KINGSTON, Ont. (CIS) – Varsity Blues Megan Brown claimed back-to-back CIS gold medals and her third individual title in four years, leading the University of Toronto women’s cross country team to a second-place finish at the CIS championships.

The Guelph women won with 57 points, while U of T earned the silver medal with 144. The McMaster Marauders placed third with 147 points.

A Guelph, Ont. native, Brown was also victorious in 2008 and 2006 and completed the five-kilomentre course at Fort Henry with a time of 16:55.9 to claim athlete-of-the-year honours for the second straight season

"I wanted to run under 17 minutes," said Brown. "I went in today very strong. I decided that I was going to dictate the race and I ran aggressive from the start which is what I wanted to do. This course is always good to me. I'm very excited to finish my university career off here and to win is great."

Guelph's Lindsay Carson of Kitchener, Ont., led the Gryphons contingent and finished second overall with a time of 17:14.3. In a race for the third and final podium spot, University of Sherbrooke's Valérie Bélanger finished with a time of 17:23.1 edging out Toronto's Erin McClure (17:23.9) by less than one second.

Second-year standout Tamara Jewett came back from injury to finish in an impressive sixth-place with a time of 17:30. Fellow Toronto native Sasha Gollish was the 36th female to cross the finish line in a time of 18:33.6. Alex DiGiacomo rounded out the Toronto scorers, finishing with a time of 19:43.4.

In men’s action, the Varsity Blues finished 12th overall with an overall team score of 280 points.

The Gryphons men finished first and second individually, as Matt Brunsting earned the gold with a time of 30:34.3 and teammate Kyle Boorsma not far behind in 30:44.8. Regina’s Kelly Wiebbe won the individual bronze medal in a time of 30:49.8.

Toronto’s top finisher of the day was Tyler Pettes (Aurora, Ont.) in 42nd with a time of 33:11.5. Teammate Adrian Lambert finished right behind him in 33:12.8.

Stephen Douglas was the Blues third runner to cross the finish line in a time of 33:19.8, while Collin Murray-Lawson finished in 33:50.9.

The University of Guelph Gryphons once again dominated the CIS cross country championships. The Gryphon women's squad won its fifth straight team title, while the men earned their fourth consecutive banner Saturday afternoon at Fort Henry Hill in Kingston, Ont.

Guelph became the most successful cross country program in CIS history with the most CIS banners captured by a single school, with 15. Guelph has obtained nine men's and six women's titles. The Gryphons entered the event tied with the University of Victoria at 13.

The Gryphon men claimed their fourth straight banner and eighth crown in 11 years. Overall it is Guelph's ninth men's title since the inaugural men's championship was held in 1963, tying a CIS all-time record for most first-place finishes established by the Toronto Varsity Blues.

Fort Henry Hill will be the site of the 2010 FISU world university cross country championships on Saturday, April 11. Officials from FISU were on hand to conduct a progress update and officially pass the FISU banner to organizers during today's event.

For all the info on the 2009 CIS cross country championships including complete results, please visit: www.cis-sic.ca.

WOMENS RESULTS (5 km)

Team standings
1. Guelph, 57 points
2. Toronto, 144
3. McMaster, 147
4. Victoria, 178
5. Alberta, 210
6. Calgary, 213
7. Manitoba, 218
8. St. Francis Xavier, 227
9. Laval, 232
10. Queen's, 237
11. Windsor, 251
12. Saskatchewan, 293
13. Dalhousie, 306
14. Sherbrooke, 307
15. Western, 317
16. McGill, 353
17. Laurentian, 467
18. Concordia, 568
19. RMC, 626

Individual honours
Athlete of the year: Megan Brown, Toronto
Rookie of the year: Genevieve Lalonde, Guelph
Student-Athlete Community Service Award: Gwendolyn Muir, Dalhousie
Coach of the year: Dave Scott-Thomas, Guelph

First All-Canadian team
1. 16:55.9 Megan Brown, Toronto
2. 17:14.3 Lindsay Carson, Guelph
3. 17.23.1 Valerie Belanger, Sherbrooke
4. 17:23.9 Erin McClure, Toronto
5. 17:24.2 Jessica Pearo, McMaster
6. 17:30.0 Tamara Jewett, Toronto
7.17:30.3 Jodi Souter, Sasketchwan

Second All-Canadian team
8. 17:32.3 Rachel Cliff, Guelph
9. 17:33.7 Genevieve Lalonde, Guelph
10.17:34.3 Ashley Ryer, Saint Marys
11.17:34.4 Catherine Cormier, Laval
12.17:37.9 Caroline Schlosser, Dalhousie
13. 17:40.9 Lynn Mockler, Western
14. 17:41.0 Dayna Pidhoresky, Windsor

MENS RESULTS (10 km)

Team standings
1. Guelph, 31 points
2. Windsor, 92
3. St.Francis Xavier, 170
4. Regina, 186
5. Calgary, 222
6. Alberta, 225
7. Queen's, 227
8. Western, 242
9. McMaster, 243
10. Sherbrooke, 251
11. Victoria, 252
12. Toronto, 280
13. Dalhousie, 341
14. Laval, 343
15. Manitoba, 361
16. Laurier, 459
17. Concordia, 462
18. Saskatchewan, 495
19. RMC, 600

Individual honours
Athlete of the year: Matt Brunsting, University of Guelph
Rookie of the year: Wyatt Baiton, University of Regina
Student-Athlete Community Service Award: Matt Hulse, Queens University
Coach of the year: Dave Scott-Thomas, University of Guelph

First All-Canadian team
1. 30:34.3 Matt Brunsting, Guelph
2. 30:44.8 Kyle Boorsma, Guelph
3. 30:49.8 Kelly Wiebbe, Regina
4. 30:54.3 Dave Weston, Windsor
5. 30:57.9 Allan Brett, Guelph
6. 31:01.8 Matt Pieterson, Victoria
7. 31:32.1 Russell Christie, Dalhousie

Second All-Canadian team
8. 31:34.0 Adam Kellar, Windsor
9. 31:37.9 Johannes Mallie, Victoria
10. 31:42.0 Kyle ONeill, Western
11. 31:43.9 Nigel Wray, Guelph
12. 31:49.2 John Parrott, Guelph
13. 31:59.9 Wyatt Baiton, Regina
14. 32:13.0 Bagdad Rachem, Sherbrooke

Full Results:
Women :
http://www.sportstats.ca/display-results.php?lang=eng&racecode=45510

Women Team:
http://results.sportstats.ca/res2009/ciswt.htm

Men:
http://www.sportstats.ca/display-results.php?lang=eng&racecode=45927

Men Team:
http://results.sportstats.ca/res2009/cismt.htm
-30-

About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Fifty-two universities, 10,000 student-athletes and 550 coaches vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca. 

For more information please contact:
Michael Grobe
Communications and Sports Information Officer
Queens University
Ph: (613) 533-6000 ext. 77369
Cell: (613) 484-6763
comm.sio@queensu.ca

Michelle Pino
Media Relations & Communications officer
University of Guelph
Ph: (519) 824-4120 X: 53159
Cell: (519) 400-4622
mpino@uoguelph.ca

Michel Bélanger
Manager, Communications & Media Relations
Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Ph: (613) 562-5670 ext. 25
Cell: (613) 447-6334
Fax: (613) 562-5669
belanger@universitysport.ca
www.cis-sic.ca