Lancers Set Personal Bests At OCAA Provincial Championships

The Loyalist men's cross-country team wrapped up their season at the OCAA Championships at the Seneca's King Campus on Saturday October, 26th.  A full team of six Lancers took on the hilly and rugged course, running to an 11^th place overall finish.

After competing in an invitational event on the same course in September, the team knew the challenge that lay ahead.  The 8k course is tough, featuring two massive climbs in the second half of the race.  The group showed that lessons were learned from the previous experience as 5 athletes bettered their times from a month ago.

Second year runner Jessie Shaw capped an impressive season, finishing the day as the top Lancer for the first time in his career (45^th overall, 34:24).  Robert Leybourne (50^th, 35:10) and Alexander Rettegi (53^rd, 35:22) both ran aggressively from the start, with Rettegi holding on for a personal best time on this course.  First year runner Soroush Danesh chopped an incredible 3:47 off his time from September to round out the team scoring in 62^nd place (37:16).  Christopher Robson and Mustafa Alali completed the team in 69^th and 70^th place respectively, both faster than their earlier efforts this year.

"The men have a lot to be proud of this season," said head coach Kevin Beatty.  "Our returning runners took big steps forward when compared to last year.  The new athletes showed great improvement in a short time period.  There was a lot of commitment to get better at every level."

Congratulations to the team on a great season!