Over the past few decades, the Gryphons cross-country team has been a force to be reckoned with. The powerhouse that is Guelph truly began when head coach Dave Scott-Thomas arrived at the university in 1997. He has since been named Coach of the Year for either men’s or women’s cross-country on 29 occasions, including women’s coach of the year in 2015.
Scott-Thomas has established a remarkable varsity program, and has solidified Guelph as the chief track and field program in the country. Prior to this weekend, the men’s and women’s cross-country teams had won a combined total of 25 CIS national titles; over the weekend, these athletes were striving to increase their number of titles as Guelph prepared to host the 2015 CIS Championships.
The team had a strong season, finishing in the top three teams at every race they entered. Katelyn Ayers, Katrina Allison and Sophie Watts finished as the top three runners for the Guelph women’s team in every race. Aaron Hendrikx, Tristan Woodfine and Christian Gravel were standouts for the men’s team this season.
The first CIS Championships for men and women were held in Guelph, in 1963 and 1980 respectively. It is fitting that the race has returned to the University of Guelph for the first time in 11 years.
“We’re rich in history here and we hope to add to it tomorrow. You want a review of the season, it’s been a solid season, we are statistically coming off our worst OUA championship in about a decade. We’ve had to recalibrate the last couple of weeks—I don’t think we’re behind at all, but we’re certainly looking to touch things up from where we were two weeks ago,” said Scott-Thomas.
The Gryphons headed into Saturday’s race with both 2015 OUA wins under their belts, and were ranked first nationally. Saturday promised to be exciting and competitive, with many of the teams out to beat Guelph in competition.
“Coming here is like entering the dragon’s den,” said Queen’s University coach Steve Boyd. If there is a team to beat at these championships it is the University of Guelph. This season has been one of the closest to date, with several universities in the running for the CIS title.
“I think that there are four or five teams in the CIS men’s that have a good shot. Once the gun goes off, they’re not under our control at all. Tomorrow is a bad day to have a bad day, so if one of the athletes on a team has a bad day, that can really affect a team’s performance,” said Gary Malloy, head coach of the Windsor Lancers, at a press conference on the morning of Nov. 13, 2015.
On Saturday, Nov. 14, the 2015 CIS cross-country championship kicked off with 144 women competing for their respective schools in the 6 km race. Sarah Inglis from Trinity Western University in British Columbia took the gold medal convincingly. The first runner from Guelph was Katrina Allison, who finished in sixth place with a time of 20:28. The Gryphons team ran a strong race, with racers finishing sixth, eighth, 15th, 16th and 19th. They finished with a combined score of 64 points to win their 11th consecutive national title. The men’s 10km race began following the women’s race. The Gryphons were after their 10th consecutive CIS victory, and they were so close—their runners ran a strong race but finished second with 82 points, surrendering their title to the dark horse, University of Victoria, who won the event with 69 points. An outstanding individual performance by the Gryphons’ Aaron Hendrix won the gold medal with a time of 30:18.
The Guelph Gryphons will be back with a vengeance next season, with the women’s team after a 12th title and the men fighting to return to the top of the coveted podium in 2016.