The Falcons cross country teams finished up their seasons at nationals with great success.

The men’s team took home gold at OCAA provincials, and the women finished with a bronze. Regan Ryter, the birds’ head cross country coach was extremely pleased with their performance.

“I am extremely proud of everyone’s efforts at nationals. We went into the weekend feeling confident from the season’s training and our achievements at the provincial level. On the men’s side, we knew our competition was going to be strong and we would have to put up a fight,” Ryter said.

This is coach Ryter’s second year as the Falcons head coach and her successful mentoring has won her the title of CCAA National Cross Country Coach of the Year. Despite the birds’ phenomenal performance at OCAA they still knew they had to be prepared for the heat nationals would bring.

“Going into nationals, we were ranked second in the country, but that didn’t mean we could let our guard down. The men knew they still had to give it their all,” added Ryter.

The men’s team saw a second-place finish from Matt Talbot, with a time of 24:44.40, which broke a Fanshawe men’s record for the fastest eight-kilometre time at a CCAA event, previously held by Seth Marcaccio, who set the record in 2021 with a time of 25.22.00.

Talbot was also able to clinch a spot on the CCAA All-Canadian Team.

The rest of the men’s team (Ethan Roche, Ty Breedon, Owen Wrigley, Noah Derganc, Adam Voisey) also had strong races helping the team to secure a fourth-place team finish as well as the first Ontario team to cross the finish line.

The women’s team, which consists of mostly rookies, ran an amazing season as well. They had their eyes set on nationals and managed to place 11th in Canada as well as maintain their position as the third place Ontario team to cross the line.

“It was really special to see them achieve their goal of making it to nationals. They went into the race racing against more people than they had all season and were just focused on doing well. They all pretty much ran their personal bests of the season and best times for the second round on the St. Clair course,” Ryter said.

The teams performed exceptionally and will look ahead to next year.

“The message for the weekend was to embrace all the moments. For some this would be their last race as a Fanshawe Falcon so no matter the results, we wanted to make sure everyone completed the weekend feeling good and could take meaningful memories with them. The team knows how proud the coaches are of them and we’re excited to see what they’ll achieve next, whether that’s returning to the team or in their post-college lives!” Ryter said.