April 19, 2012

2012 world university cross country championships: Canadian women finish 4th in Poland

LODZ, Poland (CIS) – The Canadian women barely missed the podium on Saturday, April 14 at the 18th FISU world university cross-country running championships finishing fourth in the team standings, a single point behind third place, in Lodz, Poland.

FISU cross country website: www.fisu.net/en/Cross-Country-2012-2751.html
Lodz 2012 website (including complete results): www.wuc.cc2012.p.lodz.pl

It marked the second best result in history for the all-CIS women’s squad at the biennial event, trailing only a bronze-medal placing on home soil in 2010 in Kingston, Ont. Canada’s top three finishers on Saturday amassed 46 points compared to 45 for Poland.

Japan (21) edged Romania (23) for the women’s title.

On the men’s side, the all-CIS contingent settled for ninth place with 169 points, a drop of five positions from two years ago. Japan (36) captured the team banner, with the Ukraine (57) and Algeria (61) rounding out the podium.

Tamara Jewett of Toronto paced Canada in the five-kilometre women’s race. The University of Toronto student took the ninth spot thanks to a time of 16 minutes and 24 seconds. Carise Thompson of Lynden, Ont., was 15th in 16:43, Catherine Cormier of New Richmond, Que., placed 22nd (16:43), Lydia Frost of Bocabec, N.B., finished 41st (17:29) and Jen Bays of Whitby, Ont., was 53rd (18:12).

Romania’s Ancuta Bobocel (15:48), Portugal’s Carla Salome Rocha (15:54) and Romania’s Roxana Birca (15:56) were the individual medallists.

In the men’s 10km race, Cliff Childs, a University of Victoria student from Kelowna, B.C., was the fastest Canadian with a time of 30:40, good for 32nd place. Allan Brett of Ottawa followed in 40th position (30:50), while Dylan Haight of Victoria was 48th (31:02), Paul Janakowski of LaSalle, Ont., 49th (31:05), Matt Walters of North Bay, Ont., 58th (31:31) and Aaron Hendrikx of Parkhill, Ont., 60th (31:39).

Abdelmajed Touil of Algeria was the first male runner to cross the finish line in 29:11. Japanese teammates Yuta Shitara (29:15) and Daichi Motomura (29:22) captured silver and bronze, respectively.

Brett was the only veteran from the 2010 Canadian delegation. He had placed 24th in Kingston.

“Tamara’s ninth-place finish was simply outstanding. Carise had an exceptional race as well, especially for a university sophomore,” said Canadian head coach Keith Butler, the associate coach of UVic’s cross country program. “Our women had a remarkable showing, just one point outside the podium. It’s a credit to CIS coaches and their programs.”

“On the men’s side, Cliff was in his first international competition but he ran like a veteran against a very competitive field. He was the last selection on the team so his run showed the tremendous improvement he has made over the course of the season.”

CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS

Women’s team standings
1. Japan (21 points)
2. Romania (23)
3. Poland (45)
4. CANADA (46)
5. Spain (57)
6. Portugal (76)
7. Algeria (78)
8. Great Britain (83)
9. Australia (87)
10. France (95)
11. China (110)
12. South Africa (115)
13. Ukraine (126)

Women’s individual results (60 finishers)
1. Ancuta Bobocel, Romania, 15:48
2. Carla Salome Rocha, Portugal, 15:54
3. Roxana Birca, Romania, 15:56
9. Tamara Jewett, Canada, 16:24
15. Carise Thompson, Canada, 16:43
22. Catherine Cormier, Canada, 16:43
41. Lydia Frost, Canada, 17:29
53. Jen Bays, Canada, 18:12

Men’s team standings
1. Japan (36 points)
2. Ukraine (57)
3. Algeria (61)
4. Spain (74)
5. Poland (81)
6. Australia (106)
7. France (116)
8. Austria (151)
9. CANADA (169)
10. Great Britain (183)
11. Saudi Arabia (252)

Men’s individual results (70 finishers)
1. Abdelmajed Touil, Algeria, 29:11
2. Yuta Shitara, Japan, 29:15
3. Daichi Motomura, Japan, 29:22
32. Cliff Childs, Canada, 30:40
40. Allan Brett, Canada, 30:50
48. Dylan Haight, Canada, 31:02
49. Paul Janakowski, Canada, 31:05
58. Matt Walters, Canada, 31:31
60. Aaron Hendrikx, Canada, 31:39

CANADIAN ROSTER

Name University Elig * Hometown Academic Program

Women
Jen Bays Western 2 Whitby, Ont. Health Science
Catherine Cormier Laval 5 New Richmond, Que. Medicine
Lydia Frost Guelph 4 Bocabec, N.B. Human Kinetics
Tamara Jewett Toronto 3 Toronto, Ont. History/Literary Studies
Carise Thompson Guelph 2 Lynden, Ont. Applied Sciences

Originally selected but unable to attend due to an injury:
Stephanie Trenholm Victoria 3 Campbell River, B.C. Humanities

Men
Allan Brett Guelph 5 Ottawa, Ont. Master’s Biological Eng.
Cliff Childs Victoria 5 Kelowna, B.C. Social Sciences
Dylan Haight Victoria 2 Victoria, B.C. Social Sciences
Aaron Hendrikx Guelph 1 Parkhill, Ont. Human Kinetics
Paul Janikowski Windsor 2 LaSalle, Ont. Human Kinetics
Matt Walters Windsor 4 North Bay, Ont. Liberal Arts

* Year of CIS eligibility used during 2011 cross country season

Head Coach: Keith Butler, University of Victoria
Assistant Coach: Gary Malloy, University of Windsor
Assistant Coach: Ingrid Ruys, University of Victoria