CROSS COUNTRY ROUNDUP: McMaster men, Western women take top spots at Windsor Open

It was a different race but the same result for Blair Morgan and the Marauders on Saturday, as the McMaster men won the team title at the Windsor Open to remain undefeated in 2014.

Morgan was McMaster's leading scorer once again, crossing the line second in the men's eight-kilometre event but scoring first, as winner Nick Falk is an over-ager formerly of the Windsor Lancers.

Second-year Paul Rochus was the second scorer for the victorious Marauders, placing sixth and scoring fifth. Paul Kolb (7th), Derek van Schepen (8th), Nick Kondrat (12th), Keaton Smee (14th) and Ivan Meiszinger (15th) completed the scoring for the Marauders.

The promising start to Maddy McDonald's season continued on the women's side, as McMaster's star finished second on Saturday behind CIS First Team All-Canadian Amanda Truelove of Western.

A strong pack run by a group of Marauders, led by rookie Erin Mawhinney, sealed the team silver for their team. Maddy Benjamin (8th), Gabrielle Foran (9th) and Phoebe Cseresnyes (11th) rounded out that group, while rookies Lauren Locco and Maxine Gravina finished 20th and 25th respectively, scoring 15th and 18th.

Marauder head coach Rory Sneyd singled out his young group of first and second-year men for praise, as they made up the bulk of McMaster's winning delegation in Windsor.

A small contingent of Marauder runners will continue their season in Waterloo on Saturday, October 4, while the majority of the team will regroup a week later to compete in Kingston.

Source: McMaster Marauders

The Windsor Lancer cross country team hosted their first meet in a decade in a half on Saturday as they hosted the Windsor Open at Malden Park.
 
The No. 4 ranked Lancer men had a pair of runners place in the top four spots to finish second overall, while the Lancer women placed third.
 
The McMaster Marauders claimed the top spot in the men's competition and the Western Mustangs won the women's race.
 
Lancer alum Nick Falk, competing under the UWindsor Athletic Club, was the first runner across the finish line completing the 8km race in a time of 26:57.

Taylor McArthur was the first Lancer across the finish line finishing the race in third place in a time of 27:23, while Dave Meloche came in right behind him in fourth at 27:27.
 
Other Lancer scorers included Joseph Kagumba and Corey Bellemore who both finished the race in a time of 28:04 to finish tenth and eleventh overall, and Matt Hall who placed 18th in a time of 28:25.
 
On the women's side, Windsor had two athletes finish in the top ten. Stefanie Smith finished third overall in the 5km race with a time of 23:39.09. Next across the line was Meaghan Marton who placed sixth with a time of 23:46.60.
 
Lauren Fisico (25:05.17), Charlene Rhead (25:08.27), and Lindsay Thompson (25:28.60) were the other Lancer scorers.

Source: Windsor Lancers