Cross Country

By John Leung

Talent


With a talented field, you can’t accuse the team of being talent-less. With names like Shannon Slater and Renee Kaylor on the women’s side and Geoff Kerr and Andrew Carruthers on the men’s side continually contributing huge success to the Dinos, the results speak for themselves.





Effort


The women did extremely well, dominating Canada West competition all season as well as taking first place south of the border at the NCAA Division I meet in Cheney, Washington. While they failed to defend their national title, the rest of their results were very good. As for the men, while they didn’t win any of the meets, they put up solid numbers and good competition along the way. There’s blood, sweat and tears there and it’s pretty clear that the Dinos gave it their all.





Coaching


How can you argue against a guy who has coached some of Canada’s big name stars like Donovan Bailey? Les Gramantik once again worked his magic in his 14th year as coach of the team. Even though he didn’t help the team to a national crown this year, his past record of success speaks volumes that could fill the Library Tower.





Achievement


While the women came up short in their national title defence this year in Guelph, the men finished ninth in a tough field. It takes a lot of work to get anywhere close to the top, but at least the women’s team finished first and the men’s team fourth in an NCAA Division I meet, which is no ordinary feat. Also, a number of Dinos, including Slater and Kaylor made CIS All-Star teams. So it’s not bad either way.





Overall: A-


Singer/Band: The Mamas and the Papas. The women are kickass, but the men are slightly behind them. No offence kids, I’m just a temp.

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