Guelph dominates OUA Cross Country Championships for a seventh straight year
 
OTTAWA, Ont. – Once again it was the Guelph Gryphon men's and women's teams who dominated at the 2011 OUA Championships, presented by Suunto. The Gryphons swept the team titles for the seventh consecutive year on Saturday afternoon in Ottawa, Ont.
 
Guelph head coach Dave Scott Thomas was very pleased with the result after a hard fought race by both his men's and women's teams. "We knew we were coming in with strong teams, and we wanted to use this step for the national championships in two weeks. We know the competition there will be deeper and tougher. So today we went in with strategies to try and set up that competition and go for some national titles," said Thomas.
 
"But credit to the other schools that came out hard today. I mean the Lancers (men's team) came at us very hard and forced us to be at our best, they ran a fantastic race," he added.
  On the men's side, Guelph claimed four of the top six spots with Andrew Nixon of Guelph winning the gold medal and the OUA MVP title with a time of 30:51.8. "I was hungry for it and I'm happy that I was able to win today," said Nixon.
 
When asked about leading his team to a seventh consecutive title, the third-year runner was all smiles and said: "It's indescribable, and continuing this tradition is what we came here to do and we're still making a name for ourselves."
 
Finishing just two seconds behind Nixon, was Guelph teammate and 2010 OUA Rookie of the Year Ross Proudfoot who bettered last year's fourth place finish with a time of 30:53.9. In third place was Windsor's Matt Walters with a time of 30:57.1. Finishing fourth was last year's champion from Guelph Alex Genest, and rounding out the top six were Windsor's Anthony Berkis in fifth, and Guelph's Aaron Hendrikx in sixth.
 
Hendrikx's performance was enough to earn him OUA Rookie of the Year honours in being the first rookie, under 21 years of age and in his first year of eligibility, to cross the finish line with a time of 31:15.0.
 
The Gryphons earned 20 points for the OUA team title, their eleventh since 1999, while Windsor finished in second with 40 points, and Queen's in third with 103 points.
 
On the women's side, the Gryphon's may have claimed the overall team championship banner but it was Toronto's Tamara Jewett who captured the women's individual OUA title and MVP with a time of 17:33.5.

Guelph's Genevieve Lalonde  was the top Gryphon finishing second with a time of 17:46.1, and in third was rookie Andrea Seccafien, at a time of 17:49.7. Rounding out the the Gryphons top finishers was Carise Thompson who was fifth. 
 
Guelph earned 25 points for the OUA team title, one more than last year's championship team. This marks Guelph's eighth consecutive women's title, and their 11 of the 13. Coming closest to the Gryphons was McMaster with 57 points and claimed the silver medal for a second straight year while Western was fourth with 88 points.
 
The top seven runners in the men's and women's race earn OUA first team all-star recognition. Second team all-stars are finishers eight through  14. Guelph's Joanna Brown was named Rookie of the Year after being the first rookie (21 years and under) to cross the finish line in 15^th place with a time of 18:32.9.
 
Runners will now shift their focus and get ready for CIS Championships which are being hosted at Laval University in Quebec City on November 12, 2011.
 
Full results with times are listed below.
 
Women's Individual
http://results.sportstat.ca/res2011/ouaw.html
 
Women's Team
http://results.sportstat.ca/res2011/ouawt.html
 
Men's Individual
http://results.sportstat.ca/res2011/ouam.html
 
Men's Team
http://results.sportstat.ca/res2011/ouamt.html
 
 
OUA WOMEN'S AWARDS
 
Women's MVP: Tamara Jewett (Toronto)
Women's Rookie of the Year: Joanna Brown (Guelph)
 
First Team All-Stars
1- Tamara Jewett (Toronto)
2- Genevieve Lalonde (Guelph)
3- Andrea Secaffien (Guelph)
4- Victoria Coates (McMaster)
5- Carise Thompson (Guelph)
6- Jen Bays (Western)
7- Lydia Frost (Guelph)
 
Second Team All-Stars
8- Nadine Frost (Guelph)
9- Jillian Wyman (McMaster)
10- Lindsay Furtado (Guelph)
11- Sarah Haliburton (McMaster)
12- Jen Corrick (Windsor)
13- Steph Macneill (McMaster)
14- Pieterson Becky (Western)

***
OUA MEN'S AWARDS
 
Men's MVP: Andrew Nixon (Guelph)
Men's Rookie of the Year: Aaron Hendrikx (Guelph)
 
First Team All-Stars
1- Andrew Nixon (Guelph)
2- Ross Proudfoot (Guelph)
3- Matt Walters (Windsor)
4- Alex Genest (Guelph)
5- Anthony Berkis (Windsor)
6- Aaron Hendrikx (Guelph)
7-Allan Brett (Guelph)
 
Second Team All-Stars
8- Andrew Aguano (Windsor)
9- Kyle O'Neill (Western)
10- Paul Janikowski (Windsor)
11- Maxime Leboeuf (Queen's)
12- Tommy Lecours (Guelph)
13- Zain Ahmed (Toronto)
14- Nick Falk (Windsor)