuk are the next in line.
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