Colleges closing in on university track and field
College athletes are not expected
to compete with top university athletes
in any sport. A lot of people
think that the talent of the Ontario
Colleges Athletic Association cannot
even be compared to the
Ontario University Athletics association.
There was no one better
for the job of proving these people
wrong than defending OCAA cross
country champion Clint Smith,
who placed fourth at the Vic
Matthews Open on September 28.
The race took place in Guelph and hosted some of the best university runners in the country. Not much was expected out of Smith and the Falcons. “I went in thinking top 20 would be good,” said Smith. “But I told my roommate [and teammate] Josh if I found myself in the top 10 I was not going to get scared because of the names around me. A lot of people would get nervous in the last two kilometres, but I figured if I was up there, I was going to go for it.”
The course was not the same as the Fanshawe team is used to, the difference being a distance of 10km compared to just eight. “I had only run two 10km races and I was completely solo from start to finish, so I had never been tested at the distance.” Smith, who already has three wins this season, said the course being broken down into four 2.5km loops was helpful. “By the fourth loop, you already know what is coming at you around every bend, the only thing different about the last one is the uphill finish, but you know it is coming, so the course worked well in my favour for my first 10km attempt at cross country.”
This race was not just any university race, it is one of the most highly respected and it meant a lot to Fanshawe to be there. “The big thing was it was in Guelph, and Guelph is the strongest program in cross country. For us to go there it was a big jump, you could say, for the guys running it took a lot of courage to line up against those guys.” Smith said he believes attending these races is necessary for colleges if they want to continue to earn respect. “I figure if you never experience that, then you never have the experience to grow college athletics to what it could be and that is to the level that the Canadian Interuniversity Sport is at now.”
Although this is the only university race on Fanshawe's schedule this year, the team's top runner wants and expects them to attend more in the future. “I definitely want to see more of it. This being probably my last year here, I won't be able to participate in it, but in the future I want to see Fanshawe's name everywhere else. If we have Fanshawe runners consistently placing in the top 20 at meets such as the Vic Matthews, then people are going to realize that they can get just as good here as they could at a university.”
The Falcons continued their undefeated OCAA season at the Humber Invitational on October 5. Smith took home his third individual gold and got a look at the course that will host the national championships on November 9. The team is pursuing their fifth straight provincial championship this season, along with their third national title in the past four years.
The race took place in Guelph and hosted some of the best university runners in the country. Not much was expected out of Smith and the Falcons. “I went in thinking top 20 would be good,” said Smith. “But I told my roommate [and teammate] Josh if I found myself in the top 10 I was not going to get scared because of the names around me. A lot of people would get nervous in the last two kilometres, but I figured if I was up there, I was going to go for it.”
The course was not the same as the Fanshawe team is used to, the difference being a distance of 10km compared to just eight. “I had only run two 10km races and I was completely solo from start to finish, so I had never been tested at the distance.” Smith, who already has three wins this season, said the course being broken down into four 2.5km loops was helpful. “By the fourth loop, you already know what is coming at you around every bend, the only thing different about the last one is the uphill finish, but you know it is coming, so the course worked well in my favour for my first 10km attempt at cross country.”
This race was not just any university race, it is one of the most highly respected and it meant a lot to Fanshawe to be there. “The big thing was it was in Guelph, and Guelph is the strongest program in cross country. For us to go there it was a big jump, you could say, for the guys running it took a lot of courage to line up against those guys.” Smith said he believes attending these races is necessary for colleges if they want to continue to earn respect. “I figure if you never experience that, then you never have the experience to grow college athletics to what it could be and that is to the level that the Canadian Interuniversity Sport is at now.”
Although this is the only university race on Fanshawe's schedule this year, the team's top runner wants and expects them to attend more in the future. “I definitely want to see more of it. This being probably my last year here, I won't be able to participate in it, but in the future I want to see Fanshawe's name everywhere else. If we have Fanshawe runners consistently placing in the top 20 at meets such as the Vic Matthews, then people are going to realize that they can get just as good here as they could at a university.”
The Falcons continued their undefeated OCAA season at the Humber Invitational on October 5. Smith took home his third individual gold and got a look at the course that will host the national championships on November 9. The team is pursuing their fifth straight provincial championship this season, along with their third national title in the past four years.
