Cross Country Gearing Up to Host the Provincial Championships
Windsor, ON – St. Clair College will play host to the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association Cross Country Provincial Championships for the first time since 2009 which will be run Saturday at Windsor's Malden Park. 19 Ontario Colleges will take part with nearly 70 women's entries in the 6km race at 11:00am followed by almost 100 runners registered for the 8km men's race at 12:00pm.
The defending Provincial and National Champion St. Clair Men's team is currently ranked #2 in Canada having won their home meet Sep. 14th and took 2nd Place at the Fanshawe Invitational Oct. 5th. The Saints are led by outstanding rookie runner Carter Free (Napanee, ON) who has finished first in both college meets this season as well as a 5th place finish at the Western Invitational against primarily University competition. 2-time All-Canadian Tyler Jones (Lasalle, ON/Sandwich) and fellow 3rd year man Rick Nepomuceno (Windsor, ON/Holy Names) in addition to 2018 OCAA Rookie of the Year Thador Tekhli (Chatham, ON) make up a formidable scoring group. 2nd year runner Tyler Tofflemire (Amherstburg, ON/General Amherst) and 4th year runner Justin Folkeringa (Windsor, ON/Riverside) provide leadership to this talented group while rounding out the Saints entries for Saturday.
The St. Clair Women's team has improved steadily all season and moved up to the #10 spot in the National rankings last week. The Lady Saints were 5th place in their home meet and took 3rd at the Fanshawe Invitational Oct. 5th. Rookie runner Mya Palumbo (Amherstburg, ON/General Amherst) has led the way this season and was 6th at the St. Clair Invitational as well as a 9th place finish at the Fanshawe Meet. Rookie's Natasha Atherton (Windsor, ON/Holy Names), Trinity Davis (Windsor, ON/Vincent Massey) and Hailey Jones (Windsor, ON/Vincent Massey) have injected some depth to the St. Clair Women's team. 3rd year runner Jessica Hodgkin (LaSalle, ON/Sandwich) and 5th year runner Beth Horrobin (Wallaceburg, ON) provide experience to this young squad with podium potential on Saturday.
The top 7 team qualifiers in addition to the top 25 individual finishers will qualify to attend the Canadian Championships being hosted by Grand Prairie Regional College at Grand Prairie's Muskoseepi Park in Alberta Nov. 9th.