Putdowns & Prognostications: Chapter #2

TEAMS

#1 Guelph

This Gryphons team might as well have been playing Quidditch this past weekend, cause they swept their home meet clean out the door with Proudfoot, Nixon, and Genest taking medals. Brett was right up there in 6th, and ran well at Paul Short last weekend. The call of duty for a 5th man appears to have been answered by rookie Aaron Hendrikx who’s had big runs in the past, but is tallying consistent numbers this year like never before. After those five, DST has a plethora of talent to round out his team. The nod will be likely be given to middle distance hounds Tommy Lecours, who placed 10th this past weekend, and Rob Jackson, who won a cockamamie Gibbons Park route last weekend. Enigmatic phenom Aleksandr Kuternin has yet to make an appearance this season, nor has Tristan Woodfine, who is assumed to be taking some downtime after World Tris and scoring with girls. Each decade has been defined by a dynasty – ‘80s Oilers, ‘90s Bulls – the ‘00s are the era of the Guelph Gryphons and they’re so damn good it doesn’t even have to be the ‘00s anymore.

#2 Windsor

Walters’ undefeated season was snapped this weekend on Guelph’s home turf - thus far, he’s been 1st at Western and 1st at ND Invite. Aguanno has been hard on his heels to the tune of 3rd at Western and 5th at ND. He looks poised for a top 10 finish at CIS. Berkis has impressive stats over shorter distances and has had some big runs in past championships seasons – see OUA champs circa 2010. Sophomores DeGroot & Janikowski are quickly budding into quality scorers who’d already be all-stars on a lot of other teams. If they all run outta their skulls I can see them putting a scare into Guelph, but that’s just it: a scare. No upset predicted here folks. As far as depth, Nick Falk, Dave Meloche, and Drew Patterson are good grinders. Who’s not running: Willy Dick, pride of the Ottawa Valley, Graeme Nicol, Paul LaMarra, and Nick Walters, who’s playing the Ashley to Matt’s Mary-Kate.

#3 Queen’s

Oldster’s reserving his fully fledged roster from the big dance but make no mistake: come OUAs this team will be ready to rumble. Clay Patterson was impressive at Paul Short, but Courchene and Hathaway put the “coming up short” in Paul Short. Nick McGraw only started running recreationally in late August and should he reach his top end by November will be a consideration for AC honours. Big bad grad Maxime LeBoeuf had a reassuring run at Western and upon further research on our part, could be a biathlete. Watch out if you see him with a rifle on the CIS start line. Rookie Dave Cashin is flexing his muscles, but coach Boyd should be weary that his prodigal pup doesn’t crash and burn like so many other freshman do. Archer is injury-plagued but could be a sleeper pick for savvy pollsters.

#4 Victoria

The Vikes dominated their first and only meet at Bellingham, with Cliff Childs’ snagging the W and sophomore sensation Dylan Haight following closely behind. Due to a lot of heckling, P&P has some research done this time around and has found that this team added a bunch of depth to this year’s squad with rookies Ryan Cassidy, Cody Thierrien, Jackson Bocksnick, and triathlete “Awesome” Austin Horn, who apparently shares my enthusiasm for Robot Unicorn Attack. Combine that ménage a quatre with mid distance stud Karl Robertson, and long distance grinders Doug “Musk” Oxland and Josh Clouthier and this team has just as much depth as Queen’s. Unfortunately, jet lag will plague this team as it has in past years and they’ll settle for 4th. Neither Pieterson nor Chainsaw will not be competing this year.

#5 Regina

Wiebe, Fyfe and Johnson continue to roll and all are certainly in contention for AC honours, with the former two capable of placing top 5. Kelly Wiebe placed 4th at Roy Griak and is certainly our favourite to take the CIS title this year. Iain Fyfe and Johnson placed 1-2 at The Saskatoon Open in an otherwise bland field. The Cougars are certainly deeper than last year although they still lack the 4-5 runners that could put them in contention for a podium. Andrew Thomas and Michael Middlemiss will be relied upon to pull this team up the ranks.

#6 McMaster

Mac is starting to turn out good results having placed 3rd at Loyola ahead of Western. Yorke is coming off a terrific triathlon campaign and should coast to a CIS top 10 if things continue as they’ve been going. Taylor Reid and Graham Bowes showed their guns in Chicago, and are definitely capable of helping Mac into the top 5. Cody McCurry, Jordan Bierema, and Zac Brown are good support for this team and will ensure a top 6 finish without question. Whether or not they place any higher will depend on the appearances of transfer Lionel Sanders from Windsor (AC last year), Braden Novakowski (2006 OUA gold medalist), and Deng Marial (AC in 2007). Were these 3 all running, I’d say they had a shot at bronze. This not being the case, I see them finishing no better than 5th. Bowes will likely be the X-factor – he ran well at Guelph and has been known to toss more ‘bows than a Bertuzzi family reunion.

#7 Western

With Western International behind them, the Mustangs appear to be going the way of the dodo. Placing a respectable 3rd at the home meet is all good boys, but finishing 3rd at a dodgy McGill race and then 5th at Loyola behind fellow OUA Mac, and this team has a lot of work ahead of it if they want to be seen toeing the line at CIS. Smith has really stepped up his game over the summer and is impressively maintaining it as the season progresses. O’Neill remains questionable –we’ll see if he can return to the form that landed him 2nd at the CIS 3000m. Armstrong’s been hampered recently by injury, and without him this team plummets out of the top 10. Cyclist Chris Balestrini appears to been rolling around (pun intended) and will be relied upon to grind it out with Rookie Phil Parrot-Migas and sophomore “Jobin”. Andrin is running sporadically and seeing how the season is going right meow. He may be called in via some Bat-symbol like apparatus to save the day and provide a bit more depth come CIS.

#8 Calgary

Much to our dismay, Spencer Pootz is not running this year. How silly do we look right now! Matt Cloutier however is back after a solid championship run last year and Gareth Hadfield had an solid finish at the Saskatchewan Open, and he will lead a team of grinders consisting of Merry, Dorosz, Bickley and Wasylyshyn that will hopefully carry the young Dinos, and keep them away from extinction.

INDIVIDUALS WITH OOMPH

Wiebe, Genest, Brett, Walters, Proudfoot, Nixon, Fyfe, Woodfine, Childs, Hosier, Aguanno, Janikowski, Lecours, Leboeuf, Haight, Colle, Patterson, Johnson, Yorke, O’Neill