The 49th annual Vigars & Salter Western Invitational tested athletes with challenging heat and humidity. The Nipissing Lakers cross-country teams showed grit and determination in their performances despite the tough conditions.
The competition was fierce across both the men's and women's fields. Despite the heat, and team efforts from Western Mustangs, UNB Reds, and Guelph Gryphons led the pack in both men's and women's team categories.
Leading the Lakers women's team was rookie Mackenzie Green, who finished 84th in 35:45, running a solid race in spite of the heat. Blaise Gravelle followed with a time of 36:19 (92nd), 5 seconds faster than her time last year, and Chanell Duffy crossed the line at 38:50 (107th). Unfortunately, Emily Drenth, who started strong, was unable to finish the race due to heat exhaustion.
The Lakers women placed 11th overall with a score of 327 points, ahead of Trent Excalibur and York Lions.
On the men's side, rookies Japhy-Kai Crookam and Calvin Traczuk led the Lakers with strong finishes of 96th (29:22) and 105th (30:02) respectively.  Ethan Aarts, despite battling a cold all week, finished with a time of 30:19, which was off the mark of his 29:44 finish in 2023. Noah Cornish set a personal best (PB) of 30:58, improving by 18 seconds from his 2023 time of 31:16. Samuel Bennett recorded 31:20 this year, a slight increase from last year's 30:54.
The men's team finished 12th overall, totaling 348 points.
Full results can be found HERE.
This Saturday, the Lakers are racing at the Don Mills Waterloo Open.
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