The wind, rain and mud were not enough to hold back the Marauders cross country team on Oct. 26. at Chedoke golf course here in Hamilton.

In these awful conditions, the men’s team was able to finish second overall, a finish that has improved their CIS ranking from sixth place overall to second. The women’s team finished sixth overall, which was a finish that head coach Rory Sneyd did not see coming.

“Toronto is a bit better than I thought. I thought our women might be able to give them a run but we are not quite there yet,” said Sneyd.

In the women’s race, the Toronto Varsity Blues finished third overall, the Queen’s Gaels finished fourth overall and the Windsor Lancers finished fifth overall, which brought the Marauders in sixth spot.

“It was disappointing that Windsor nipped our women for that 5th place spot. I thought our third, fourth and fifth runners ran well – Kierstin Myers, Emily Nowak, Raquel Burgess. Unfortunately, we did not have the low sticks we typically do. We expect this to change at the CIS Championships” said Sneyd.

The low sticks that were missing for this race were Maddy McDonald, and Courtney Patterson- two runners that typically finish within the top 15, or 20 at OUA’s, but this year finished within the top 30.

Although the team finished in sixth, which was a finish they want to improve on, they still have their eyes on the prize at CIS Championships, and all of the top seven runners can pull out a great race under pressure as they have done several times throughout their running careers.

The men’s team managed to surprise a lot of the other teams at the championships, finishing second overall, and beating out strong teams like the Queen’s Gaels, and the Windsor Lancers to get there.

This has been the men’s team’s best finish in the OUA championship in several years, and the surprising finish labeled head coach Rory Sneyd as the men’s cross country coach of the year.

Leading the pack for the men was captain Blair Morgan, who had an excellent race, finishing in sixth place overall, which was a major improvement from last year’s 36th place finish.

“I think the main difference between this season and any other was the amount of base training I got in at the end of the summer, up around 120km a week this year,” said Morgan.

Morgan was surprised with his result, and felt as though his team ran faster than he could have ever thought.

“Coming into the race, I had figured that the team had a really good shot at bronze, and if we ran well we could potentially take down Windsor for the silver.”

Individually, Morgan was thinking he could finish well too—but not as well as how he ran in the race.

“I was thinking top 20, maybe second team All-Star if it was a great day. I definitely exceeded all my goals for that race by far, as we were significantly ahead of Windsor in the team race and I was way further up than I could have imagined,” said Morgan.

He accredits his strong finish to not letting people ahead of him in the race get too far away.

“I decided I wasn't going to let anyone in the pack get away from me, and after somewhere between 3 and 4k it was just me and Taylor Reid left from our team,” said Morgan.

Reid finished right behind Morgan, not even a second off of his time, and finished in 7th place.

In 13th place was Connor Darlington, who raced while sick and still finished as an OUA All-Star, and right behind him was Lionel Sanders in 14th, who fell during the race and still finished strong.

Not too far behind Sanders was Taylor Forbes in 16th spot, and finishing up the scoring for the Marauders was Gabe Ghiglione in 36th place, and rookie Paul Rochus in 78th.

These notable finishes was encouraging for Coach Sneyd, as he found the team worked very well together to work their way up in the pack.

“What I liked the most was that the men got after it and worked really well with their teammates to maintain their positions.”

Coach Sneyd thinks canada viagra for sale that the team can carry their confidence from this second place OUA finish to the CIS Championships, and can prove that the top finish was no fluke.

“On the men’s side, I knew they could be second. I was just surprised that our men were a convincing second despite the fact that our potential 1-2 punch was our 3-4 guys in the race. This bodes well for doing even better in London. The guys are motivated to prove that the OUA race was no fluke and they want to be on that CIS podium”

The men will attempt to reach the OUA podium on Nov. 9, in London Ont. at Thames Valley Golf Course, while the women will attempt to prove themselves, and race to their potential, and finish within the top five in the country.

LIONEL SANDERS

This runner’s greatest accomplishment has been winning the Muskoka Ironman on Sept. 8 of this year, with the second place finisher- Andreas Raelart- being a world record holder for the Ironman and a multiple-time Olympian.

CONNOR DARLINGTON

Darlington has placed 4th at Canadian National Cross country championships- which qualified him for Worlds. He also won the gold in the 5000 m at the Canada Summer Games

TAYLOR REID

The triathlete finished 7th at the OUA Championships last year, and won female viagra jelly gold at Canadian Nationals triathlon for the Under 23 race in 2013, and 2nd pro at Canadian Nationals 2013

TAYLOR FORBES

This triathlete turned competitive runner has finished within the top 25 at OFSAA cross country three times, and came 7th in the 1500 m last year at the OUA Championships

 BLAIR MORGAN

The men’s captain has improved immensely ever since he came to McMaster. His best race so far was last week when he came 10th at the McGill meet

GABE GHIGLIONE

Ghiglione has impressed everyone, being cut from the team in his first year, and coming back to make the track team and run to some major personal best times in the last year.

 PAUL ROCHUS

This rookie never even dreamed of making the Mac team five years ago, but he has improved immensely in past years to not only make the team, but crack the top seven.

MADDY MCDONALD

McDonald had her best year in running yet, qualifying for the North American and the World cross country championships. She also went to the Junior Pan Am Games for the 3000 m, and finished in 2nd

 COURTNEY PATTERSON

Patterson has cracked the top seven for the past four years, and she has finished within the top 20 in the OUA for the last three.

 KIERSTIN MYERS

This grad student out of the University of Western has seen some major improvements in her races particularly in the last two years, after years of injury problems

 EMILY NOWAK

The rookie has been great this season, and has also made major improvements in the last year, with her best race in highschool being a 5th place finish in the 1500m steeplechase

MEGAN BEVERLEY

Beverley took a two and a half year hiatus from competitive running, but her past has seen her qualify for the World track and field championships for the 1500m in 2009

 RAQUEL BURGESS

Burgess started her running career later in highschool, but she has worked her way up in the pack, and has finished within the top 30 at OFSAA cross country as a grade 11 and grade 12

CHELSEA MACKINNON

The women’s captain has had injury problems as of late, but she has finished 8th in OFSAA cross country all four years of high school, and has been in the OFSAA finals for the 1500m and 800m multiple times.

After weeks of injuries, the majority of the roster laced up their spikes and crossed the finish line in the QSSF/AUS Interlock meet in Montreal, where they proved their worth against some of the top teams in the country with the help of some debut performances.

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Connor Darlington, a Canada Summer Games 5000m champion, came in fifth place overall, and Reid, an elite triathlete, came ninth overall to pave the path for the Mac men’s team.

Their top ten finishes helped in securing the team to a third-place finish overall, with other key performers crossing the finish line quickly and promptly to lower the Marauders score.

Captain Blair Morgan was next to cross the line, finishing in 10th place, while Taylor Forbes finished in 20th. Gabe Ghiglione was no more than a couple seconds behind Forbes, and finished in 22nd. Luke Charbonneau finished in 31st place, and rounding out the score for the Maroon and Grey was Jeramie Lai in 35th place.

With both Darlington and Reid racing, there was a difference for the men’s team that will only prove to do better when they have Lionel Sanders in the line-up.

“For this race, Taylor Reid was the biggest difference, as Lionel was out but Connor was in. Come OUAs, obviously Lionel will be a huge difference maker as he should be our top man,” said Morgan.

With Sanders as the top man, if Darlington, Morgan and Forbes race to their potential, the Marauders will vie for a spot on the podium at the OUA Championships, with the Guelph Gryphons, Queen’s Gaels and Windsor Lancers being their main competition within the province.

If Sanders raced at the Montreal meet, and ran the same way he did in Guelph, the team may have beaten the Gaels for second place.

Even without Sanders, the team proved that they have the potential to be a top team not just within the province, but also within the entire country.

“It definitely paid off on both a personal and team level, as it was my best race of the season, and I believe it was the teams as well,” said Morgan on the team’s performance.

On the women’s side, the team finished in third place overall just as the men’s team did. In this race, Maddy McDonald and Courtney Patterson were finally on the start line together, and they crossed the finish line not too far from each other as well.

McDonald had the best showing for the Maroon and Grey, finishing third overall, not too far behind former teammate and Queen’s grad student Victoria Coates who finished second overall.

Patterson finished 11th overall, exactly one minute behind McDonald on the 6 km course.

Crossing the line third for the Marauders was rookie Emily Nowak, who finished 25th overall, and not too far behind her was fourth year Megan Beverley, who has returned to the team after a two and a half year hiatus from competitive running. She finished 27th overall.

In 30th spot was Raquel Burgess. Rounding out the score for the Marauders was captain Chelsea Mackinnon in her debut performance who finished 36th overall, and rookie Phoebe Cseresnyes, who also officially debuted, finishing 41st overall.

When it comes to Mackinnon and Cseresnyes, they are two runners that are coming off of injuries. When they are at their best, and when they reach their potential, they are a force to be reckoned with and can challenge any runner in the top 20 at the OUA Championships.

This is promising for the team heading into the OUA Championships, as they will be duking it out with the Guelph Gryphons, Queen’s Gaels, Western Mustangs and Toronto Varsity Blues for a spot on the podium.

The Marauders will look to prepare themselves for the OUA Championships that take place here in Hamilton at the Chedoke Golf Course on Oct. 26, and the Marauders will be racing to their full potential at the competitive meet. They will get a two-week chance to fine-tune their running before hitting the start-line however, which is something that Morgan and the team are looking forward to.

“I think we will doing some harder stuff this week, and taking it comparatively easy starting next weekend. Hopefully we will be running at our best on the 26th, but as [Coach Sneyd] likes to say, OUAs are the 30% midterm and the CIS Championship is the 70% final, so the final goal is to be running our best in four weeks,”

The Marauders will look to ace the midterm on Oct. 26, before taking on the final challenge on Nov. 9.

With just two weeks remaining before the OUA championships, the Marauder cross country team will have one more tune up race before taking on the best runners in the province.

The Maroon and Grey squad will lace up their spikes as they toe off against the best runners to the east in the Quebec Student Sport Federation/Atlantic University Sport meet in Montreal this coming weekend.

“The team raced at the McGill Open about 5-6 years ago but this is the first time doing the QSSF/AUS Interlock” said head coach Rory Sneyd.

The Marauders have never competed in any other conference in Canada before, and this will be their first time this season to get a sneak-peak at some of the talented runners from the east-coast, some of whom will also be in London, Ont. on Nov. 9 at the CIS Cross Country Championships.

“We are actually party-crashers coming from the OUA. We felt that we wanted to see our athletes perform two weeks before the OUA Championships so we can make the best decisions in terms of who we put on the line on October 26th ” added Sneyd.

The upcoming race on Oct. 12 will serve as a test; a last try-out before the coaches make a collective decision as to who will be among the top seven runners on the start line for the men’s and women’s side for the OUA Championships in Hamilton.

Although the team has only competed in two races so far, Coach Sneyd has given credit to the determined runners on the team that continue to impress in races, and are consistently running great times.

“Blair Morgan is very consistent.  He was our first runner at Western and was our third behind Lionel and Taylor Forbes at Guelph,” said Sneyd of the men’s captain.

As for the women’s side, there are two runners that stand out in Sneyd’s mind as being spot on in both races and workouts.

“Emily Nowak and Kierstin Myers have been good in both the races.  I think they were a tad better at Western than they were at Guelph but it seems as though they are pretty steady” added Sneyd.

On the women’s side, Sneyd gave Maddy McDonald credit for her performance amongst some of the best runners in the country.

“Maddy was duking it out with some athletes who had already raced a few times or had done some harder workouts to ‘sharpen up’ slightly. Maddy's focus is on being fantastic at the championships and I think she started off at a great point” said Sneyd on the Junior Pan Am Games silver medal recipient.

On the men’s side, Sneyd was impressed with Sanders and Forbes, two triathletes that worked their way up through the pack multiple times in the 10km race

“Lionel went out a bit too hard but showed some nice grit holding it together on a rough third lap. He was actually closing on people on the fourth and final lap. Taylor ran really controlled and there is more there.  We think he can be a really dangerous competitor when the championships roll around” added Sneyd.

When the championships do come around, the Marauders team will show their full potential – something they have not done all season.

“We have not shown all our cards on the men's side but I think most people out there are aware that we have Connor Darlington and Taylor Reid waiting in the wings” said Sneyd on the strong runners

On the women’s side, the two top runners on the team have not ran in the same race yet.

“We have yet to run Maddy McDonald and Courtney Patterson in the same race.  I think the rankings are fair based on what the teams have shown thus far” added Sneyd.

Given the potential the team has going into the OUA Championships, Sneyd still acknowledges that there is quite a bit that the team still needs to work on in order to peak at the very competitive race.

“They've been working together fairly well in races but I think this is something that can be improved” said Sneyd.

“You never want to run your teammates' race instead of your own but if you can find each other out there and help each other, that's obviously going to help the team score”

The team will have to look to adopt this strategy at the OUA Championships, as the meet next week will not showcase the entire marauders squad, with Sanders for the men, and Kierstin Myers, Charlotte Ward, Phoebe Cseresnyes and Chelsea Mackinnon all out of the lineup this Saturday.

After this weekend the team will turn their focus to the upcoming OUA championships, being run on home turf in Hamilton.

Laura Sinclair

Senior Sports Editor

Despite the absence of some of the best runners on the team at the Western International meet, the Marauders cross country team still managed to hold their ground, and prove to do well in awful conditions.

On the women’s side, notable absences in the race included Maddy McDonald, who the coaches are saving for the meet in Guelph this weekend; andcaptain Chelsea Mackinnon, who is nursing a minor injury.

Although these two big scorers were not racing, the women’s team still placed fifth overall, with three runners in the top 25.

Former Marauder turned Queen’s Gael Victoria Coates won the 5km race, but former teammate Courtney Patterson was not too far behind her, finishing in 3rd place with a time of 18:16.

Crossing the line second for the Marauders was Kierstin Myers, a former Mustang that transferred to Mac this year. She came in 21st, with a time of 18:59.

Right behind Myers, and the first rookie to finish the race was Emily Nowak, who ran the course in a time of 19:01, which was good enough for 22nd.

In 60th place was Charlotte Ward, who finished with a time of 19:38, and in 67th place was rookie Adrienne Morgan, who finished with a time of 19:54.

Rookie Phoebe Cseresnyes looked like she would finish among the top 20, but unfortunately had to quit half-way through the race because of an injury.

If the Marauders women’s side had everyone healthy and ready to race, their score will only get better, and their placing will only get higher.

On the men’s side, the absences of Lionel Sanders, Connor Darlington, Taylor Reid, Taylor Forbes and Austen Forbes were noticeable, but the men still finished well, and placed seventh overall.

“I think that had everyone been racing, we would've been up with the top schools competing for a medal”, said men’s team captain Blair Morgan.

“But without our top guys, it gave some rookies and vets a chance to step up and score in the top 5 for the team, which they might otherwise not get.”

Morgan was the first of the men to cross the line for the Marauders. He finished 17th overall in the 8 km race with a time of 25:58.

Morgan had a strategy for the race, which helped him in having a strong finish.

“[Coach] Sneyd wanted us to go out easier in the first half and finish hard in the second so I stuck to that plan. I wasn't as tired as I thought I would be afterwards, but it was only an 8k, as compared to the 10k races we have coming up,” said Morgan on his race tactics.

Not too far behind Morgan was Gabe Ghiglione, who finished in 23rd place with a time of 26:05.

Crossing the line after Ghiglione was rookie Paul Rochus, who finished in 31st place with a time of 26:21.

After Rochus, veteran Eric Barry finished in 43rd place with a time of 26:38, and rookie Nick Belore finished in 26:41 which was good enough for 44th overall.

The Marauders won’t have much of a break, as they are back in action at the Guelph Open meet this coming weekend. This meet will include the entire roster on both the men and women’s side. Captain Morgan is foreshadowing a great showing from the maroon and grey

“Definitely expect some great performances from the Mac crew. I'm looking forward to seeing many of the athletes who didn't race at Western start their season off next weekend at Guelph. It will also be interesting to see how the teams stack up against each other on a 10k course”

The Marauders will take the trip to Guelph on Sept. 28 and will hope to score a top three finish overall with the best of the Maroon and Grey in the chute and ready to go.

As seen by many dominant sports franchises in the past, when the core talent of a team has left or is absent, a rebuilding phase usually occurs to foster the young talent and grow them to the same level of success.

Having lost many of the top runners from the 2012 CIS silver medal winning women’s cross country team, it would be easy to predict this team would follow suit and enter the rebuilding phase, however this is not the case according to head coach Rory Sneyd, who still has high expectations for his team this year.

“We have a group that we think can contend for medals at the provincial and national level. The women won't have as much of a target on their backs as in previous years and it is going to be exciting to see them hopefully surprise some people this year,” said Sneyd.

The women’s team has always been strong with significant depth. They have medalled at the CIS stage four years in a row, and now, their season allows for the rookies to step up and steer the ship that the veterans have left behind for them.

“It is pretty crazy to think that of the four graduating women from our top seven last year, three of them – Lindsay Carson, Victoria Coates, and Jillian Wyman - had all been All-Canadians in cross country and have won medals at CIS Championships in cross country or track. Our fourth graduating athlete, Steph MacNeill, is a three-time OUA All-Star in cross country” said Sneyd on the class of 2013.

Although the talented top seven of last season are missing four of their biggest threats, the rookies proved themselves at time trial two weeks ago, where four of the top five women crossing the line first were rookies.

For Coach Sneyd, the rookies’ success at the trial was no surprise to him.

“I feel that Kirstin (Myers), Phoebe (Cseresnyes), Emily (Nowak), and Adrienne (Morgan) can all end up in our top seven this year. What surprised me a bit was how fast they ran and how they stacked up with some of our veterans”

On the men’s side, there is a lot of excitement around the potential for a CIS medal this year. The men have not won a medal in over a decade, and this just might be their year to break that streak.

“We expect that Lionel Sanders, Connor Darlington and Taylor Reid will be up front and Taylor Forbes, Austen Forbes, Blair Morgan, Jordan Bierema and a couple of rookies will not be too far behind. It's great when the men can work together” said Sneyd

Because of the number of veterans on the men’s squad, however, it will be a lot more difficult for the recruits to make the top seven, although they are a very talented class.

“I knew that we had a tremendous recruiting class but guys like Paul Rochus and Jeramie Lai surprised me with how fast they ran. I think it speaks to the strength of our men's team that it will be really difficult for any of our rookies to crack the top seven this year,” Sneyd said.

The Marauders cross country team will compete at their first meet of the season September 21st, at the Western International. For this meet, and for the rest of the season, Coach Sneyd has listed some big players to watch out for, as they will be a force to be reckoned with.

“On the women's side, Maddy McDonald and Courtney Patterson will be leading the charge up front,” said Sneyd.

As for the rookies, Sneyd is excited to see what Phoebe Cserneyses can do, and the credentials to her name says it all.

“Cseresnyes has placed as high as fourth at the OFSAA Cross Country Championships and she has the potential to be one of the best rookies in the conference and in the country”

As for the men’s side, Sneyd has listed some big-time triathletes and a Canada cup 5000 m champion, that are potentially in the best shape of their lives right now

“Darlington, Sanders, and Reid are coming off phenomenal summers and they will be our low sticks,” said Sneyd.

The rookie that has stood out the most on the men’s side is Paul Rochus, who finished in 2nd place by no more than a couple seconds at the time trial on September 6th.

“Presently, I think Rochus has the best shot of any of the rookies to break into that top seven,” said Sneyd.

Although the team has changed a lot from the previous season, one thing is for sure. The expectations and stakes are just as high for the team this year as any other year, and the goal is still the same; to work hard, run fast, and to medal at the CIS Championships.

By: Laura Sinclair

The McMaster cross country team finished strong with an impressive result from the CIS Cross Country Championships held in London, Ontario on Nov. 10. The women’s team finished 2nd overall, and the men’s team finished 6th overall to cap off the end of yet another successful season for the Marauders cross country team.

Both of the teams were coming into CIS with high expectations and goals, especially after the OUA Championships, where the women’s team finished 2nd, and the men’s team finished 4th. “We talked about not leaving CIS with a bad taste in our mouth,” said Head Coach Rory Sneyd. “We don’t have to say much to the athletes; they know that this is as big as it gets for Canadian university cross country and they were exceedingly motivated to do well.”

The Marauders women’s team was hoping to finish closer to the powerhouse CIS Champions the Guelph Gryphons, but there would be a serious extraneous factor that would work against the Marauders in the final race of the season.

“We hoped that Lindsay [Carson] would vie for a medal, but she was running with two broken ribs,” Rory Sneyd said.

This unfortunate news was confirmed hours after the race on Saturday, and was believed to be due to a bike mishap from a couple of weeks ago. Even with two broken ribs, Lindsay Carson, the 3000 m CIS Champion, still managed to pull off an individual top ten finish overall.

Coach Sneyd is pleased with the women’s team’s performance, and he gives credit to some of the top finishers on the team.

“Victoria Coates out-leaned the defending CIS cross country champion to take the bronze medal, Steph MacNeill ran her best race of the year, and the talented rookie Madeleine McDonald had another tremendous race.”

Leading the way for the women’s team was Victoria Coates in 3rd, Lindsay Carson in 7th, Madeleine McDonald in 13th, Steph MacNeill in 19th, Courtney Patterson in 25th and Chelsea Mackinnon in 40th.

On the men’s side, their biggest goal was to be the 3rd OUA team at the CIS cross country championships. The men’s team almost accomplished this; finishing 11 points behind Queens to be the fourth OUA team overall. Coach Sneyd is very optimistic about the men’s team in the years to come. “The guys came close, but we return our top six from this year and Jordan Bierema (out with a stress fracture) will help us a bunch,” commented Sneyd.

The coach was pleased with the men’s performance, and gave credit to some of the stand-out performers. “It was an incredible race for Lionel, he ran so tough; and Blair Morgan had a big break-through to be the fourth man, and narrowly miss Queen’s fourth man.”

Leading the way for the men was Lionel Sanders in 11th, Connor Darlington in 34th, Taylor Reid in 35th, Blair Morgan in 46th, Austen Forbes in 53rd, Taylor Forbes in 57th and Ryan Tice in 100th.

Next up for the Marauders cross country team is some down time before picking up the intensity again for the upcoming track season that gets underway in January.

 

The Marauders cross country team gave it all they got at the OUA Championships in King City on October 27 with amazing performances that contributed to the men’s and women’s overall team place and score. The women’s team finished 2nd overall for the fourth year in a row, despite missing CIS 3000 m champion Lindsay Carson, and the men’s team finished 4th overall despite missing stand out rookie Connor Darlington. These team places were incredible and well-earned for the Marauders squad that had to work extremely hard in horrible conditions.

Despite the torrential downpour, the cold winds and the muddy hills, the performances of the Marauders were unaffected, as the women’s team finished with 50 points having 6 runners in the top 20, and the men’s team finished with 118 points having 6 runners in the top 50. The women’s Captain, Steph MacNeill compared the uncomfortable weather conditions to last year’s CIS Championship meet. “It was a little unnerving at first because of the disaster that last years’ CIS championships turned out to be for the girls team” The 2011 CIS Championships fell on a cold and snowy day in Quebec, which affected the performance of the women’s team who finished 3rd overall, despite finishing 2nd in years previous. “But at the end of the day, everyone had a great race and this gives us confidence that we can run in bad conditions and last year was just a fluke.”

Although the weather conditions on Saturday might have not been ideal, for MacNeill, her team still had an edge on the competition. “There were lots of hills on the course, which I think played to our teams’ advantage as we have lots of great trails with hills to run on in Hamilton.” On the girls side, Victoria Coates finished 2nd overall, Madeleine McDonald finished 7th, Courtney Patterson was 11th, Steph MacNeill was 14th, Jill Wyman was 16th, Chelsea Mackinnon was 19th and Pauline Skowron was 37th.

On the men’s side, there were a number of great performances from veterans and rookies that stepped it up to contribute to the second best OUA team finish in Marauder men’s cross country history.  Taylor Reid was the first Marauder to cross the line in 7th, and for Head Coach Rory Sneyd, it was a huge accomplishment for the veteran. “We thought he could be top 14 but top 7 was a big surprise.” Reid worked his way up in the 10 km race, getting himself to the lead pack, which was his best performance as a Marauder yet. “Taylor had not previously been in the top 20 at OUA’s” said Coach Sneyd. Not too far behind Reid was Lionel Sanders in 9th, Austen Forbes in 29th, Blair Morgan in 36th, Taylor Forbes in 37th, Ryan Tice in 46th, and Jeremy Walsh in 70th.

After the incredible finishes and performances from both of teams at the OUA Championships, Coach Rory Sneyd’s goals for the CIS Championships are “to get our best athletes to the start line healthy and fresh, and to have the majority of the athletes run the best race of their season. We think that both teams will place very well if this is the case.”

The next challenge for the Marauders will be CIS Championships in London Ontario on November 10, where both the men’s and women’s team will fight to be one of the top teams in the country.

The McMaster women’s squad is looking to capture an OUA Championship in 2012.

To begin the 2012 Cross Country campaign, the McMaster Marauders headed to the Western Invitational meet in London, Ont.

Both the men’s and women’s teams produced strong showings at the first race: the men placed fifth overall and the women finished first to get their first win of the OUA season.

The ladies’ win was a team effort led by Lindsay Carson, who captured a silver medal in her 5K race.
Carson, former CIS champion in the 3000m, suffered an injury during last year’s cross country season, and the second-place finish early on in the season is a positive sign for a staple member of the women’s squad.

Being narrowly ousted out of a medal spot, Victoria Coates finished fourth overall, but her effort did not go unnoticed.
“The coaching staff was very impressed with Victoria. She surpassed our expectations of her at the Western run,” said Coach Rory Sneyd after the race.

Courtney Patterson also finished in the top ten, finishing ninth to aid the Marauders in their victory.
Patterson suffered an injury over the summer that sidelined her for a month, but the Western result erased any doubt in her abilities for this season.

The men’s team fifth-place finish was a positive for the team, as the team was missing key members from the event.

The top finisher from the men was Lionel Sanders who finished fifth in his 8K race.

This weekend, McMaster will be travelling to Chicago to run at the Loyola Lakefront Invitational.
The road trip will be a showcase for young Mac cross country athletes as rookies Connor Darlington and Madeleine McDonald will make their Maroon debuts.

Both teams are nationally ranked squads in the CIS, with the women ranked second in the nation and the men ranked seventh overall.

The team will be withholding some of their best runners from the Chicago race in order to ensure they field the best squad possible for the OUA Championships at the end of October.

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