The new date of the New Balance Vic Matthews Open seems to agree with the host school.  The University of Guelph Gryphons put on quite a display, sweeping the podium on the men's side and placing six women in the top ten to thoroughly dominate the competition.
 
The Gryphon women led things off with Andrea Seccafien and rookie Joanna Brown quickly establishing themselves in a lead group of four, along with Speed River's Dana Buchanan and South Simcoe's Rachel Hannah.  Behind the lead four was a wall of five more Gryphons.  The lead pack stayed together through the entire first loop and most of the second, until Buchanan would break away and splinter the pack.  

Andrea Secaffien would hold on for second as a fast closing. Carise Thompson would move up from the second pack to finish third.  Thompson was quickly followed in by teammate Lydia Frost who finished fourth.  

Overall the Gryphons would finish second, third, fourth, seventh (Joanna Brown), eighth (Genevieve Lalonde) and ninth (Lindsay Furtado) to win the competition by thirty points over the second ranked McMaster Marauders with a score of 17 to 47.  The Queens Gaels would finish third.
 
The men's race had a much larger pack at the beginning, as Gryphon Alumni Derek Snider led the massive group through the first three kilometres. Shortly after the four kilometre mark, Guelph's Andrew Nixon made a move to the front and quickly strung out the pack.   Nixon would run alone until teammate Ross Proudfoot was able to bridge the gap and join him at the front.  The two would stay together until the last kilometre when Proudfoot would pull away for the win, Nixon would secure the silver and teammate Alex Genestwould distance himself from Windsor's Matt Walters and Andrew Aguanno to complete the sweep.   Behind Genest, the Gryphs would add three more in the top ten as Allan Brett was sixth, rookie Aaron Hendrikx eighth and Tommy Lecours tenth.  

The Gryphons would defeat the second ranked Windsor Lancers by 26 points with a score of 19 to 45. Eastern Michigan would win the bronze.
 
The New Balance Vic Matthews Open saw over 1000 athletes traverse the University of Guelph Arboretum course, with six high school races on Friday and the Bracelet of Hope Half Marathon and Falling Leaves Trail 5k and 7.5k runs on Saturday in addition to the marquee event.
 
Women's Results
 
1    Dana Buchanan                     Speed River TFC       451     0   F       1  0-99               17:37.0
2    Andrea Secaffien                  Guelph Gryphons       471     0   F       2  0-99               17:46.6
3    Carise Thompson                   Guelph Gryphons       472     0   F       3  0-99               17:50.0
4    Lydia Frost                       Guelph Gryphons       465     0   F       4  0-99               17:58.8
5    Rachel Hannah                     South Simcoe Duffer   604    26   F       5  0-99               18:00.8
6    Sarah Haliburton                  McMaster              639     0   F       6  0-99               18:02.0
7    Joanna Brown                      Guelph Gryphons       459     0   F       7  0-99               18:05.4
8    Genevieve Lalonde                 Guelph Gryphons       469     0   F       8  0-99               18:05.9
9    Lindsay Furtado                   Guelph Gryphons       467     0   F       9  0-99               18:09.1
10   Victoria Coates                   McMaster              637     0   F      10  0-99               18:11.4
 
Men's Results
1 Ross Proudfoot Guelph Gryphons    24:01.0
2 Andrew Nixon Guelph Gryphons      24:11.7
3 Alex Genest Guelph Gryphons       24:16.4
4 Matt Walters University of Winds  24:23.0
5 Andrew Aguanno University of Wind 24:29.6
6 Allan Brett Guelph Gryphons       24:38.6
7 Taylor Milne Speed River TFC      24:44.2
8 Aaron Hendrikx Guelph Gryphons    24:47.7
9 Anthony Berkis University of Wind 24:54.7
10 Tommy Lecours Guelph Gryphons    24:57.4
 
Full results at http://www.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?event_id=5748&do=news&news_id=21437#ixzz1b3Z5pOpm
 
 
Click here for full men's team results
 
Click here for full women's team results
 
Click here for individual results for the men's and women's race
 
  Vic Matthews New Balance Cross Open Gallery