Cross Country Season Opens at McGill, Fournier top finisher
Adrian Fournier was the top Gee-Gees representative at the first Cross Country event of the 2021 season. Fournier's twelfth place finish helped lift the Gee-Gees men's team to a fourth place finish at the McGill Open on Saturday, while the Gee-Gees women's team placed seventh.
Fournier, a fourth-year civil engineering student and alumni of Ottawa's Franco-Cité, led a group of eight Gee-Gees men's team members at Mount Royal Park in Montreal. His time of 18:25 over the 6 kilometre course was just 25 seconds back of the race winner, Jean-Simon Desgagnés of the Laval Rouge et Or. Next across for the Garnet and Grey was returning team member Nicholas Abanto Enns in 21st place with a time of 19:00.
Colby Frost, Rishab Sahai, and Ryan May made their Gee-Gees cross country team debuts, with Gavin Westbrook, Nathan Meraw, and Stephen Robinson also returning to the team.
For the women's team it was newcomer Kylee Fowler leading the way, crossing the finish line in 15:34 to place thirty-second. She made her Gee-Gees debut Saturday after her high school career at ESC Champlain in Chelmsford, Ont., north of Sudbury. She was followed by returning Gee-Gee Tiarra Ward in thirty-sixth position. Also appearing for the first time in Garnet and Grey were Skye Pellerin, Audrey McCarthy, Kylie Crawford, and Elana Tyman.
The next competition for the Gee-Gees will be at home, with the Capital XC Challenge set for Saturday, October 2 at Mooney's Bay. The team will also compete at Sherbrooke and McMaster in October in preparation for the OUA Championships which will take place at Western on November 6.