ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ

By Earl Zukerman

QUEBEC CITY, Que. – Mélanie Myrand, a freshman from Pointe Claire, Que., placed fifth of 67 women overall, leading the ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ Martlets to victory at the Laval Open cross-country running meet in Quebec City on Saturday.

In the men’s competition, ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ came in second behind Laval, led by Montrealer Graydon Snider, a third-year transfer student, who came in ninth of 75 entries overall.

Myrand, a first-year nursing major, completed the 6.43-kilometre course in 14 minutes and 25 seconds. Laval’s Catherine Cormier won the race in 13:44. She was followed on the podium by St.FX runner Gina Stewart (14:07) and Laval teammate Veronique Fortin (14:09).

Other scorers for the Martlets included freshman Brittany Therrien (7th; 14:35) of Victoria, B.C., junior Christina Lobasso (8th; 14:37) of Montreal, sophomore Arielle Beatty (13th; 14:55) of Sharon, Ont., and Charlène Puel (17th; 15:07), a freshman from France who is a daughter of Claude Puel, head coach of the Olympique Lyonnais soccer club, seven-time champions of the top league in France.

David Gerych of St.FX was first in the men’s competition, completing the 12.9k circuit in 24:44, ahead of teammate Peter Doubravsky (24.52) and Dalhousie’s Russel Christie (25:00).

Joining Snider among ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ’s top five scorers was sophomore Sebastien Flynn (10th; 25:54) of Dartmouth, N.S., freshman Alex Duhault (12th; 26:16) of Calgary, senior Ryan Ouckama (17th; 26:44) of Baltimore, Md., and Daniel Kramer (24th; 27:16), a freshman from Salem, Mass.