CROSS COUNTRY TEAMS TO FACE TOUGH TEST AT WESTERN U INVITATIONAL

Preview by: Dani Dupuis

LONDON, ONT: The first race of the season began for Humber Hawks Men's and Women's Cross Country teams Saturday, September 15, at the well-known Fanshawe Invitational at the Fanshawe Conservation area. Both teams came home with fourth place finishes. This is just a warm-up on their road to the 2018-19 OCAA Championship, October 27, at Centennial College. The Humber Hawks will be returning to London, Saturday, September 22, for their second meet of the season and second OUA meet, at the Western Invitational hosted by Western University.

The last time the Hawks attended this meet was September 24, 2016. This course will be fairly new to everyone, but not to returning athletes All-Canadian Aaron Veenstra and All-Canadian  Kaitlin Shuvera, who ran it in 2016. The course will be the same for the men. They will continue to run the 8km and the women will be running 6km. When the women's team previously raced at this meet they were only running 5km. One kilometre may not seem like much, but when it is added to a course, that means there could be an extra hill or an extra loop to do.

The Hawks will be competing against the best university teams in the province, and it can surely pose a challenge to some of the athletes especially, those who have never ran at such a competitive level before. There are some new faces on the team, such as Kayleigh Bush, but don't let her shy personality fool you. At her first cross country race as Hawk, she placed 18th. On the men's side a new face to the team is Cole Czuchnick, who blew us away at the Fanshawe Invitational placing sixth.

Even though this is a university meet, it will be a great way for the Hawks get comfortable racing with racing with one another and a great way to test their own individual abilities.

Location: Thames Valley Golf Course

Women's Race: 10:00 a.m. 6km

Men's Race: 10:50 a.m. 8km