CREDIT: FANSHAWE ATHLETICS
Clint Smith, left, and Josh Lumani helped Fanshawe win OCAA gold for the fourth consecutive year. Smith also finished first overall to claim his first OCAA individual gold medal after winning silver the past two years.

Fanshawe Falcon Clint Smith conquered the 8-km race at this year's OCAA Cross Country Championships held in Sault Ste. Marie on October 20. Smith was the only runner to complete the Hiawatha Highlands course in under 25 minutes, grabbing his first gold medal.

"I was with a pack until about 2 km and I surged out from that pack," he said. "The leader at the time, Andrew Degroot, was about 80 metres ahead. At about 5.5 km into the race, I decided I wanted to work my way up to him to see what I could do." With two silver provincial medals under his belt, Smith was itching for the gold. "Once I got up to him, I was running with him and my head was going nuts, I didn't really know what I wanted to do … I decided that this time I wanted to take a shot (at the gold)."

Smith took another huge surge between the 6 km and 6.5 km mark to surpass Degroot. "At that time, I didn't know I had that big of a lead," said Smith, "then I just kinda kept rolling, concentrated on turnover and ended up winning by a 32-second margin."

Last year's champion Sean Sweeney of George Brown fell to third place with a time of 25.31.1. Fanshawe's Daniel Bright just missed the medal count with a fourth place finish and a final time of 25.40.4.

Smith's success helped lead the Falcon men to gold in the team championships for the fourth year in a row. Smith's individual win, along with great times from Bright, Brandon Graham (26:14.8) and Josh Lumani (26:17.6), led them to the title. The Falcons became the second team in history to win four consecutive championships, tying the record set by St. Lawrence Kingston from 1978 to 1981.

"It feels good because it's a team thing and the whole team gets to celebrate; everybody was a part of it," said Smith, who was named the OCAA player of the week for his gold medal winning efforts. "It was sweet to get the individual accomplishment, but it's way more fun celebrating something that we did together."

Teammate Josh Lumani agreed. "Everybody's looking for individual goals, but in the end, the big picture is about the team and yeah, it's really special to win again as a team."

Lumani finished 10th in the provincial race, but along with his teammates, he is looking forward to a second chance at nationals. Last year, Smith finished second and Bright sixth, putting the team in great shape for a first-place finish. In an unexpected turn, Lumani collapsed just 200 metres from the finish line. "They didn't end up finding what was wrong with me," said Lumani. "I ended up collapsing before the finish line. It was extremely scary, I was in the hospital for three days after the race." The incomplete finish put the Falcons three points behind the winning team from Quebec college Sainte-Foy.

Fortunately Lumani was given the thumbs-up to run again. "At the start I had to be monitored and couldn't run alone, but now I'm definitely back to prime shape and ready," he exclaimed.

The team's female competitors will also join the race for national gold. At provincials, Fanshawe's Jocelyn Fry finished fifth, just over 15 seconds behind St. Lawrence's Richelle Moore, who took the gold with her time of 18.22.0.

The Fanshawe women finished fourth in the team championship. Humber defended their championship as Katherine White (18:47.7), Becky Tindall (19:32.3) and Amy Walcott (19:59.2) all contributed to the team's win.

The Cross Country men's and women's teams will travel to the CCAA Championship held at Champlain College in Saint- Lambert, Quebec on November 9.