Mountaineers cross country had an impressive performance at the CCAA Championships in Calgary with two female runners finishing in the top-32 out of 97 runners, and four runners on the men's side finishing the 8km course in under 30 minutes.
"I'm so proud of this team. We exceeded our expectations this year on the course," said head coach David Hopton. "More importantly, we came together as a group and executed our goal of staying healthy and racing smart all season long."
Annie Sterenberg led the way for Mohawk, placing 26th (25:29) in the women's 6km race. Ashley Lof followed right behind with a 32nd (25:43) place finish.
Amongst OCAA runners, Sterenberg and Lof finished fifth and sixth at nationals, whereas they placed sixth and ninth a couple weeks ago at the conference championships.
"It's great to see them get stronger as the season went on," Hopton said.
Mountaineers third female runner Stefania Salzer finished 74th (27:35).
Mohawk's men's team finished 11th place as a team out of 15 schools.
Will Summers was the top runner placing 35th (28:49), Matias Tessel finished 37th (29:00), Jacob Chant came in 39th (29:04) and Ben Yalin followed at 40th (29:14).
Gordon McGinn and Riley Hambly placed 56th (30:54) and 60th (31:54).
The Mountaineers cross country program came into the 2021/22 season a very young roster. The experience gained this year has the future looking bright.
"I'm so excited for next year," said Hopton. "We have a strong top four for both men and women already established with 12 months of hard work ahead."
"We think we can get both the men's and women's team on the OCAA podium in 2022," Hopton added.
