National Silver for UBCO Cross Country Women

The UBC Okanagan female cross country runners used a team approach to secure a second straight national silver medal at the 2015 Canadian Collegiate Athletics Association championships in Brockville, Ont.

UBC Okanagan's four scoring runners finished with 82 points (19, 23, 32, 36), second only to College Lionel-Groulx of Quebec (29 points). Third place went to Lethbridge College (105 points).

First-year coach, Colin Wallace, assessed the competition at the race correctly and utilized a bunching strategy to earn a spot on the podium.

"Every other team was so spread out," Wallace explained. "So I told the women to pack up and run as a team."

The Heat runners were extremely successful in that regard as only 33 seconds separated the Heat’s first- and fourth-place finishers.

Veronika Fagan, a first-year nursing student and a graduate of Mt. Boucherie Secondary School, led the Heat with a time of 20:06.7, good for a 19th place finish among the 110 runners taking part in the five-kilometre event. Jessy of Cégep de Victoriaville won the race held at Memorial Park in Brockville, Ont. with a clocking of 18:33.

Camille Galloway, another nursing student — hailing from Whitehorse — was second among the Heat runners, finishing 23rd in 20:13.3, while Alison Gill of Calgary (32nd overall) was the third UBCO finisher (20:33.4). Julianna Neudorf rounded out the scoring runners for the Heat with a time of 20:39.1, good for 36th place.

"We executed our race plan to perfection,” said Wallace. “The ladies all ran a smart race, and incredible performances by Ali (Gill) and Julianna (Neudorf) locked up the team silver medal.

Displacers were Anna Merino (50th, 20:58) and Rachel Garrett (58th, 21:09). Merino was the lone UBC Okanagan runner who also ran with the 2013 team, while Neudorf was on the Heat team last season at the competition in Toronto, but was unable to compete.

Meanwhile, in the national CCAA men’s final, UBCO finished 10th among 16 teams, with Cael Warner leading the Heat for a second consecutive year.

The Penticton runner finished 22nd among 101 competitors with a time of 27:45 over the 8K course. Neils De Vries of Calgary (29:09), Michael Mitchell of Kimberley (29:13) and Sam Goodrich of Prince George (29:14) finished 57th, 59th, and 60th respectively for a Heat total of 167 points.

“Our young team ran hard and gained a lot of experience,” said coach Wallace, who ran for the Heat last fall in Calgary at the national championship where UBCO posted its best-ever results at a Canadian championship. “These results will only serve to strengthen the athletes mentally as the program develops."

Displacers on the men's side were Alex Hansen of London, Ont. who was just one second behind Goodrich, (61, 29:15) and was part of four UBCO runners finishing within six seconds of one another. Mackenzie Wong crossed the line in 72nd place with a time of 29:58.