A chance for cross-country glory went up in a blaze of stress fractures last weekend when the Dinos men’s team finished sixth at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport championships.
“We had some good performances and some not-so-good performances,” lamented Coach Doug Lamont. “It was not what we expected.”
The Dinos were ranked fourth in the country going into the meet, and had a chance to finish in the medals, but had to settle for sixth.
Veteran runner Nathan Kendrick suffered a stress fracture and was unable to finish the race. Had Kendrick finished as high as he is capable of finishing, the Dinos most certainly would have placed in the top three.
In terms of individual performances, the Dinos were blessed with a second-team All-Canadian performance from Geoff Kerr, who was also named CIS Rookie of the Year.
The Dinos had the fourth-best finish among Canada West teams, five of whom placed in the top eight in the country.
The Dinos’ women’s team also stumbled somewhat at the championships.
“They didn’t run as well as I had hoped,” said Lamont.
The women’s team expected a top-ten finish, but fell back to 13th.
“Part of the reason for that may be that over half of our team is rookies,” said Lamont. “But that’s promising for the future.”
Shannon Slater was named a second-team All-Canadian with a ninth-place finish, good enough for a silver in Canada West.
“They ran solid,” Lamont stated. “They did the best they could do on that day. But they’ve all had better days.”