Hosting Queen’s Gaels Cross Country Team takes national championships

Ranked #1 throughout the U Sport season, the Queen’s Gaels Women’s Cross Country Team gave it their all as they hosted the U Sport Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2019.

The following is a release from Queen’s Athletics regarding the victory, as well as the standings for the Men’s Team, who finished seventh overall.

KINGSTON, Ont. (U SPORTS) – After being ranked No.1 throughout the entire U SPORTS season, the Queen’s Gaels came through on the final race of the year scoring a team total of 53 points to claim the national title.

On an action-packed Saturday afternoon, the host Gaels won their first U SPORTS Cross Country Championship at Fort Henry Hill in Kingston, Ont. The wind was strong and the snow lightly fell on the grass at the Fort but the competition stayed strong throughout the afternoon.

Hometown hero Branna MacDougall (28:01.0) was the top placing Gael, who reached the podium in third behind overall winner Lucia Stafford (27:30.3) from Toronto and silver medalist Anne-Marie Comeau (27:44.2) from Laval. 

“It feels amazing,” said MacDougall after claiming the national team title. “It’s a moment I’m never going to forget. It’s just so fulfilling and I’m really happy we could do this for (head coach) Steve (Boyd). He’s been through everything with us and I’m just really glad we could bring it home finally. I grew up here and I grew up with Steve as my coach, so it was really pretty emotional to see him so happy and know that we did this together.”

The Gaels’ title was a true team effort, with Kara Blair (28:17.3) and Brogan MacDougall (28:19.6) – younger sister to Branna – finishing in fourth and fifth place respectively, while Marley Beckett (29:08.3) came in 16th and Tori Bouck (29:29.7) came in 24th to round out the Gaels’ total 53 points. 

The Guelph Gryphons came in second place with 74 points as Hannah Woodhouse (28:26.7) finished seventh overall and Danielle Jossinet (28:33.1) came in ninth.  

Laval closed out the team podium earning bronze led by Comeau and Catherine Beauchemin (29:14.4), who finished 18th.

“They just nailed it,” said Boyd on his team’s effort. “There is not much more to say, they nailed it on the home course. We thought the course conditions would help us and they did. I couldn’t be happier, it’s such a relief.”

As the individual champion, Stafford took home Athlete of the Year honour, completing the conference and national double-gold winning both the OUA and U SPORTS titles.

“I came into this cross country season just wanting to get really fit for track and knew I was going to run at U SPORTS but I didn’t know what to expect.  I’m just so proud of myself,” said Stafford. “I didn’t feel as comfortable as I did at the OUA championships…I was surprised with how good I felt (there) but here was definitely more of a grind. It came in waves.”

For the second straight year, it was the Calgary Dinos atop the team podium in Kingston scoring 63 points for the championship banner.
 
In an extremely tight race, Calgary repeated as U SPORTS national champions as Russell Pennock (30:55.2) and Matthew Travaglini (30:58.4) finished in third and fourth place respectively.
 
“I think we just had to be prepared the best we could so we just had to commit to the plan today and execute. Whatever’s meant to be happened and we came out on top this year,” said Dinos head coach Doug Lamont, who was named Fox 40 Coach of the Year.
 
“It’s been a great group of athletes that we have and I’ve been lucky enough to work with (them), so we will have to rebuild again next year and see what we can do.”
 
UBC’s Kieran Lumb (30:41.8) won the competition and was trailed by silver medalist Mitchell Ubene (30:49.3) and Pennock, who rounded out the podium.
 
“I’m really proud of everyone on our team, the coaches, everyone has done such a great job this year and it’s nice to see the results pay off,” said Lumb, the U SPORTS Athlete of the Year as individual champion. “All the work that I’ve done in the last two months really allowed me to stay comfortable and really relaxed through that first nine kilometres or so and really push hard at the end.”
 
In a tight battle for second overall, the McMaster Marauders (82 points) narrowly edged the Guelph Gryphons (82 points), as McMaster’s fifth-place runner Evan Ubene’s time of 32:13.1 provided the Marauders with the advantage to break the tie between the two OUA powerhouses. 
 
The Marauders posted three runners within the top 10, as Alex Drover came in fifth (30:59.3), followed closely behind by Max Turek (31:01.9) in sixth and Andrew Davies (31:08.8) finished in ninth.
 
The host Queen’s Gaels finished in seventh place, as Mitch de Lange rounded out the top 10 with a 10th-place result (31:09.8) earning a spot with the Second Team All-Canadians.

WOMEN’S TEAM STANDINGS

1. Queen’s, 53 
2. Guelph, 74
3. Laval, 96
4. UBC, 120
5. Toronto, 182
6. Western, 185
7. Saskatchewan, 234
8. McGill, 244
9. Trinity Western, 251
10. Montreal, 259
11. Calgary, 268
12. Victoria, 294
13. McMaster, 332
14. Dalhousie, 375
15. Windsor, 378
16. Waterloo, 379
17. Laurier, 404
18. StFX, 452
19. Sherbrooke, 502

Women’s First Team All-Canadians

1. Lucia Stafford, Toronto, 27:30.3 
2. Anne-Marie Comeau, Laval, 27:44.2
3. Branna MacDougall, Queen’s, 28:01.0
4. Kara Blair, Queen’s, 28:17.3
5. Brogan MacDougall, Queen’s, 28:19.6
6. Kate Current, Western, 28:20.4
7. Hannah Woodhouse, Guelph, 28:26.7

Women’s Second Team All-Canadians

8. Nicola Symonds, UBC, 28:30.8
9. Danielle Jossinet, Guelph, 28:33.1
10. Joanna Williams, Trinity Western, 28:47.4
11. Naomi Lang, UBC, 28:56.5
12. Lizzy Laurie, Laurier, 29:00.8
13. Kaitlyn Harrison, Saskatchewan, 29:01.3
14. Eoldie De Coene, Montreal, 29:02.5

WOMEN’S INDIVIDUAL HONOURS

Athlete of the Year: Lucia Stafford, Toronto
Rookie of the Year: Naomi Lang, UBC
Fox 40 Coach of the Year: Steve Boyd, Queen’s
Student-Athlete Community Service Award: Caitlin Vail, Victoria
 
Full Results
 
Men’s Team Standings
 
1. Calgary, 63
2. McMaster, 82
3. Guelph, 82
4. Laval, 110
5. Windsor, 140
6. UBC, 150
7. Queen’s, 175
8. Alberta, 215
9. Victoria, 264
10. Toronto, 310
11. Western, 312
12. Laurentian, 350
13. Dalhousie, 367
14. Montreal, 394
15. Sherbrooke, 406
16. StFX, 445
17. Manitoba, 461
18. Trinity Western, 475
19. Laurier, 563
 
Men’s First Team All-Canadians
 
1. Kieran Lumb, UBC, 30:41.8
2. Mitchell Ubene, Guelph, 30:49.3
3. Russell Pennock, Calgary, 30:55.2
4. Matthew Travaglini, Calgary, 30:58.4
5. Alex Drover, McMaster, 30:59.3
6. Max Turek, McMaster, 31:01.9
7. Joshua Martin, Windsor, 31:04.9
 
Men’s Second Team All-Canadians
 
8. Kalum Delaney, Guelph, 31:07.7
9. Andrew Davies, McMaster, 31:08.8
10. Mitchell de Lange, Queen’s, 31:09.8
11. John Perrier, Guelph, 31:12.1
12. Stefan Daniel, Calgary, 31:15.1
13. Thomas Broatch, UBC, 31:17.0
14. Félix Lapointe-Pilote, Laval, 31:18.9
 
MEN’S INDIVIDUAL HONOURS
 
Athlete of the Year: Kieran Lumb, UBC
Rookie of the Year: Marcel Scheele, Western
Fox 40 Coach of the Year: Doug Lamont, Calgary
Student-Athlete Community Service Award: Paul MacLellan, StFX