Cross-country team bring home medals

There was no shortage of fuel in the tank for the Fanshawe Falcons cross-country team at the CCAA National Championships.

Running along the scenic route of the fields of Fort Henry, the team came away with gold and bronze medals at the event held in Kingston, Ontario.

On the women's side, the team grabbed the highest possible honours, coming away with Fanshawes third national title in the schools 41 year history. The first time in 27 years that a national title was won since the men's basketball team accomplished the feat back in 1981.


The women's team consisted of Becky Pieterson, Joanna Clark, Tineke Dejong, Ashley Kellens, Sarah Vondonl and Alysha Gjos. Leading the charge for the group was Becky Pieterson, she finished with a time of 19:46 over 5 km, which was enough to score a fourth overall placing and earned her status as an All-Canadian. Finishing in the top 10 as well was Tineke Dejong, with a time of 20:30, which helped push the Falcon women's team to the top of the podium.

On the men's side, though gold wasn't won it was still a strong showing as the group finished as the top Ontario College at the meet.

John Mason was the veteran leader for the men's team. He completed 8 km in the time of 28:03 on his way to a 10th place finish, the fourth straight year he's landed in the top 10 at the national event. Mike Scipio, Sean Cunningham, Nick Popma, Josh Ackworth and Sean Coleshill round out the rest of the men's team who brought bronze back for the Falcons. Bringing back a bronze medal made it four consecutive years that the men came away from the championship with a national medal.

The event goes to show how strong and deep athletics run at Fanshawe College, especially when it comes to cross-country. Fanshawe cemented its status not only as a great regional program, but a great national program as they were the only college to have two podium finishes at the event.

Though bringing home a gold and bronze from Kingston is something to be proud of, you can be sure that at the next National Championship, bringing home double gold will be the goal.
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