Gryphons Sweep Men's and Women's Cross Country Banners

KINGSTON, Ont. (October 25, 2014) - The Guelph Gryphons took home both team and individual first place finishes at the OUA Cross Country Championships Saturday at Fort Henry in Kingston.

The Guelph women won their OUA record 11th consecutive championship title and the men their 10th.

It was a three woman race for the podium as Julie-Anne Staehli from Queen's, Heather Petrick of Guelph and Gabriela Stafford of Toronto broke away from the pack to set the top pace. In the end it was the 2013 top rookie Petrick who narrowly edged out Stafford at the finish line despite trailing in the final paces. Petrick finished the 6km race in a time of 20:02.44 with Stafford following at 20:03.22 and last year's silver medalist Staehli rounding out the podium finishers in third at a time of 20:13.88. The top female runner in the race was Katie Phillips of the Ottawa Gee-Gees who finished in a time of 22:23.30.

With placings of 1st, 5th, 7th 8th and 9th the Gryphons took the overall team placing with a 30 point score followed up by the Western Mustangs who had top finishes of 4th and 14th with the Queen's Gaels taking the team bronze and having top results of 3rd, 6th and 12th.

On the men's side it was all Gryphons as they swept the podium and finsihed with the top four finishes. Leading the way was Ross Proudfoot, last year's runner up, who finished the 10km race in a time of 30:15.00 beating out teammate Tristan Woodfine who clocked in 11 seconds later at 30:26.00. Rounding out the podium finishers was Yves Sikubwabo coming in at 30:46.75 followed in fourth by Gryphon Aaron Hendrikx and by fifth place finisher from Queen's Alex Wilkie. It was another Gael earning top rookie spot as well as Eric Wynards came in at 32:54.56 as the top first-year.

The Gryphons nearly swept the top team finishers for the OUA banner with scorers finishing in spots one through four and 12th. The Windsor Lancers took second place thanks to top performances that included an 8th and 11th place finish while the Marauders claimed bronze with 7th and 14th place finishers leading the way. The silver medal team result was forced to a tie-breaker with Windsor taking silver thanks to the top displacer finish by Alex Ullman  ahead of the Marauder top displacer Luke Charbonneau.


OUA MAJOR AWARDS

Women's MVP
Heather Petrick (Guelph)

Women's Rookie of the Year
Katie Phillips (Ottawa)

Women's Community Service Award
TBA

Women's Coach of the Year
TBA

Men's MVP
Ross Proudfoot (Guelph)

Men's Rookie of the Year
Eric Wynands (Queen's)

Men's Community Service Award
TBA

Men's Coach of the Year
TBA

WOMEN'S OUA ALL-STARS
First Team
Heather Petrick (Guelph)
Gabriela Stafford (Toronto)
Julie-Anne Staehli (Queen's)
Amanda Truelove (Western)
Katrina Allison (Guelph)
Claire Sumner (Queen's)
Katelyn Ayers (Guelph)

Second Team
Carise Thompson (Guelph)
Sophia Watts (Guelph)
Stefanie Smith (Windsor)
Jenn Dowling-Medley (Guelph)
Charlotte Dunlap (Queen's)
Madeline Yungblut (Guelph)
Melissa Caruso (Western)

MEN'S OUA ALL-STARS
First Team
Ross Proudfoot (Guelph)
Tristan Woodfine (Guelph)
Yves Sikubwabo (Guelph)
Aaron Hendrikx (Guelph)
Alex Wilkie (Queen's)
Kevin Tree (Lakehead)
Taylor Forbes (McMaster)

Second Team
Corey Bellemore (Windsor)
Dominique Aulagnon (Lakehead)
Dylan Brown (Lakehead)
Matt Travaglini (Windsor)
Christian Gravel (Guelph)
Paul Janikowski (Windsor)
Connor Darlington (McMaster)

Women's Final Team Standings
1) Guelph Gryphons, 30 points
2) Western Mustangs, 78
3) Queen's Gaels, 86
4) Toronto Varsity Blues, 104
5) Ottawa Gee-Gees, 145
6) Laurentian Voyageurs, 156
7) Waterloo Warriors, 183
8) McMaster Marauders, 185
9) Windsor Lancers, 198
10) Trent Excalibur, 324
11) Brock Badgers, 328
12) Laurier Golden Hawks, 383
13) Nipissing Lakers, 391

Men's Final Team Standings
1) Guelph Gryphons, 22
2) Windsor Lancers, 71*
3) McMaster Marauders, 71*
4) Lakehead Thunderwolves, 92
5) Queen's Gaels, 139
6) Western Mustangs, 165
7) Toronto Varsity Blues, 229
8) Ottawa Gee-Gees, 237
9) York Lions, 250
10) Waterloo Warriors, 257
11) Laurier Golden Hawks, 259
12) Brock Badgers, 351
13) Nipissing Lakers, 367
^{*The silver medal team result was forced to a tie-breaker with Windsor taking silver thanks to the top displacer finish by Alex Ullman  ahead of the Marauder top displacer Luke Charbonneau.}

Source: Queen's Gaels