Lauweryssen the top Trojan at Grand Prix #2
RED DEER, ALTA., (Sept. 14, 2019) — Two races into the season, and SAIT Trojans men's cross-country runner Brant Lauweryssen has secured two podium finishes.
For the second straight week, the Calgary-raised runner placed third, this time in the second Grand Prix event of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) season hosted by Red Deer College.
"Brant put in a lot of miles this summer, working really hard to get that really good base going into this year," said Trojans co-head coach Bre MacEachern said of Lauweryssen, who finished the 8-kilometre race in a time of 28:27 (mins:sec). "We're really proud of him, and how smart he has run these first two races — sitting back the first couple of laps and then slowly pick it up towards the end."
Lauweryssen's (3rd year, Calgary, Business Administration) teammates did not finish far behind.
Jacques Saayman (4th year, Fort McMurray, Alta., Bachelor of Business Administration) placed fifth in time of 29:08, while Daryl Ross (4th year, Calgary, Bachelor of Business Administration) took seventh spot after crossing the finish line in a time of 29:50. Newcomer Jakob Vollmerhaus (2nd year, Bragg Creek, Alta. Geographic Information Systems) rounded out the top four Trojans with a time of 31:18 to nail down 10th spot.
Combined, they took second place in the team standings, finishing behind host Red Deer College and ahead of the University of Alberta-Augustana.
"We were missing a key piece (Michael Stewart) today due to a bit of a foot injury, so I think once we have him in the mix that should make a big difference at the end of the year," MacEachern added. "That said, Red Deer is going to be someone for us to watch because they look really strong."
On the women's side, just Ann Danard (3rd year, Thunder Bay, Ont., Civil Engineering Technology) and Ashley Tremblay (1st year, Calgary, Academic Upgrading) competed, which kept them from qualifying for the team standings.
Individually, however, Danard placed fourth in the 6km event in a time of 26:38. Tremblay placed ninth in a time of 27:56.
The Trojans will take next weekend off before hosting the ACAC in the season's fourth Grand Prix event of the season on Saturday, Sept. 28 at Confederation Park.
Since SAIT is also hosting the ACAC Championships in late October, MacEachern expects every team to come out and take a look at the course they will be competing on when medals are on the line.
"It will be interesting to see how we place against everyone who will be there," she said. "The good thing is that it should give us a pretty good idea of what we will need to do to be successful in late October."