X-Women place second at AUS cross country championship

The X-Women cross country team had a strong showing at the 2011 AUS championship in Fredericton this afternoon as they placed second overall in the 5k race held at Odell Park and hosted by UNB. The Dalhousie Tigers claimed the AUS title as they were led by race winner Holly VanGestel, an Antigonish, NS native and former X-Woman.

Dalhousie record 27 points for the in with five runners in the top ten, while the X-Women were close behind at 37 points and four top ten runners. Memorial placed third with 78 points, followed by Acadia (159), St. Thomas (161), UNB (167), Moncton (171) and Saint Mary’s (179).

The top runner for the X-Women was Natalie Kannenberg who placed fifth overall with a time of 18:35. VanGestel’s winning time was 17:47. Caroline McIlroy from Memorial was second at 18:14, followed by Ashley Ryer (18:24) of Dalhousie and Antigonish native Ashley Chisholm (18:30), also with the Tigers.

The X-Women runners placed fifth through eighth as Kelly MacDonald (18:38) was sixth in behind Kannenberg and Melissa Hardy (18:44) and Tory Anderson (18:50) were seventh and eighth, respectively.

Natasha Herron placed 11th overall for the X-Women with a time of 19:30, while Rebecca Reeves (19:50) was 14th and Allison Trenholm (20:07) was 16th. The race featured a total of 54 AUS competitors.

Kannenberg, MacDonald and Hardy were all named to the AUS all-star team for their finishes in the top seven.

Holly VanGestel (Dalhousie) received the AUS Female Athlete of the Year award, while Tigers teammate Ellen Chappell was named the AUS Rookie of the Year. Ashley Ryer of Dalhousie received the AUS Student Athlete Community service award and Heather Hennigar rounded out the Tigers sweep of the AUS major awards as she was named the AUS Women’s Coach of the Year. 

StFX will now travel to the CIS championship which takes place on November 12th at Laval University.