St. Clair Cross Country in Alberta Again for Nationals
Medicine Hat, AB – The St. Clair College Cross Country teams are heading to Alberta for the third consecutive season to compete in the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association National Championships that are being hosted by Medicine Hat College in Medicine Hat, Alberta. The Saints are participating at the national level for the 11th consecutive season having qualified this year with a Men's team gold medal and a Women's team silver medal at the OCAA Provincial Championships two weekends ago in Thunder Bay.
The St. Clair Men are ranked #2 in the latest CCAA poll and have a chance at their 2nd national team title in program history having four runners in the top 10 from provincials. 2nd year runner Jacob Fitzpatrick (Tecumseh, ON/Tecumseh Vista) was a silver medalist at OCAA's with 5th year runner Tyler Jones (LaSalle, ON/Sandwich) taking a bronze. 5th year runner Rick Nepomuceno (Windsor, ON/Holy Names) was 6th allowing St. Clair to take three All-Ontario First-Team selections. 2nd year captain Matt Lafleur (Kingsville, ON/Kingsville District) was 10th for an OCAA Second-Team member nod.
The St. Clair Women team are ranked #6 nationally and led by 3rd year runner Mya Palumbo (Amherstburg, ON/General Amherst) who was 6th at the OCAA's to receive All-Ontario First-Team honours. 2nd year runner Melody Knight (Tecumseh, ON/Tecumseh Vista) was 16th followed by rookie Victoria Skoyles (Mount Elgin, ON) in 18th place with 3rd year runner Natasha Atherton (Windsor, ON/Holy Names) finishing 20th.
Due to his team's success 7th year Saints Head Coach Paul Boots earned his first OCAA Coach of the Year Award which automatically nominates him for the CCAA Coach of the Year Award.
Meet race times on Saturday are 2:00pm (EST) for the women's event followed by the men's event at 3:00pm (EST) which will be run on the campus of Medicine Hat College.
Information for the 2022 CCAA National Championships can be found at https://www.ccaa.ca/sports/xc/championship/index