Three Gee-Gees Qualify for National Championships

It was championship weekend for both of the Ottawa Lions varsity programs at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University as both programs participated in the OUA  and RSEQ Championships respectively. In total, three Gee Gee athletes qualified for the upcoming CIS Championships at the University of Guelph, November 14.
The Gee- Gee women were led by senior Ruth Burrowes, who captured her first OUA All-Star distinction based on her 14th place finish. Burrowes finished the 6 kilometer race in a time of 21 minutes 16.0 seconds.  She was followed quickly by the defending CIS Rookie of the Year, Katie Phillips, who was 3.9 seconds behind her teammate in 15th place.  Teammates Tara Smith, Katie Wiwchar and Sophie Bernard round out the scorers for the team as they finished seventh overall with 161 points, nine behind Western University.

In the men’s 10 km contest, the Gee Gees were led by junior Alex Berhe who crossed the line in 31 minutes 36.6 seconds to finish 14th overall. The performance also netted him an OUA All-Star distinction.  Alex’s performance, combined with teammates Graeme McConnell (64th), Jared Ruest (69th), Kevin Bates (71st) and Ryan McDonell (78th) gave the Gee-Gees a total of 296 points for a 10th place overall finish.
At the Quebec conference championships, the Ravens were making their debut after only their second season of existence. The men were led by Sebastian Spoerel-Connelly who finished 64th overall in a time of 38 minutes 2 seconds. The top finisher for the women was Jessica McCrae in 42nd with a time of 26 minutes 1 second over the six kilometer course.