Griffins finish 13th at CIS Championship

David Kent, Griffins Athletics

Guelph, ON…..The MacEwan University Griffins men's and women's cross country running team participated in the 2015 CIS national championship event today in Guelph, Ontario. The Griffins women's team finished 13^th overall, with a team score of 333, out of 27 schools in the race.

The Griffins men's program finished 20^th overall, with a team score of 649, out of 28 universities participating in the race.

"It was rewarding to see how our women placed considering half of the runners on the team were rookies. Four of the women on the team ran their personal best times of the season which help them achieve this impressive result. It was truly a team effort," commented Griffins head coach Drew Carver. "With the men's program our goal was to see all five student-athletes finish the race and they came in ahead of eight schools."

The Canada West conference honors were also handed out at the CIS Championship. The Griffins women's team finished fifth overall in Canada West, with a team score of 125, while men's program, finished sixth overall, with a team score of 185.

Vanessa Trofimenkoff, a Physical Education major, from Fort Saskatchewan, AB earned a spot on the second team Canada West all-star team, with a 12^th place finish overall among Canada West runners. The second year veteran finished with a time of 21:45.2.

"The women's race was witness to extremely fast times. In fact three racers broke the course record today making top finishing times a real challenge to achieve. Vanessa had a great performance. Last year she ran 23:49 for her 6K time and this year she posted a time of 21:45. The depth of the competitive field was just that much deeper, "said Carver.

Hannah Leggatt, a first year Arts major from Edmonton, AB finished the race 15^th overall, with a time of 22:13.2, in the women's 6km race, to be named the 2015 Canada West Female Rookie of the Year.

"It's not surprising that Hannah earned the Canada West rookie of the year. She was the first to cross the finish line in the Canada West field and the third CIS rookie to complete the race. We anticipated early on she could accomplish this feat based on her dedication to training and the expert level of fitness she brought to the team," commented Griffins coach Linda Miller.

The top runner for the Griffins Men's program was Adam Epp, a fourth year science major from Edmonton, AB with a time of 35:36.2 to place 127^th overall in the men's 10km race.

MacEwan Griffins Men's Race Results:

MacEwan University Women's Race Results:

For further information on the MacEwan University Griffins please contact David Kent, at 780-497-5324 or by email at kentd22@macewan.ca and Junelle Mah, at 780-289-3037 or by email at mahj67@macewan.ca.

Photo Credit: Chris Piggott, Griffins Athletics