The 2015 Cross-Country Running season began this past weekend with the 2015 McGill University Open race, held on Mount Royal on Saturday morning. With over 40 student-athlete runners registered and competing, the Cavaliers were well represented and had one of the largest college teams in attendance. Coming off of a great 2014 season, the Cavaliers’ men’s team was looking to make an impact early in the season while the ladies were aiming for a good finish to build upon for the season.
The ladies 4k was run first and Champlain’s Celine Marks, who last year competed in the CCAA National Championships, ran an amazing race, finishing in 1st place in the RSEQ category and 15th place overall with a time of 15:56 (3:59/km). The other top finishers for the ladies team standings were Kim Lefebvre (26th – 18:28), Megan Wai (38th – 19:12) and Anne-Marie Lafond (42nd – 19:38). As a team, the ladies finished in 6th place with 107 points.
The men’s 6k was up next and the Cavaliers were looking to start the drive to build on their 2014 season CCAA National Bronze medal, captured last year in Calgary and they seemed to be on pace to do so. The Cavaliers as a team had 5 runners finish in the top 10 and 6 in the top 25, dominating the team standings. Top finishers and point scorers were: Paul Ramsay-Vejlens (3rd – 21:16 ), Nassim Ennabaoui (4th- 21:22), Jeremie Martin (6th – 21:51) and Thierry Judge (8th – 22:29) with displacers Alek Bedard (9th – 22:29) and Stephen Maison (23 – 23:59) taking critical points from the field. The performance by the team resulted in the Cavaliers scoring an outstanding 21-points to take the team event.
The Cavaliers return to practice this week as they prep for their next race on Sept. 25 in Laval, followed two weeks later by the RSEQ Sud-Ouest Conference Championships hosted by Champlain College Saint-Lambert at Parc Michel-Chartrand in Longueuil.
Full Race results can be found here.
