The Laurier Brantford women’s cross-country team had yet another great showing at their meet on Saturday at the Centennial College Invitational. 

The women’s team placed second, with Vanessa Brown leading the team and coming in 12th overall.  

There were over 70 runners competing and all of Laurier’s female runners finished in the top half, with Kara Hughes in 14th, Chiara Carinci in 27th and Jessa Braun fishing in 29th.  

It was a tough run with cold and rainy conditions on top of an already challenging course, but it was nothing the Golden Hawks couldn’t handle. The girls have placed in the top three at all of their invitationals they have attended this season. The Laurier Brantford male runners didn’t have enough men to field a team, however, Ahad Naim and Anas Abutaha had strong individual showings with Ahad leading the Laurier boys with a 13th place finish overall.   

The Laurier cross-country team’s coach, Cory Currie, was very happy with the team’s performance, commenting that the team continues to show that they can be a contender in the OCAA system.  

“They seem to all really pull together when it comes to race day. If they continue to do this into the next two weeks then I think the girls have a great chance to make nationals and be a top team,” said Cory.   

The next race for the cross-country team will be the Ontario Championships at University of Toronto-Mississauga.  

The girls will be looking for a silver medal but will have to beat their biggest rival this year, Mohawk College, who they’ve been fighting all season for second place.  

Fanshawe has sealed their position in first place after having three of their runners finishing in the top four individual rankings at Centennial. Humber will also be looking to finish in the top three rankings, but they still have not beaten Laurier or Mohawk yet.