Race Recap: CIS Championship and AO Championship

This past weekend marked the end, or the beginning of the end, for most of the Marauders cross country seasons. The racing got underway on Saturday at the Arboretum as the University of Guelph played host to the 2015 CIS XC Championships. The women got the Marauders off to a strong start with a 6th place showing, led by team captain Maddy McDonald in 29th place. Following Maddy in 38th place was veteran Chelsea Mackinnon, with PhD student Gabrielle Foran and Emily Nowak finishing side by side in 47th and 48th, and Maddie Benjamin rounded out the scoring with a 51st place finish. Acting as displacers, second year Lauren Locco finished in 68th and rookie Soren Meeuwisse in 97th. The 5 scorers were only separated by an impressive 54 second spread.

On the men's side, after a tight start that caused some falls, the Marauders ran to another strong 4th place finish. They were led by captain Blair Morgan finishing in 8th to earn his 2nd All-Canadian title, and Connor Darlington earned his first All-Canadian title in 12th. Following Connor, Taylor Forbes narrowly missed out on the top 14, finishing 15th. Austen Forbes in 42nd and Luke Charbonneau in 50th rounded out the top 5. Derek Van Schepen and Gabe Ghiglione took 66th and 70th as the displacers.

Full Results
Marauders.ca Write-Up

The next day, the championship season continued at Centennial Park in Etobicoke, where the AO XC Championships took place. 4 Marauders competed, as well as several alumni. In the junior men's race, rookies Jonathon Favero and Christian MacGillivray finish close together in 4th and 5th, respectively. 2nd year Matt Napier finished 16th. On the senior men's side, Paul Rochus was 11th. The Hamilton Bombers, a club composed of McMaster alumni, took second place with Andrew Yorke finishing 7th, Larry Abbott 13th, Jordan Bierema 15th, and Noah Fleming 17th. For the senior women, alumnus Megan Beverly finished 11th.

AO Results

Up next for many of the athletes is the Athletics Canada National XC Championships in Kingston on November 28th, and following that on December 5th the Bob Vigars Season Opener track meet in London.

Also, congratulations to our triathletes on their 2015 Triathlon Ontario Awards: Taylor Forbes for being named Short Course Triathlete of the Year, Elise Bolger for being named Junior Triathlete of the Year, and alumnus Lionel Sanders as the Long Course Triathlete of the Year.

2015 CIS Top 7 Spotlight

CIS Top 7 Spotlight

With the 2015 CIS Championships just around the corner, our Media Guru Maxine Gravina made up a beautiful graphic visual to introduce the top seven runners. Without further delay, here are the Men and Women who sill be representing McMaster on Saturday in Guelph!

(Click to see in larger view)

Marauders in the Hamilton Spectator

Cecelia Carter Smith wrote a great piece on the McMaster team and their success at the OUA Championships. Carter Smith herself is a decorated athlete; former World Record holder in track, four-time Canadian Champion a member of the McMaster Sports Hall of Fame and the Hamilton Gallery of Distinction.

Read the Article Here

Cross Country Vignette by Leggat Care Foundation

As a sponsor of the McMaster Athletics, Leggat Auto Group has put together a series of vignettes featuring some of McMaster's CIS sports teams. Here is the one featuring Cross Country, take a look!

Double OUA Bronze: Making McMaster History

2015 OUA Cross Country Championships

This past Saturday October 31, 2015 will go down in the record books as the first time both the McMaster Men's and Women's Cross Country stood on the OUA Podium. Both teams finished with bronze medals, after great races at the Columbia Icefield in Waterloo, ON.

Men's Bronze, PC: M. Gravina

Women's Bronze, PC: M. Gravina

The Marauders.ca article did a great job-recapping the races:

"Justifying their ever-improving places in the CIS rankings, the Marauder cross country teams each fulfilled their potential on Saturday to claim team bronze at the OUA Championships in Waterloo.

Three members of the no. 4-ranked Marauder men's team were named as OUA All-Stars in the wake of their 10km race, as Blair Morgan cracked the first team while Connor Darlington and Taylor Forbes were included in the second team. McMaster's low post on the women's side, Maddy McDonald missed inclusion in the all-star ranks by just two places, finishing 16th.

McMaster's men repeated as OUA bronze medallists -- and claimed their third straight podium position at the conference championships -- with a team total of 64 points. Morgan was the Marauders top finisher, crossing the line in sixth with Darlington following hot on his heels to finish

Sprint Finish with Darlington and Forbes, PC: M. Gravina

 eighth and Forbes shadowing his teammate for ninth. Taylor's brother Austen scored fourth for McMaster, placing 18th, while Gabriel Ghiglione completed the scoring by crossing the finish line 23rd.

Completing Mac's seven-man contingent were Derek Van Schepen, who placed 27th, and Luke Charbonneau, who placed 40th.

Meanwhile, the Marauder women provided something of an upset on Saturday, overtaking the higher

Women Off the Start, PC: C. Morgan

-ranked Toronto Varsity Blues to nab a podium position. McDonald, as she has been for years, was McMaster's leader on the day, finishing 16th to score first. A clutch performance from Emily Nowak saw the third-year racer cross the line just two places behind McDonald to finish 18th and score second.

Veteran Gabrielle Foran was McMaster's third scorer, placing 21st, and fellow vet Chelsea Mackinnon had a great recovery after falling early on, to cross the line 22nd. Completing the scoring for the Marauders, Maddie Benjamin finished 26th as McMaster sealed a total of 103 team points.

Lauren Locco and Soren Meeuwisse rounded out the group of seven, finishing 32nd and 43rd respectively."

Special congrats to Derek Van Schepen, Lauren Locco and Soren Meeuwisse who were running for the first time at an OUA Championship.

Get the FULL RESULTS HERE

Read the full Marauders.ca Article HERE

Read the OUA.ca Recap HERE

Cheerios, PC: M. Gravina

Another important contributing factor to Saturday's performance were the team members, friends and family who were there to support. The McMaster Cheerios had the most spirit, and were the only ones with flags and face paint. Thank you very much to everyone who were there supporting, and who sent their best wishes.

Face Painting, PC: M. Gravina

We are also lucky to have a number of fantastic photographers who were there to capture the day's events.  Below are the links to two Facebook Albums so you can relive Saturday's blood, sweat and tears.

Mac track's OUA Photo Album (Taken by Maxine Gravina)

Clive Morgan's OUA Photo Album




(Better late than never, right?)

2015 Queen's Open Recap

PC: M. Gravina

On October 17th, the McMaster Cross Country Teams raced at the Queen's Open at Fort Henry, Kingston. The Men took the Team title, with a very tight pack and 5 men finishing at 32:00 or under. Blair Morgan did his fair share of pulling the pack and gapped the field through the middle of the race. Connor Darlington had a very strong finish for 3rd place, 14 seconds behind the leader, and Captain Morgan finished close behind. Luke Charbonneau, Derek Van Schepen and Gabe Ghiglione finished 9th, 10th, and 12th respectively to round out the top 5. Jeff Tweedle had a great run despite two taped Achilles for 18th to bring the total to 6 Marauders of the top 20 finishers. The rest of the men rose to the occasion as well, representing McMaster well.

Rookie Alison Head PC: M. Gravina

On the women's side, the Marauders took home the Team silver, finishing behind the Queen's Gaels. Maddy McDonald finished 6th and Emily Nowak had a fantastic race to finish 14th as the 2nd McMaster lady. Gabrielle Foran, Chelsea Mackinnon and Maddie Benjamin were close behind, finishing 15th, 17th and 20th respectively. The other Lady Marauders also had a very strong showing, including the first University Cross Country race for rookies Soren Meeuwisse and Megan Black.

In both cases, the McMaster teams finished with the smallest spread (time between first and fifth scorer) which boded well going into the OUA Championships.

Full Results Here

See Maxine Gravina's great photos HERE

Read the Marauders.ca article here