LU’s Nordic cross-country ski team brings home yet another championship
Lyle Morissette
Sports Editor
There was never any doubt in anybody’s mind about the performance of this year’s ‘Wolves Nordic cross-country women’s ski team coming into the 2010 CIS Championships. Why? They had won six straight championships coming into the event. Accordingly, Lakehead took control after only the second day of events and never looked back as head coaches Adam Kates, Phil Brown and the women brought the CIS-CCUNC Championship banner back to Thunder Bay for a seventh straight year. The event took place March 14th to the 19th in Whitehorse, Yukon and brought nine collegiate teams together from across Canada. Lakehead proved once again to be the mightiest, finishing with 283 points while second-place Laval had 265 and third-place Laurentian, 223.
Freshman Kara Jaspers made a strong charge to close her first season with the team, finishing second overall, also being the Pack’s top finisher, while senior Anna Crawford was fourth. Both athletes received all-Canadian honours for their strong efforts; it was Crawford’s third such distinction.
Overall, the Championships opened on the 14th with a bang with a hotly contested sprint event that saw the Thunderwolves fall just short to the event-winning Carleton Ravens by two points.
On Tuesday, the ‘Wolves made their move in the 5 km classic as Jaspers and Crawford finish 2-3 while sophomore teammates Hilary Schrama and Britt Bailey also cracked the top ten, finishing seventh and ninth, respectively.
And, as the events continued to pile on, so did Lakehead’s lead. On Wednesday, in the 10 km skate, a fourth place finish by Anna Crawford, who has edge by Mary Thomson for third by only one second, helped bolster the ‘Wolves position while Jaspers was again near the top of the standings, finishing eighth.
On Friday, Jaspers capped off the championship win by squeaking past Carleton’s Alana Thomas and Laval’s Catherin Auclair by under half a second to win the 1 km sprint. Crawford closed her solid national’s effort with a sixth place finish.