Women's Preview: Some Early Season Expectations
1. Guelph: The Gryphon women won last year with an 85 point margin of victory, and they should be similarly dominant this year. DST may have shed a plaintive tear or two for the loss of his star, Lindsay Carson, but as the season approaches he should be dry eyed and proud to survey his troops. It’s an admirable line-up: many time All-Canadian Rachel Cliff has shown significant improvement on the track since finishing 8th last year; she’ll be going for the win this season. Gen Lalonde must be feeling confident after a strong summer track season that qualified her to compete at the Commonwealth Games. She’s turning down that opportunity to focus on the cross season, so expect her to be right up with Cliff in November. Courtney Laurie showed her strength in the 5000/10000 on the track this summer and should be good for another AC spot. After that, take your pick from the mob of Gryphons capable of at least a top-30 finish. With a recruiting class that features 5 of the top 11 from last year’s OFSAA XC championships, DST keeps getting the cream of the Canadian distance crop, and he’s shown himself very capable of churning that cream into the rich, delicious butter of CIS victory.
2. Mac: “La Maraude describes the tactic employed by Napoleonic armies of scavenging for supplies instead of relying on extended lines of supply.” (Wikipedia) The McMaster women have been steadily marauding their way up the CIS rankings over the past few years. Can they continue that momentum? Well, consider this: “The tactic was particularly flawed whenever an army was forced to retreat over land which it had already scavenged as in the retreat from Moscow.” (ibid) There’s no retreat for these marauders. Behind them lies nothing but starvation and desolation; the only way is forward, to slay the mighty Gryphon and feast upon its fleshy hindquarters. This year, the Mac women should improve upon last year’s third place finish to take silver. They lose the invaluable Jillian Wyman, who is skipping this season to focus on squash (is this a joke?) but they retain the leadership of Jessica Pearo (5th at 2009 CI’s, and 17th at FISU). Sarah Giovanetti and Katie Anderson have made great progress since last November, and they should be ready to provide excellent depth. Last year’s fourth, Sarah Haliburton, will look to run with Anderson again this year, though there will no doubt be some younger runners challenging for a scoring position (including blue-chip recruit, Megan Beverley)
3. Alberta: As a general rule, I don’t like triathlons and I don’t liike triathletes. Even so, I am able to acknowledge that Paula Findlay is an excellent runner. After taking a year off school to focus on triathlon training, Findlay is back at the U of A. She had some big triathlon wins this summer, and she will have a huge impact on the CIS (and on the U of A team) if she wants to run cross. We hope she runs, as she would add some real excitement at the front of the race. She’s backed up by Hayley Degaust (2:11 800, 29th last year) and Alana Soderberg (4:33 1500) for a strong top 3. If two of Szynkarczuk, Tomas, and Medinski can step it up for a strong 4-5, the Pandas will be in position to move up from last year’s 5th place and seize the Canwest crown.
4. Victoria Women: Vic was fourth last year, and they should be returning that entire team. Two runners in the top twenty last year (both returning) should make for a strong front end. We have this team ranked fourth right now, but they could easily move into the medals if a couple of their runners have good years or if Findlay doesn’t run for Alberta. I’m sure that, as a young team finishing fourth last year, the Vikes have their sights set solidly on medalling. That ambition may spur Moran and Jean up into the AC spots, and Tschanz into the top 20, or they may crumble under the pressure.
5. Queen’s: This team is helped immensely by the return of Leslie Sexton, who missed last cross season due to injury but is now back running 120 miles a week, PB’ing over every distance from 1500m to 10 miles, and medalling at nationals. Based on those results, she should be first team AC and will be thirsting for the blood of her Gryphon rivals. The Gaels were tenth last year, with good depth but no one up front. Add Sexton’s low stick to that group and this team should move up several spots. With a strong run from Larocque, the Gaels will be almost, but not quite, Golden.
6. Toronto: Toronto takes a big hit, losing last year’s 1-2 punch of Brown and McClure (1st and 4th in Kingston). But they retain the very talented Tamara Jewett as a capable front runner. Rookies Colleen Hennessey (OFSAA 1500m champion) and Shannon Kennedy (2:14 800m) are added to the roster, along with veterans Sasha Gollish and Alex DiGiacomo. Sophomore Katie Housley ran a nice 4:36 PB this summer, so she should be much better than her result from last year. The Blues don’t have the guns to compete with the very top teams, and they’re not at the level of their 2009 edition, but they’re a solid top ten team.
7. Calgary: The dinos had a strong team last year, but they underperformed to finish 6th behind Canwest rivals UVic and Alberta. This year they lose their top 2009 finisher, Riley McQueen, as well as promising rookie Katie Fenton (injured?). There's still some talent on this team, but they'll need to use it better than they did in 2009. Querengesser needs to recreate her 2008 form that saw her finish 16th, and Stenning and MacDonald need to translate their track ability to cross country. If they run to their potential, they'll be a strong top 3, and Calgary should be a top ten team. But if those top runners are finishing in the 30s and 40s the Dinos are in trouble.
8. St FX: After they took third in 2007, led by a 4th place finish by Monika Preibischova, the X-women have faltered the last couple of years. Preibischova hasn't been able to replicate that 1st team AC finish, and the 4-5 women have been 20 or 30 places back from where they need to be. But there's some talent on this team, and Bernie just needs to take a few of his mid-packers and bring them along to finish in the 30s this fall. He did it with Kelly MacDonald, who went from 84th in 2008 to 30th last year, and there's no reason a few other X-Women can't do the same, if they've spent the summer logging miles on the hard, hilly roads of Antigonish County. If these girls have done the work, and especially if MacDonald is back, this team should be looking to improve significantly on last year's eighth place finish. And why wouldn’t they have done the work? What else is there to do in Antigonish?
9. Laval: Laval was a top ten team last year by virtue of their star Catherine Cormier's 11th place finish. With Manon Letourneau in 26th, they had a solid 1-2, and both are returning this year. That should get them into the top ten, but they'll need to improve their depth to move up the list. This means either bringing in some new blood or seeing Croteau-Carignan, Picard-Arsenault, and Pichard-Jolicoeur step it up this season. A cross country team is like a ship: either you’ve got depth, or you run aground. Will Laval’s 3-4-5 be good enough to keep them afloat?
10. Sherbrooke: Like Laval, this team has strength up front but no depth. If you have an individual finishing 3rd , and yet your team finishes 14th, you're doing something wrong. For now I'm giving this team a spot in the top ten, because I think Hughes will be improved from last year to give them a really strong 1-2 punch (Belanger-Hughes). After that, how hard can it be to find 3 women to run 19 or 20 minutes for 5km? If Sherbrooke can dig up some decent grinders for their 3-4-5 runners, they'll be comfortably in the top ten on their home course this November. But if you can't put all five scorers in the top 100, you get dropped from the rankings.