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Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference "To be Canada's premiere collegiate athletic conference by developing and inspiring leadership through excellence in academics, sport and citizenship"
Posted: Oct 27, 2019

Chesoo, Nowicki capture ACAC gold

Chesoo, Nowicki capture ACAC gold
Results

CALGARY, ALTA., (Oct. 26, 2019) - There would be no surprises on Saturday.

The SAIT Trojans hosted the 2019 Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Cross-Country Running Championships at Confederation Park, and as expected, Lethbridge College's Sophia Nowicki and Concordia University of Edmonton's Leonard Chesoo captured the women's and men's individual title.

"I wanted to run a smart race today, and not worry about time," said Nowicki after her run through the snow-covered park. "I'm happy with the result, but wasn't really concerned about giving max effort."

In the women's race, Nowicki captured her second straight ACAC individual title - finishing the 6km race in a time of 24:04.

Nowicki becomes the first female to win back-to-back titles since Red Deer College's Jodi Sanguin won two straight in the fall of 2010 and 2011.

She spent the majority of the race trailing SAIT's Emilie Mann before making her move in the third and final lap.

"I probably could have made it earlier, but I wanted to get a read on Emilie," Nowicki stated. 

Mann finished second for the second-straight year. This time around, she clocked in at 24:28.

Red Deer's Shayla Sklaruk placed third in a time of 24:42.

Nowicki's win also helped her women's team secure first place in the team standings with 30 points. Red Deer placed second with 38 points and Grande Prairie Regional College took third with 66 points.

For finishing in the Top 7, Nowicki, Mann and Sklaruk were named All-Conference runners along with Anna van der Giessen (GPRC), Reese Bendiksen (UAA), Ann Danard (SAIT) and Ana Zulic (CUE).

On the men's side, Chesoo left no doubt as he raced off the starting line and kept his lead throughout the entire race. He finished with no one else around him in a time of 25:47.

Chesoo becomes the first runner from Concordia to win the men's individual title in 25 years - the last one being Todd Pawlenchuk back in the fall of 1994.

University of Alberta-Augustana runner Michio Green placed second in a time of 27:27, while SAIT's Jacques Saayman finished in third place just three seconds later.

Chesoo, Green and Saayman also earned All-Conference nods for finishing in the Top 7. Joining them were Daniel Szucs (Red Deer College), Conor Jackson (Lethbridge College), Daryl Ross (SAIT) and Devin Saunders (Red Deer College).

The bid for four straight men's team titles for SAIT was ended, as Red Deer College finished three points ahead (32) to take first. Augustana finished third with 45 points.