X-Men runners come 12th overall at U SPORTS championship

The StFX X-Men came 12^th overall at the U SPORTS national championship Saturday in Kingston, Ont. on a cold day that featured 19 teams and 160 individual runners.

AUS champion Angus Rawling was the top X-Men finisher, coming in 15^th spot overall with a time of 31:52.2. Rawling was with the lead pack of 10-12 runners throughout the opening 7.5-8k of the 10k race before he struggled through a rough patch around the 8k mark and was unable to get back into top ten contention.

Teammate Alex Neuffer placed 40^th overall with a 32:06.8 finish, while Paul MacLellan was 73^rd at 33:19.8. Rounding out the X-Men finishers were Aidan Doherty (110^th, 34:22.2), Addison Derhak (121^st, 34:53.2) and Patrick Marlow (134^th, 35:34.8).

Calgary took the team title with 75 points on the day, followed by Guelph (89) and McMaster (94). StFX tallied 344 points in the team results.

The complete press release from U SPORTS follows.

2018 U SPORTS Cross Country Championships
Men's Race: Dinos earn first national title, Black wins thrilling finish to give Guelph runner individual gold

KINGSTON, Ont. (U SPORTS) – The Calgary Dinos finished with a strong team showing across their top five to claim their first U SPORTS national championship in cross country as athletes battled strong winds in Kingston, Ont., at Fort Henry Hill.

A balanced attack that included the individual bronze medal going to Russell Pennock saw the Dinos climb to the top of the podium for U SPORTS gold.

Calgary finished with three All-Canadians in the race as Pennock was followed close behind by Eric Lutz in ninth and Stefan Daniel in 10th. Ryan Grieco (21^st) and Tyler Kiyonaga (32^nd) rounded out the top five for Calgary as they finished with a team score of 75 which was 14 points ahead of second-place Guelph and 19 ahead of third place McMaster.

"It's quite amazing that the guys were able to do this. I'm really proud of them, they showed up, aimed towards a national championship and did everything they could," said Dinos head coach Doug Lamont. "In cross country, nothing's typical. Everybody has to deal with the conditions and our guys showed up today prepared to compete and did it all. It wasn't any one individual who made it all happen for us it was because all seven of us stepped up on the day."

The U SPORTS men's champion was Connor Black from the Guelph Gryphons who ran the 10km race in a time of 31:13, which included a tight sprint down the finish as he fended off silver medalist Jean-Simon Desgagnés of the Laval Rouge et Or by a fraction of a second.

"There's no words," said Black, the U SPORTS Cross Country Male Athlete of the Year. "I told myself I was going to let things play into my hands and I went out there and capitalized. The weather was fine, just had to hang back early and then hang in for the rest of the race."

The host Queen's Gaels were still able to come away with some hardware as Ruben Sansom took home the Rookie of the Year honours, while Lamont was named the Coach of the Year.  

Full Results

Team Standings

1. Calgary, 75
2. Guelph, 89
3. McMaster, 94
4. Laval, 131
5. Queen's, 149
6. Western, 173
7. UBC, 235
8. Trinity Western, 242
9. Victoria, 243
10. Toronto, 279
11. Manitoba, 331
12. StFX, 344
13. Laurentian, 385
14. Alberta, 405
15. Sherbrooke, 427
16. Regina, 540
17. Laurier, 541
18. UQAM, 650
19. Montreal, 700

First Team All-Canadians

1. Connor Black, Guelph (31:13.0)
2. Jean-Simon Desgagnés, Laval (31:13.6)
3. Russell Pennock, Calgary (31:16.2)
4. John Gay, UBC (31:17.0)
5. Isaiah Frelink, Western (31:18.5)
6. Caleb De Jong, Trinity Western (31:25.3)
7. Nick Colyn, Trinity Western (31:28.3) 

Second Team All-Canadians

8. Jack Sheffar, Western (31:33.1)
9. Eric Lutz, Calgary (31:34.1)
10. Stefan Daniel, Calgary (31:36.7)
11. Max Turek, McMaster (31:38.0)
12. Mitchell de Lange, Queen's (31:42.0)
13. Alexis Lepage, Laval (31:44.0)
14. Alex Drover, McMaster (31:45.1) 

Award Winners

Athlete of the Year: Connor Black, Guelph
Rookie of the Year: Ruben Sansom, Queen's
Student-Athlete Community Service Award: Craig Klomp, Toronto
Coach of the Year: Doug Lamont, Calgary