Cross Country Enjoy Hosting National Championships

Windsor, ON – The St. Clair College Cross Country team competed well as host of the 2024 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association National Championships held Saturday afternoon in ideal conditions at Windsor's Malden Park.  Mild temperatures with low winds greeted four conferences from across the nation representing 38 schools and allowed for 98 starters in the Women's race with another 100 competitors in the Men's event. 

Carter Free (Napanee, ON) narrowly missed out on All-Canadian status for the Saints in the Men's race finishing 11^th over the challenging 8km course with a time of 25:39. Melein Keflay (Windsor, ON/Assumption) came across in 38^th position in 27:04 as St. Clair's second counting runner.  A gutsy performance was turned in by Noah Nicoletti (Windsor, ON/Holy Names) for the Saints who ran the final 7km with only one shoe after another runner inadvertently stepped on his heel and removed it.  Nicoletti was 64^th with a personal best time of 28:48 navigating the mixed terrain course in a field of 96 finishers.  Russell Niedre (Ottawa, ON) stopped his clock at 29:04 in 70^th place as the St. Clair Men were 9^th amongst the 16 teams at the meet.  Wesley Hearn (Windsor, ON/Sandwich) was 78^th (29:51) and Daniel Herrera (Windsor, ON/Kennedy) in 94^th (35:22) were the final Saints in the Men's event.

Victoria Horrobin (Wallaceburg, ON) was the top St. Clair female runner finishing 31^st in a time of 25:19 over the 6km loop against 96 competitors.  Camryn Crawford (Kemptville, ON) closed well for the Saints passing several runners in the home stretch in 38^th position with a time of 25:57.  St. Clair's Melody Knight (Tecumseh, ON/Tecumseh Vista) crossed the line 65^th at 27:45 while Emersyn Grondin (Tecumseh, ON/Tecumseh Vista) was the final counting runner in 85^th at 29:39 which put the Saints 12^th versus the 15 teams competing at the national event.  Kendra Bell (Windsor, ON/Holy Names) came across at 31:20 in 93^rd as the final entry for the Saints. 

Cégep Garneau of Quebec City won their third consecutive National Women's team title placing their four scoring runners in the top 15 finishers led by Individual Gold Medalist Léane Baril (Rouyn-Noranda, QC) who topped the field of 96 runners in a time of 22:08 across the 6km course.  She was followed closely by teammate Gabrielle Hamel (Stoneham-Et-Tewkesbury, QC) with a Silver Medal just eight seconds later.  Clarisse Mathieu-Prédal (L'Ancienne-Lorette, QC) and Marianne Rochette (St-Isidore, QC) were 5^th and 15^th respectively for Garneau.

Fellow Quebec City school Cégep de Sainte-Foy took the Women's Team Silver Medal with team members Stéphania Gilbert, Camille Martel, Lily-Rose Dion and Elsa Yaccarini while Mohawk College (Hamilton) ran to a podium finish with a Bronze Medal for Annie Sterenberg, Tori Hendriks, Zoe Thibault and Raina Hartnell. Maëlly Lamontagne (Carignan, QC) of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu completed an all RSEQ conference sweep of the individual medals with a Bronze in a time of 22:25.

The Men's title was dominated by Southern Alberta Institute of Technology Polytechnic with four All-Canadian top-10 finishes led by Nathan Woyessa (Calgary, AB) who sprinted to a 24:25 time over the 8km trail.  Max Thiessen (4^th Place, 24:52), Moktar Said (9^th Place, 25:26) and Yahye Jama (10^th Place, 25:19) were the other counting runners for the Trojans who last won team gold in 2022. 

Elliot Bélanger (6th), Edouard Lehoux (15^th), Mathis Turcotte (18^th) and Samuel Beaulieu (21^st) helped Garneau to a team Silver Medal while Sainte-Foy earned a podium finish in Bronze by Francis Bouffard (8^th), Gabriel Bussière (14^th), Guillaume Tremblay (23^rd) and Loic St-Cyr (30^th) in a field of 96 pacers. 

In the inaugural Mixed team competition Garneau took their 2^nd team title of the meet in the Gold position ahead of Silver medalists Sainte-Foy who finished their meet with an identical three team medals.  Mohawk picked up their second team podium with a Mixed Bronze.  St. Clair was 6^th against the eight teams competing in the Mixed team event which counted the top three female and top three male entries from each school.