WATERLOO, Ont. - The Golden Hawks cross-country team came ready to compete at the 26th annual Don Mills Open, hosted by the Waterloo Warriors at Columbia Lake.

Both teams put in very strong performances to finish in fifth position for both team championships.  

Many of our track-oriented middle-distance runners liked the fact the races were only six kilometres and put on a show.

On the women's side, the team did a great job of running in packs and finished strong over the last kilometre.  

Marie Mazzoli was the team's top finisher in 26th in a time of 23:10. 

She showed incredible closing speed to power herself past five student-athletes in the last 150 metres. 

Coming in only two seconds behind was Nicole Beach in the 30th spot.  

Sabrina Arena was the team's third finisher coming in 39th.  

Piper Lafayette and Belinda finished within 11 seconds of each other, coming in at 53rd and 57th, respectively.  

Laurier's top seven were rounded out with strong runs from Tegan Cecccanese (70th) and Maya Robinson (76th).

On the men's side, Ian Young started conservatively but ran aggressively for the second half, coming in 13th in a time of 18:55.  

Ryan Skjarum, who is new to the sport, went out very fast to begin this race and hung on heroically to finish in 23rd.  



The next two finishers, Simon Drolet and Nolan Khulberg, came in within two seconds of each other, placing in 54th and 56th.  Khulberg showed off his incredible track speed to close the last 200 metres quickly.  

The next 3 finishers all came within less than 30 seconds of each other.  Nathan Lemire (66th), Ezra Bender (79th), and Cohen Ledger (82nd) rounded out the top seven.  

Of special note, three members of the men's team also competitive triathletes.  

Aside from his cross-country obligations, Drolet trains 10 hours per week in the pool and six hours on the bike in addition to all the time spent running.  

Cezar Hirsescu is trying out varsity cross-country running for the first time, adding to his contributions of swimming for the Laurier swim team the past two years.  

Additionally, Morley Roden also does triathlons in the summer and was instrumental in getting the Laurier Triathlon Club off the ground last year.

The team will now have a week off before competing at the 8-Kay Marauder Invitational at Kay Drage Park, Hamilton on Friday, October 11.

Final Team and Individual Results