Wallingford and Lanteigne Golden at Ramsey Tour

The Laurentian Voyageurs cross country running teams opened their Ontario University Athletics (OUA) regular season this weekend, competing at the 48th Annual Ramsey Tour 5km hosted by the Sudbury Masters Running Club on the LU campus. The Ramsey Tour doubles as the Laurentian Open, an official OUA sanctioned cross country race.  The Vees squared off against their northern OUA university rivals, Nipissing and Algoma, with Cambrian College also competing at the event.

On the men's side, the Vees were just two points shy of a perfect team score, as LU's five scoring runners placed 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th for a total of 17 points. Nipissing University placed second with 40 points, with Algoma University placing third with 79 points. The Vees were led by fifth year social work student, Keon Wallingford (North Bay) who cruised to a convincing win in a time of 15 minutes and 50 seconds.  Fourth year nursing student Brandon Radey (Sudbury) placed second in 16:27. Fifth year education student Patrick Leroux (Wingham) placed third in 16:30. First year SPAD student Braedan Estabrooks (Timmins) placed fifth in 16:46. Second year engineering student Alan Wilkin (Manitoulin) rounded out the Vees scorers placing sixth. 

In the women's race, Laurentian's Abby Lanteigne (Sudbury) took the women's varsity title with a time of 18 minutes and 50 seconds.  First year kinesiology student Valerie Vaillancourt (Sudbury) placed second in 19:46. First year kinesiology student Charli Borak (Georgetown) placed fifth in 20:57. Second year finance student Ariel Gibbons (Renfrew) placed seventh in 21:18. Laurentian's final scorer was second year nursing student, Maeve Blake (North Bay) who placed eighth in 21:59.  The Laurentian women also won the team title for the twenty-first consecutive year.

"A very solid day for our squad to open the season" noted Vees Head Coach, Darren Jermyn. "Having Keon back for his final year of eligibility is a major boost for the men's team - he was pretty much on cruise control today coming off a solid summer build. It was also great to see Abby take the win in the women's race as she also put in the work this summer and we look to her to lead our young women's squad this season."

The cross country Vees will be back in OUA regular season action at the Western Invitational on September 20th in London.