Fitzgerald, Trojan men defend ACAC titles
EDMONTON, ALTA., (Oct. 29, 2022) – Back-to-back titles are nice. Two are even better.
That is what the SAIT Trojans cross-country running team did today at the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Cross-Country Running Championships, as Makenna Fitzgerald repeated as the women's individual champ and the men's squad won their second-straight team title at the event hosted at Edmonton's Gold Bar Park by the Concordia University of Edmonton.
"It was a really fun course, lots of hills," said Fitzgerald, who conquered the 6-kilometre run in 22:51. "I tried to not start too quickly and held pace as best I could."
Fitzgerald is not only the reigning ACAC champion, but Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) national champ, too. She will look to defend that title on Nov. 12 in Medicine Hat, Alta., when Medicine Hat College will host the country's best runners.
"Kind of, I guess, but more so the kind that I put on myself compared to anyone else," she said when asked about the pressure to repeat. "Coach Ryan just said to go out and run, so I tried to not think about it as much as I could."
While there were high expectations for Fitzgerald coming into the season, they tempered a bit when a foot injury following the first Grand Prix event of the season on Sept. 10 sidelined her until Saturday.
"It was pretty great to see her work her way back after that and into shape for the ACAC Championships," said Trojans head coach, Ryan Edgar. "We worried that she would either not make it back without having to run in a lot of pain or not be able to keep her base fitness up during her time off, but she did a great job of cross training. When she was cleared to run again, we were able to get some runs in and her confidence back up. Hopefully she keeps improving for Nationals."
Jill Stewart placed eighth in a time of 25:14, while Holly Moores took 13th in 26:04.
On the men's side, the Trojans were dominant all season long and Saturday was no different.
Moktar Said earned the silver medal in the men's 8km race in a time of 26:36, while teammate Keiran Marchand placed third by crossing the finish line just 17 ticks of the clock later (26:53).
Tofik Said took fourth in 27:16 and Yahya Jama sixth in 27:51 to round out the scoring members of the team.
Not only was it the Trojans men's team second-straight ACAC title, but their fifth in the past six seasons.
"We have a really great group of guys on the team this year," Edgar said. "They have spent all season training and pushing each other hard, and the same thing goes for the races – they're working for each other and working for the team. We're really proud of them."
While success at the provincial level has become nearly clockwork for the Trojans men's team, they have not been able to make it translate at the national level. Edgar says this may be the team to do it.
"We have some injuries to work through before Nationals, and we're looking to get those sorted in the next few weeks," Edgar stated. "But this team has the mental toughness we may not have had as much of in the past where we get to Nationals and not perform as well as we expected. Hopefully, this is the year we change all that."