KING CITY, Ont. - On an icy course in below-freezing temperatures, SAIT's Matthew Travaglini blazed through the eight-kilometre course in a time of 26:19 to capture the 2018 CCAA Cross Country Running National Championship.
The reigning Alberta Colleges Athletic Association (ACAC) Champion finished more than a minute ahead of the second place runner and nearly two minutes ahead of the bronze medalist.
Two weeks after capturing his conference championship, Travaglini quickly familiarized himself with the challenging course and then dominated the field 24 hours later in one of the best performances the course has seen in its seven year history.
Leonard Chesoo of Concordia finished with a respectable time of 27:22, but was never a real threat to Travaglini. Matthew Hope of Red Deer rounded out the podium in 28:01.
As runners prepared for the start of the race, snow began to fall on the King Campus course, creating a scene out of movie as spectators crowded the starting area to catch a glimpse with limited visibility.
The St. Clair Saints followed up their Ontario Colleges Athletic Association Championship with a National Championship. The Saints showed that consistency prevails over star power, placing four runners in the Top 15, but no higher than eighth overall. Tyler Jones led the Saints with a time of 28:41. Andre Tomasian (29:07), Thador Tekhli (29:11), Rick Nepomuceno (29:11), Tyler Tofflemire (31:44) and Jack Porter (31:57) rounded out the Saints' times.
Led by Tavaglini, the SAIT Trojans captured the silver medal. Jacques Saayman (28:33) joined Travaglini in the top six while Daryl Ross (29:39), Brant Lauweryssen (30:06), Mathew Hebert (31:20) and Jemmy Lee (32:26) also collected national medals.
Champlain Saint-Lambert captured the team Bronze medal, edging the Sheridan Bruins by just six points (111-117). Karl Belley (28:42) cracked the Top 10 in team points followed by Jasmin Bellerive (29:57), Christopher Quesnel (30:16), Jeremy Burg (30:43), Samuel Cote (31:15) and Emile Garon (32:13).
The Grande Prairie Wolves will be hosting the 2019 CCAA Cross Country Running National Championship.
Source: Seneca Sting