Track North Junior Team 9th at Nationals,
Proudfoot close to making Team Canada
Guelph, ON
Seven Track North Athletic Club athletes competed this past weekend at the Athletics Canada National Cross-Country Running Championships in Guelph, Ontario.
This year marked the first time in club history that Track North fielded a full Junior Men's team at the national championships. The team competed on a rolling 8km course on the University of Guelph campus. Competing against over 200 of the top athletes aged 19 and under from across the country, the team of Ross Proudfoot, 17 (Lively, ON), Chantry Cargill, 19 (Sudbury, ON), Jeremy Cooper, 16 (Manitowaning, ON), Joe Burke, 17 (Espanola) and Sebastian Diebel, 16 (Nairn, ON) placed 9th overall with a combined team score of 257 points. The Windsor Legion Track and Field Club won the team gold medal with a low score of 49 points.
Leading the Track North squad was Proudfoot, who continued his excellent season with a 14th place showing and an impressive time of 25:00 on the 8km course. Proudfoot, a grade 12 student at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School, was just 9 seconds back of the final qualifying spot for the Canadian Junior Team that will compete next March at the World Championships in Poland.
Following Proudfoot was Cargill, in 28th place in a time of 25:48. This result also capped an excellent season for Cargill, a first year engineering student at the University of Ottawa, who also placed 7th amongst rookies at the Ontario University Cross-Country Championships this past October.
Rounding out the Junior Men's team were Cooper in 57th (26:31), Burke in 158th (28:19) and Diebel in 196th (30:15).
Other Track North athletes competing included Sudbury Ironman triathlete Mike Couglin, who ran to a very impressive 29th place in the Masters (age 30+) Championship 8km race with a time of 28:45. Steven Eles placed 66th in the Senior Men's 10km event with a time of 33:15.
Proudfoot commented following the race: That is the hardest I've run all season and I'm very happy with my result. I was a lot closer to a few runners that beat me at OFSAA and I'm gaining confidence by keeping the gap between me and lead group as small as possible. I will definitely be looking to make the world championship team next year.
Track North coach Darren Jermyn commented: I am very proud of the entire team. We knew if everyone had a solid race that we could be amongst the top 10 teams in the country and the boys definitely got the job done today. We beat teams from much larger clubs from Toronto, London, Niagara Falls and Kitchener. Ross and Chantry definitely led our team with their experience running at national championship competitions. We have a very young squad that includes two 16-year olds and two 17-year olds so the future is definitely bright for Track North.
Complete results at: www.guelphrunning.com
Picture attached: Left to Right
Sebastian Diebel, Joe Burke, Chantry Cargill, Ross Proudfoot, Jeremy Cooper
