It was a perfect day for cross country running this past Saturday at the Thames Valley Golf Course in London, home to this year’s OUA (Ontario University Athletics) Championships. With the sun beaming down and temperatures hovering near 10 degrees centigrade, the University of Ottawa men and women put together solid efforts to place eighth and tenth respectively.
In a tight battle for eighth place, the Gee-Gee men were able to narrowly beat out the Laurier Goldenhawks 245 to 248, reversing the result from two weeks prior at the Bayfront Open in Hamilton where the Goldenhawks had bested the Gee-Gees by two points.
The men were led by Adrian Fournier and his 26th place finish. The third-year civil engineering student has consistently featured among the top two runners for the Gee-Gees all season long, and finished the eight kilometre course in a time of 26 minutes and 26 seconds. Fournier was backed up by André Alie-Lamarche, who finished in 27:04 to place 27th.
Rounding out the scoring for Ottawa were NIcolas Abanto Ens (50th ), Stephen Robinson (51st), and Gavin Westbrook (81st).
The Gee-Gee women fielded one of the youngest squads in the field with five of the six runners in their first year of eligibility en-route to their tenth place finish (312 points).
Top honour for the women went to Skye Pellerin, who placed 52nd overall, as she crossed the line in 33 minutes and 37 seconds. Tiarra Ward, a third year nursing student, was next across the line for Ottawa in 54th (34:14). Other scorers included Kylee Fowler (61st), Elana Tyman (71st), and Audrey McCarthy (74th).