The OCAA Cross Country Championships ran this past weekend, October 28 at Sunnybrook Park in Toronto as George Brown College hosted the Championship.

In the team competition the Humber Hawks Women’s and Men’s Cross Country Teams swept away the competition. The Hawks, only in their second year of existence were far and away the top teams in their groupings. Last year Humber had an incredible individual performance as Colin Murray-Lawson won gold in the men’s division but the team as a whole did not make a huge impact. This year was different as the Hawks filled out both the men and women’s teams with not only numbers of runners but skilled ones as well.

The Humber women finished with 16 points as they had the first place and gold medalist Lisa Lee leading the way. Amie Leitch won the bronze in finishing third and rounding out the top three Humber runners was Cynthia Black, who finished twelfth. Also scoring well for Humber in the group of 54 female runners was Mary Tan, Nicole Paulichenko and Leanne Guy who came in at 23rd, 24th and 25th place respectively.

The men, winners of every meet this year among the colleges did not disappoint. They were unstoppable and won the team event by a huge margin of 25 points, almost doubling the second place team. Individually, Mike Scipio scored a bronze medal and was just 3 seconds from gold. As far as team scoring goes, Humber had the fifth place runner in Geoff Wheatley, the sixth
place finisher in Bruno Moreiva and then sixteenth in Emmanuel Reech. Also scoring well for the Hawk’s was Danny Connelly in seventeenth and Darryl Bank in eighteenth. Dan Robb (24), Matt Curtis (25), Wes Correa (34), Josh Wood (41) and Rob Oroca (46) also were members of the Humber squad in the 108-man field.

The men’s individual 8km event Martin Labuts of St. Clair won his first ever OCAA Gold Medal with a time of 30:21 with Mike Scipio of Humber on his heels with a time of 30:24. Thomas McQuade of Georgian was third at 30:39.

The teams now advance to the C.C.A.A. National Open Championships which are being held in Quebec on November 9-11/06.

The top seven men and women make up the OCAA Conference Team at the CCAA Cross Country Running Championships.

RESULTS:
Women Individual
Gold – Lisa Lee, Humber College, 20 min:10 sec
Silver – Hollie Gordon, Fleming Peterborough, 20:14
Bronze – Amie Leitch, Humber, 20:20

Women Team
Gold – Humber, 16 pts
Silver- Loyalist, 23 pts
Bronze – Fleming Peterborough, 28 pts

Men Individual
Gold – Martin Labute, St. Clair, 30:21
Silver – Mike Scipio, Humber, 30:24
Bronze – Thomas McQuade, Georgian, 30:39

Men Team
Gold – Humber, 28 pts
Silver – Fanshawe, 53 pts
Bronze – Cambrian, 62 pts

Ontario Team Women
1. Lisa Lee, Humber, 20:10
2. Hollie Gordon, Fleming Peterborough, 20:14
3. Amie Leitch, Humber, 20:20
4. Ingrid Golemiesstover, St. Lawrence Kingston, 20:34
5. Leah Kellar, Loyalist, 20:40
6. Rachel Rauwerda, Redeemer, 20:45
7. Rachel Lavallee, Fleming Peterborough, 21:04

Ontario Team Men
1. Martin Labute, St. Clair, 30:21
2. Mike Scipio, Humber, 30:24
3. Thomas McQuade, Georgian, 30:39
4. Josh Bujold, Cambrian, 30:52
5. Geoff Wheatley, Humber, 31:00
6. Bruno Moreiva, Humber, 31:12
7. Dale Pollard, Seneca, 31:14

Top overall team
1. Humber 2pts.
2. Fanshawe 7pts.
3. Fleming Peterborough 10 pts.

Click here for full results