Gryphons, Mustangs round out banner performances with more provincial praise
Burlington, Ont. – It was a winning weekend for Guelph’s Julia Agostinelli and Nicholas Bannon, but their outstanding efforts continued well beyond the OUA Cross Country Championships course, as the Gryphons duo added even more conference recognition to their most valuable runner performances.
Saving her best for the home stretch, Agostinelli had a memorable finish to her OUA Championships outing, as the most valuable runner took home the individual title for her Guelph Gryphons.
While maintaining a strong pace throughout, Agostinelli wasn’t among the top few racers until the final 2km stretch. She was ninth among the 96 individuals competing through both the 2km and 4km marks, before getting up to sixth with just the final quarter of the race to go. Even having knocked 18 seconds off of her previous split heading into that home stretch, the London, Ont. native was just getting started. In what was a blistering finish, Agostinelli secured the lone sub-seven minute split of the day (6:57.6) to jump past five runners and cross the finish line in first place.
The applied human nutrition major became the third consecutive runner from the Gryphons to finish first en route to securing OUA MVP and all-star honours.
A veteran with the talented Guelph cross country team, meanwhile, Bannon ensured he capped off his fifth OUA season in style at the conference’s championship race this past weekend.
The senior runner from Shelburne, Ont., crossed the finish line in first place for his Gryphons, doing so in a time of 24:24.6. Bannon got out of the gates strong on Saturday, checking with a seventh-best time of 6:07.2 through the first 2km. He rose up the ranks to third place at the halfway point, before picking up steam in the back half of the race. His best 2km split came down the home stretch, where his time of 5:56.0 catapulted up the podium and into top spot among his 105 conference peers.
Bannon became the 21st Guelph runner to place first at the OUA Championships, with the OUA MVP and first team all-star playing a pivotal role in his Gryphons earning their 31st provincial banner as well.
Beyond the races, Agostinelli has dedicated herself to fulfilling the role of a student-athlete mentor for five hours per week. She provides a friendly face and voice of mentorship to incoming Gryphons athletes adjusting to varsity life. Through one-on-one meetings, Agostinelli provides essential guidance in study skills, note-taking, and finding a balance between academics and athletics. Her leadership helps foster a supportive community, ensuring these athletes thrive both on and off the field.
Agostinelli is also the cross country team representative for the Gryphon Mental Wellness Project, wherein she works to support her teammates’ mental health and well-being by facilitating the distribution of mental health resources to her peers. Always available to her teammates, Agostinelli is there for mental health check-ins on a run, a conversation away from practice, or through a simple high five.
Among several additional commitments, meanwhile, Agostinelli also worked to support a local nutrition related initiative this past summer. The Food Uniting Neighbours project seeks to comeback food insecurity in a Guelph neighbourhood, an initiative for which she volunteered several hours at community events designed to enhance activities that directly address the community’s needs.
Bannon, meanwhile, becomes the back-to-back community service award recipient, as he continues to shine on the course, in the classroom, and in the community.
An active member of Guelph’s student-athlete mental health initiative since the first year of his undergraduate studies, he is now in his second year as treasurer, responsible for managing the organization’s finances. In addition, he also helps the group plan activities that help to raise awareness surrounding mental health and the various supports for athletes on campus. Bannon has also been a President’s Scholar mentor to a total of four incoming University of Guelph students who received the President’s scholarship, meeting regularly and sharing resources to help ease their transition.
Additionally, the decorated Guelph standout is actively involved within the Department of Food, Agriculture, and Resource Economics, and volunteered as the undergraduate representative at the most recent open house.
While a pair of Gryphons claimed two major awards apiece, it was a dynamic duo from the Limestone City that collected rookie of the year honours for 2023. Angus Skinner completed the race in 25:01.8, and while the time was good for 17th overall, it was also the fastest first-year time of the day on the men’s side. Similarly, Alyshia Alkerton was declared the top first-year following the women’s race, crossing the finish line in a time of 30:28.7, good for 26th overall.
Finally, after seeing their racers claim the 2023 OUA team titles at the championships, the banner-winning coaches – Western’s Guy Schultz and Guelph’s Terry Radchenko – also scored provincial recognition.
Schultz’s Mustangs earned spots three through seven individually in the women’s competition, combined for a low score of 25 points as a result and a commanding 45-point edge for the second-place finishers. Radchenko, meanwhile, who collects back-to-back coach of the year honours, led the Gryphons men’s team to the top two spots on the individual podium and another pair in the top-10 overall. When the dust settled on the 8km race, the Gryphons scored a low of 34 points, bettering the silver-medal winning Gaels by 21.
The complete list of 2023 OUA cross country award winners and all-stars is as follows:
Women’s Cross Country
Awards
Runner of the Year – Julia Agostinelli, Guelph
Rookie of the Year – Alyshia Alkerton, Queen’s
Coach of the Year – Guy Schultz, Western
Community Service Award – Julia Agostinelli, Guelph
First Team All-Stars
Julia Agostinelli, Guelph
Rosalyn Barrett, McMaster
Chloe Coutts, Western
Erika Jordan, Western
Sophie Coutts, Western
Heidi Ohrling, Western
Olivia Roussel, Western
Second Team All-Stars
Nina Whitford, Guelph
Janelle Bykowski, Windsor
Hannah Goodjohn, McMaster
Victoria Lamb, McMaster
Paige Breedon, Waterloo
Sandra Guga, Western
Elizabeth Vroom, Queen’s
Men’s Cross Country
Awards
Runner of the Year – Nicholas Bannon, Guelph
Rookie of the Year – Angus Skinner, Queen’s
Coach of the Year – Terry Radchenko, Guelph
Community Service Award – Nicholas Bannon, Guelph
First Team All-Stars
Nicholas Bannon, Guelph
Max Davies, Guelph
Ben Shore, Toronto
Roman Mironov, Queen’s
Miles Brackenbury, Queen’s
Rohan Nowbotsing, Guelph
Marcel Scheele, Western
Second Team All-Stars
Andre Alie-Lamarche, Ottawa
Will Cox, Queen’s
Christian Rachner, Guelph
Jacob Fitzpatrick, Windsor
Connor Lashley, McMaster
Brandon Raftis, Toronto
Ben Fox, Western