SKI | Voyageurs Show Well, Norman Earns All-Star Nod
The 2022 OUA Nordic Championships were held Saturday and Sunday on the campus of Laurentian University. The course conditions were in wonderful shape and, despite some unexpected strong winds, the competitors had fantastic two days of racing.
Day 1 began with the interval start freestyle event, which saw the women hit the trails first followed by the men. After three laps of the 3.5km course, it was Lakehead Thunderwolves skier, Shaylynn Loewen, who topped the podium with a time of 33:26. She was followed closely behind by uOttawa Gee-Gee, Magalie Daoust, who was 9.7 seconds off the pace. Lakehead's Natalie Hynes rounded out the podium in a time of 33:43.1. Maddie Norman was the top Voyageur, crossing the line in eight place, 2:21 back from the leader. Hannah Cutler, in 23rd, and Faith Goudie, in 38th, were the next two Voyageurs across the line.
On the men's side, it was a pair of skiers who separated themselves from the pack with Waterloo Warriors skier, Finn Dodgson, grabbing gold in 28:01.6 while Lakehead's Guillaume Pelchat finished second, 28:18.5 behind. Carleton Ravens' Devon Pengrum was able to grab the bronze medal in a time of 29:26.8, 1:25.2 behind the race winner. Laydon Bursey led the Voyageurs in 32nd place, 5:14 back of the leader while Cameron Boland, in 33rd, and James Norrie, in 38th, rounded out the top three Voyageurs.
In the afternoon, it was the team relays that took centre stage. On the women's side, a trio of schools separated themselves from the pack as the Carleton Ravens, Lakehead Thunderwolves, and Ottawa Gee-Gees sprinted for the line. In the end, it was the Gee-Gees surging ahead of the Thunderwolves at the line with just 0.2 seconds separating the two, as the Ravens had to settle for bronze. The Voyageurs trio of Norman, Goudie and Cutler were the top Laurentian team across the line in 10th place while Maryse Leveille, Danica Levesque and Logan Bach crossed the line in 17th.
In the men's race, after a tight first leg, the teams started to be strung out and, in the end, the Thunderwolves pulled away from Nipissing to finish fifteen seconds clear of the Lakers with the Ravens coming across the line in third place, more than a minute behind the Lakers. Bursey, Boland and Norrie teamed up to finish 12th for the Voyageurs.
On Sunday, the lone races of the day were the 10km mass start classic events. The men were the first ones on course and it was a pair of Thunderwolves who pulled away from the pack and Guillaume Pelchat and Conor McGovern crossed the line 1-2, less that one second apart, with Pelchat posting a time of 28:16. Waterloo's Finn Dodgson rounded out the podium, finishing 13.2 seconds back. Bursey was once again the top Voyageur, finishing in 32nd place, just under six minutes back, while Boland and Norrie once again rounded out the top three for the blue and gold.
On the women's side, Shaylynn Loewen left little doubt as to who the weekend's top skier was as she grabbed gold for the second time, finishing in 33:24.2, six seconds ahead of Carleton's Katherine Mason and 17.5 seconds ahead of teammate Natalie Hynes. Norman once again led the charge for the Voyageurs, turning in a ninth place finish, less than two minutes behind the leader, with Cutler in 19th and Leveille in 36th rounding out the top three.
After a day and a half of racing, it was the Thunderwolves who stood atop the podium as both their men's and women's team claimed the championship banners, garnering 36 points apiece. The men's podium was rounded out by Carleton (101 pts) and Nipissing (106 pts). The women's competition saw Ottawa (91 pts) and Carleton (94 pts) make their way onto the podium.
The Voyageurs women finished in seventh place as a team with 245 points while the men also finished seventh with 327 points and Maddie Norman garnered OUA All-Star recognition for her two top-10 finishes.