It was a cold, rainy and muddy morning at the 2018 OUA cross country championships on Saturday but that didn't seem to dampen the spirit or the drive of the athletes taking part.
In the men's race, Lions third-year runner Ali Ghadghoni led the York contingent with a 56
th place finish near the middle of the pack in a time of 34:19 in the men's 10km race. Austin Kpiebewieng was the next Lion to cross the line in 82
nd place (36:54), followed closely behind by Christopher Pietrangelo in 84
th (36:59) and Justin Kpiebewieng in 92
nd (37:57)
Max Turek of McMaster won the men's race by just beating out Mark Patton from Guelph to take the gold medal and the OUA MVP award. Both Turek & Patton finished with a time of 31:57 in a photo finish, while Isaiah Frielink of Western finished in third-place in the men's standing just four seconds behind the leading pair at 32:01. McMaster took home the gold medal in the team standings with a top-five total of 2:41:13, Queen's came in 2nd with a top-five total of 2:41:42 & Guelph was third at 2:41:45.
The Lions women were led by Katrianni Pisani who crossed the line in 33:59 in the 8km race, good for 64
th place in the standings. Teammate Rebecca Wheeler rounded out the Lions competitors with an 80
th place finish in a time of 36:12.
A pair of Queen's Gaels that took home the top-two spots in the individual standings. Brogan MacDougall finished with a time of 28:03 to take the gold medal, she was named MVP for the first-place finish along with a first team all-star & rookie of the year. Her sister Branna MacDougall would finish behind her in second with a final time of 28:34 and Western's Kristina Popadich rounded out the top-three with a final time of 28:41.
In the women's team scoring, the Queen's Gaels took the OUA Championship banner and trophy with a total time of 2:25:32. Their top-five had an average run time of 29:06 in the win. The Guelph Gryphons finished second overall with a 2:27:32 total time and the Western Mustangs finished third at 2:33:33.
The Lions runners will now turn their attention to the indoor track & field season, with the first meet of the season just around the corner on Friday, Nov. 16 at the Guelph Invitational.
