CROSS COUNTRY ROUNDUP: Marauder men win Western International
LONDON, Ont. – The Marauder men's cross country team sent a strong message on Saturday, winning their opening meet of the 2014 season at the Western International, with four scorers inside the top 10 at the Thames Valley Golf and Country Club in London.
Men's Western International– Sept. 20
LONDON, Ont. – The Marauder men's cross country team sent a strong message on Saturday, winning their opening meet of the 2014 season at the Western International, with four scorers inside the top 10 at the Thames Valley Golf and Country Club in London.
Blair Morgan was McMaster's low stick on the afternoon, finishing fourth, and Austen Forbes enjoyed his best result as a Marauder while scoring second for his team and seventh overall. Gabe Ghiglione (ninth), Paul Rochus (10th) and Peter Kolb (14th) completed the scoring for the Marauders, who outpaced their nearest competitors, the Windsor Lancers, by 31 points.
Saturday's result was not only the McMaster men's first win at the long-running Western International, but their first appearance on the podium. McMaster has competed at the event in all but two years since 1986.
It was McMaster's first race since completing a landmark season in 2013, in which the Marauder men achieved their highest overall score at the CIS Championships in a decade and missed the podium by a single place.
Veterans Connor Darlington and Taylor Forbes were held out of competition, as they continue to recover from extended summer seasons on the track. Both men are targeting returns on October 11th, when the Marauders compete at Queen's.
Rookie Frank Sorbara is likely to appear this weekend, when McMaster travels to Windsor on Saturday, while fellow first-year Keaton Smee is scheduled to debut a week later in Waterloo.
Women's Western International – Sept. 20
LONDON, Ont. – The Western Mustangs women's cross country team took first place, while the men's team placed fifth, at the 40th annual Western International on Saturday afternoon at the Thames Valley Golf Course.
Amanda Truelove was the top Mustangs finisher on the day, taking second place in the women's individual event in 17:53 to help lead Western to it's second women's title in as many years at their home event. Other finishers in the top 10 for the Mustangs included Bridget Pyke in fifth (18:28), Stephanie MacNeill in sixth (18:31), along with Melissa Caruso in ninth (18:38). Four other Mustangs placed among the top 30 finishers including Ainsley Nantes in 15th (19:05), Jessica White in 17th (19:09), Sarah Emilio in 23rd (19:13), and Katie Bell in 27th (19:22).
The Mustangs topped the podium on Saturday with an overall score of 37, while Toronto took second place in the team event with 47 points, and McMaster took third with 111.