CCAA Cross Country Running
by ACAC Sports Writer Curtis J. Phillips
Sault Ste. Marie - Since 2002, when the inaugural Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Cross Country Championships were hosted by Red Deer College, the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) has been a dominant presence.
For 14 consecutive years prior to the 2016 CCAA Cross Country Championships held Saturday, the ACAC had medaled in women's individual competition.
Earning eight gold, 10 silver and eight bronze during this span they are the only CCAA school to have swept the podium; a feat that was accomplished in 2002, 2005 and 2013.
The men's ACAC component weren't too shabby either with individual runners claiming seven gold, five silver and four bronze.
Such has been the ACAC dominance in CCAA cross country running that in combined men's and women's team points the ACAC has won a possible 16 of 26 CCAA Conference Gold.
The next closest conference was the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) with a total of six.
Heading into the 2016 CCAA Cross Country Championships Saturday in Sault Ste. Marie, with the men's 8 kilometre and women's 5 kilometre course running along the edges of the Crimson Ridge Golf Course, the ACAC was once again prerace favourite in cross country circles.
But for some strange reason, things did not link up as for the first time in CCAA Cross Country history, the ACAC did not win an individual medal with the best performances being a 5th place by Lethbridge Kodiaks Rachel McKenize in the women's 103-runner field while for the men SAIT Trojans Jacques Saayman placed 10th in the men's 101-competitor field.
It is also only the second time that the ACAC did not have more than one team medal.
This year the Red Deer Queens placed second overall in women's totals.
"It is definitely a testament to the other conferences and it was a strong field," said SAIT Trojans co-coach Ryan Edgar."It shows development in the sport from quite a few other schools. We were hoping for a medal but there were quite a few more guys in the leading group than we prepared for."
As mentioned already, SAIT Trojans Jacques Saayman was Top ACAC Male finisher placing 10th.. His clocking for the 8 k was 26:55.
Teammate Alex Howells was 12th at 27:04.
"They both had good races," continued Edgar. "It was a good experience for them to see what the competition was like on the national stage. It was a fast course and wasn't quite as flat as we had anticipated. The hard word paid off for us."
Saayman (Business; Fort McMurray Alberta) and Howells (Civil Engineering Technology; Cochrane Alberta) are both first-year student/athletes.
Seth Marcaccio of Fanshawe crossed the line first at 25:39.
Also placing in the men's Top 25 were Lethbridge Kodiaks Alex Andres, 27:09, 14th and Boaz Korir, 20th with a 27:20 performance.
"For Alex (Andres) I was hoping Top 15 and he did what I expected," said Kodiaks head coach Bertil Johansson. "Boaz (Korir) was sitting in the top three for the first two or three k and then he had back spasms. Andre saw that and started moving up."
Korir improved on his 21st showing from the 2014 CCAA Championships held in Calgary and hosted by SAIT where he clocked in at 28:45. Andres finished 27th that same year with a 29:02 run.
Of the low ACAC medal haul this year Johansson replied: "The other (CCAA) schools are improving and we are stagnate right now...it's just a little bit uphill. We are struggling and some schools have lost some of their top runners."
In men's team competition SAIT finished fourth overall while Lethbridge and University of Alberta Augustana Vikings came in 7th and 13th respectively.
Hosted by the Sault College Cougar, the ACAC 5 placed six runners in the Top 25 in the women's 5 k ditance: Rachel McKenzie, 5th, 19:16, Lethbridge; Jordanna Cota, 6th, 19:21, Red Deer College Queens; Emily Spencer, 8th, 19:26, Lethbridge; Jillian Stewart, 14th, Red Deer; Ricki Doyle, 10th, 19:50, SAIT and from the Grande Prairie Regional College Wolves in 25th Andrea Snider at 20:24.
Jessy Lacourse of RSEQ - Garneau was first with an impressive 18:11.
"We had two Kodiaks in the Top 10, so I am very pleased," said Johansson. "Jordanna (Cota) was incredible. Last year she placed 15th and her goal and our goal for her this year was Top 10. She crushed it and ran a personal best time by a fair bit. She has one year left to go and we are all ready thinking top three..
"Jillian (Stewart) has never run under 20 minutes and she was so excited with her finish and we were pleased to see her doing this well this season."
Seeded No. 1 in women's team competition heading into the race Queens coach Kari Elliot is pleased that Red Deer came in second.
Lethbridge placed 5th and Grande Prairie Regional College Wolves and Concordia University of Edmonton Thunder 10th and 11th respectively.
"Ranked No. 1 going into nationals, you really never know much about the other schools or conferences," said Elliot.
Of the ACAC medal count: "Coming home with a silver is very exciting. Why we did not get more meals is hard to say. Obviously there are different reasons in every program...Grande Prairie for example are rebuilding as they saw a couple of their top runners graduating.
"There are just stronger runners in other provinces this year. This year a lot of the runners were solo runners...where they did not come from strong teams overall. The ACAC will be stronger again next year. "