Redmen 13th, Martlets 10th at CIS championships

By Earl Zukerman, McGill & Michel Bélanger, CIS



QUEBEC CITY – The Guelph University Gryphons once again dominated the CIS cross-country running championships on the historical site of the Plains of Abraham, sweeping both team banners for a record third straight year, Saturday. McGill finished 10th of 17 teams on the women’s side and were 13th in the men’s competition.

Freshman Melanie Myrand of Pointe Claire, Que., was McGill’s top performer, placing 34th of 118 runners overall and completing the five-kilometre circuit in 19 minutes, 18.4 seconds. Other Martlets in the team scoring included Charlene Puel (48th; 19:34.5), a freshman from France, plus freshman Brittany Therrien (49th; 19:35) of Victoria, B.C., senior Christina Lo Basso (51st; 19:36.1) of Montreal and sophomore Arielle Beatty (74th; 19:52.2) of Sharon, Ont.

For the Redmen, senior Graydon Snider, a Montrealer, placed 37th of 112 competitors. He finished the 10k course in 33:54.5. Other Redmen scorers included freshman Alexander Duhault (52nd, 34:09.4) of Calgary, senior Ryan Ouckama (71st, 35:04.3) of Baltimore, Ont., freshmen Daniel Kramer (96th; 36:22.1) of Salem, Mass., and Maxime Bellemare (102nd; 37:10.2), a freshman from Sherbrooke.

Guelph native Megan Brown of the Toronto Varsity Blues won the women’s competition and was clocked in 17 minutes, 36.8 seconds in wet, windy conditions. Local favourite Catherine Cormier of Laval, a native of New Richmond, Que., was a surprise silver medalist with a time of 17:58.5, edging Guelph’s defending national champion Lindsay Carson of Cambridge, Ont., (17:59.3) by less than one second.

The Guelph women won with a 77-point tally, easily distancing Toronto (118) and the Calgary Dinos (126).

The Gryphons men claimed a seventh banner in 10 years and their eighth since the inaugural men’s championship was held in 1963, moving them within one of the all-time record for most national titles held by the Toronto Varsity Blues. The Gryphons cruised through the men’s 10k race finishing with only 27 points, the lowest total since Ottawa captured the 1986 title with the same tally.

The St. Francis Xavier X-Men ended up second with 108 points, with the Windsor Lancers rounding out the podium with 124 points.

Four Guelph teammates were among the first six runners to cross the finish line, including individual champion Matt Brunsting of Stirling, Ont. and silver medalist Kyle Boorsma of Guelph, with the team’s fifth scorer taking 15th place.

Brunsting, fourth a year ago in Victoria, finished the race in 32:08.3, while teammate Boorsma stopped the clock at 32:13.6. StFX’s David Gerych, an international student from the Czech Republic, took bronze in 32:19.8.

Brunsting became the first Gryphon to capture men’s individual gold since Paul Williams in 1977.

Brown and Brunsting earned athlete-of-the-year honours, while Toronto native Tamara Jewett of the Varsity Blues and Calgary’s Kyial Marjock were named CIS female and male rookies of the year after they both finished fifth, the best results among first-year runners.



The top seven finishers in the women’s and men’s races earn first-team all-Canadian status. Finishers eight through 14 are second-team CIS all-stars.

WOMEN’S RESULTS (5 km)

Team standings

1. Guelph, 77 points
2. Toronto, 118
3. Calgary, 126
4. McMaster, 132
5. Western, 158
6. Victoria, 164
7. Windsor, 204
8. Laval, 237
9. StFX, 243
10. McGill, 247
11. Queen’s, 247
12. Alberta, 252
13. Manitoba, 282
14. Saskatchewan, 286
15. Sherbrooke, 327
16. Dalhousie, 343
17. Concordia, 545

Individual honours

Athlete of the year: Megan Brown, Toronto
Rookie of the year: Tamara Jewett, Toronto
Student-Athlete Community Service Award: -
Coach of the year: Dave Scott-Thomas, Guelph

First all-Canadian team

1. 17:36.8 – Megan Brown, Toronto
2. 17:58.5 – Catherine Cormier, Laval
3. 17:59.3 – Lindsay Carson, Guelph
4. 18:03.3 – Paula Findlay, Alberta
5. 18:22.3 – Tamara Jewett, Toronto
6. 18:25.0 – Marilyn Arsenault, Victoria
7. 18:29.0 – Erin McClure, Toronto

Second all-Canadian team

8. 18:33.3 – Heather Sim, Calgary
9. 18:34.6 – Véronique Fortin, Laval
10. 18:36.7 – Rachel Cliff, Guelph
11. 18:38.6 – Jillian Wyman, McMaster
12. 18:41.0 – Jessica Pearo, McMaster
13. 18:42.2 – Gina Stewart, StFX
14. 18:45.6 – Lisa Brooking, Windsor

MEN’S RESULTS (10 km)

Team standings

1. Guelph, 27 points
2. StFX, 108
3. Windsor, 124
4. Toronto, 146
5. Calgary, 150
6. Victoria, 172
6. Western, 172
8. Sherbrooke, 205
9. Manitoba, 231
10. Alberta, 231
11. McMaster, 246
12. Laval, 250
13. McGill, 320
14. UNB, 373
15. Concordia, 461

Individual honours

Athlete of the year: Matt Brunsting, Guelph
Rookie of the year: Nyial Majock, Calgary
Student-Athlete Community Service Award: -
Coach of the year: Dave Scott-Thomas, Guelph


First all-Canadian team

1. 32:08.3 – Matt Brunsting, Guelph
2. 32:13.6 – Kyle Boorsma, Guelph
3. 32:19.8 – David Gerych, StFX
4. 32:25.2 – Allan Brett, Guelph
5. 32:28.2 – Nyial Majock, Calgary
6. 32:32.9 – Derek Snider, Guelph
7. 32:42.2 – Geoff Martinson, Victoria

Second all-Canadian team

8. 32:46.7 – Gavin Hamilton, Calgary
9. 32:48.2 – Johannes Mallie,, Victoria
10. 32:59.9 – Kyle O’Neill, Western
11. 33:03.6 – Etienne Bredin, Toronto
12. 33:10.5 – Russell Christie, Dalhousie
13. 33:11.3 – Matt Sinclair, Windsor
14. 33:13.3 – Jamie Weikum, Alberta