Mustangs gallop, Martlets third at ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ Open women's race
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(PHOTO BY ANDREW DOBROWOLSKYJ)
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MONTREAL -- The Western Ontario Mustangs galloped to victory and ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ placed third of 15 teams in the women's division at the 18th annual ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ Open cross-country running meet on the slopes of Mt. Royal, Saturday.
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It was the 10th victory in 18 years at this event for the Mustangs, who placed all five scorers in the top 10 finishers for the third time in ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ Open history, an achievement they previously accomplished in 2003 and 2007.
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Laval's Manon Letourneau won the women's individual title, finishing the four-kilometre race in 14 minutes, 57 seconds. Joining her on the podium was Western's Lynn Mockler (15:04) and ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ sophomore Melanie Myrand (15:06).
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Myrand, a 23-year-old native of Pointe Claire, Que., was ±«ÓãÖ±²¥'s top runner last year finished third at the Quebec conference championships.
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"Melanie ran a good race and although she gave it a pretty strong effort, I kind of think there's more in the tank," said head coach Dennis Barrett, in his 25th season at ±«ÓãÖ±²¥. "Sure we wanted to win our own meet but the team did well to finish third because we were missing three of our top runners with ITB injuries."
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Barrett was referring to sophomore Charlène Puel, plus freshmen Courtney Post and Ouiam Aabaliq, each of whom are being treated for iliotibial band syndrome, a common thigh among runners.
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Rounding out the scoring for the Martlets was freshman Sarah McCuaig (11th, 15:21) of Kitchener, Ont., and junior Catherine Drouin-Audet (23rd, 15:52) of Repentigny, Que., plus rookies Madeleine Cummings (24th, 15:55) of Peterborough, Ont., and Aimee Castro (26th, 16:01) of Hamilton.
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Western finished first in the overall team scoring with 30 points, based upon runners who placed second, fourth, fifth, ninth and tenth. Queen's was second with 55 points (6+8+12+14+15) and ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ was third with 87 (3+11+23+24+26).
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Laval was fourth (142), followed by Sherbrooke (155), Southern Maine (159), Champlain College (202) in St. Lambert, Que., Concordia (212), College F.X. Garneau (252), College Ahuntsic (305), John Abbott College (343), College Montmorency (368), College Brébeuf (374), College Shawinigan (374) and College Mérici (463).
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Next up for ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ will be at 35th annual Western International open meet at the Thames Valley Golf Course in London, Ont., Sept. 26.
(CLICK ON LINK BELOW FOR COMPLETE WOMEN'S RESULTS)
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