Concordia’s Leonard Cheeso leads St Clair’s Carter Free in the Men’s 8 km race at the 2019 CCAA Cross Country Running Championships in Grande Prairie, AB

GPRC runner Anna van der Geissen capped off a stellar third season with the Wolves by delivering a 7th place finish at the 2019 CCAA National Cross Country Running Championships in Muskoseepi Park on Saturday.

Under tough, frigid conditions (-15 C, wind, and 15 cm of fresh snow),  van der Geissen went out fast with the lead pack in the women’s 6 km race.  Her early aggressive running paid off, as she was able to establish a gap on all but a few of the bes college runners in Canada and hold on for a top-10 finish.  For her efforts on Saturday, van der Geissen earned 2019 CCAA All Canadian status for women’s cross country running.

Anna van der Geissen receives her 2019 CCAA All Canadian Award for women’s cross country running

Collectively the Wolves Women placed ninth in the team standings.  van der Geissen’s team mates Taryn Kokesch (46th), Brittany Duvall (63rd), Kailey Bratland (75th), Krista Frey (76th), and Lydia Steinke (77th) also contributed to the team score.

The Wolves Men were able to improve on their 13th place pre-race national ranking.  Led by Hayden Hollowell (47th) and Chris Nelissen (52nd), the GPRC boys finished 12th in the team race.  Other GPRC finishers included Jordan Lundstrom(67th), Adam Wangler (76th), Taylor Hudak  (78th),.and Tairas Fournier (89th).

Fanshawe College from London, ON was the winning team in the men’s 8 km race; Lethbridge College captured the women’s crown.

Individually, Concordia University of Edmonton’s Leonard Cheeso won a close battle for the gold medal with St Clair College’s Carter Free.  Simone Plourde  from Andre Grasset was the women’s individual gold medal winner.

A total of 106 men and 89 women from colleges in Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec took part in the event.

Full results are listed here.