Griffins optimistic heading into USPORTS cross-country nationals on Sunday
Jefferson Hagen / MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Seeking their best finish in the program's brief USPORTS history, the MacEwan Griffins women's cross-country team are set to hit Victoria's Beacon Hill Park for nationals on Sunday afternoon.
The potential is there for MacEwan to place in the top five in the Canada West ranks and better a program-best 13th place finish in USPORTS, set in 2015.
"The women's team, it's going to come down to basically the first three runners – Hannah (Leggatt), Roxanne (Skoreyko) and Abby (Ackerman)," said head coach Drew Carver. "If they run the way they do, we'll have a good solid chance at being at least in the top four or five for Canada West."
But equally important are the team's fourth and fifth runners – Chanelle Gagne and Jocelyn Leffers as the top-five scores count to a team total.
"Jocelyn's a first-year athlete. She's making great improvements. That's all we can expect is for her to just keep improving every time," he said.
"Chanelle is a fourth-year student that if she can pull it together and be up there by her running mate Roxanne, then we're in the money."
MacEwan will not be sending a full men's team this year because too few runners ran times fast enough to be competitive at nationals. Scott Kohlman and Aaron Boyle did, though, and will race individually.
"Both Scott and Aaron are looking to have a PB," said Carver. "They're aiming to have their best run ever and hopefully strive for the highest placing."
Kohlman set the program 10K record with his run of 34:18.3 in the 2016 national championship. He's aiming to break the 34-minute barrier this time.
"Right now, his training is showing that he's capable of doing this," said Carver of the second-year athlete from Bashaw, AB. "It comes down to execution race day for him. He has to be running the right pace at the right time and not get caught up into doing anything silly like going way too hard and just crawling in.
"I think Stewart Cup taught him that a little bit. The pace was a little fast early and he paid the price."
The Oct. 28 Stewart Cup race in Edmonton – the last time the Griffins raced competitively – didn't go well for either Kohlman or Boyle, who were well off their top times. But with some solid rest since then, they're primed to rebound.
"Aaron and Scott are feeling confident they'll have their best race," said Carver.
Leggatt, a reigning Canada West first-team all-star, has the best chance on the Griffins at individual success. She's coming off a third-place finish amongst Canada West runners at the Stewart Cup, although the B.C. schools weren't in attendance.
"If everything comes together, she has a real shot at making the USPORTS first or second team. Canada West is the same thing – first or second," said Carver. "Last year, she was a first team, but we have seen a change in numbers. There's at least six or seven girls that are running her speed right now. So, the fight to make that first team is going to be very tough.
"If she just has the best day that she can and she should be an all-star somewhere in the program."
The other permutation is the increase in the women's distance from 6K to 8K at the USPORTS level.
"This 8K distance- we've had to change our training slightly," said Carver. "It's changed a little bit how we approach things, but at the same time I think the girls all adjusted to it and they're looking pretty good.
The Griffins have seen the course before – racing at Beacon Hill Park at a test event on Oct. 14 – and it was a slow one last time out with longer grass.
"I'm hoping since they've had the course set up and a lot of people have gone out there and ran around it that it's trampled it down a little bit and taken away some of the sponginess from it," said Carver.
"Weather will always be the big thing, but it's looking like we're supposed to have plus-9 that day. If we get that kind of weather, it will be awesome."
For an animated map of Sunday's course, click here.
For live results on Sunday, click here.
