Laval Women Dominate Fredericton Race

(FREDERICTON, NB) The U SPORTS No. 3 ranked Laval Rouge et Or dominated the third meet on the 2021 Atlantic University Sport women's cross country schedule.

Laval's Jessy Lacourse (Quebec City, QC) won the eight-kilometre race, run at Fredericton's Kingswood Park, in a time of 28:06.

Siona Chisholm (Antigonish, NS), of the St FX X-Women, was second.

Laval runners finished 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th and 6^th.

"It was a very tough race," said Chisholm. "I just wanted to hang in there and I think I did. I tried to keep my eyes on her shoulders and not let the gap get too big. I'm happy with the race, and the team did awesome."

UPEI's Paige Chisholm (Port Williams, NS) was the second AUS runner across the line, in 8^th place overall, while Dalhousie's Kelsey Hogan (Halifax, NS) was third among AUS competitors and 9^th overall.

Ivy Bialowis (Ottawa, ON) led the host UNB REDS contingent, finishing 24^th overall and 13^th among AUS competitors.

The event was run under a constant drizzle and cool temperatures.

"When it starts to rain and gets a little bit cooler everybody starts to shrink a little bit and you saw that across the board, from a lot of people," said REDS head coach Chris Belof. "But conditions are the conditions we have to deal with regardless."

Laval won the team competition, with the X-Women running second and Dalhousie third. The host REDS were fifth, behind Sherbrooke.

Unmoved by the Laval dominance, Belof says their visit allows the Atlantic conference to see a real measuring stick.

"Whenever we get to see Laval, we get to measure ourselves against one of the best, and that's a cool thing," he said. "Politely, we expected to be right where we were in the conference and we expected Laval to be at the front of the pack all day, and that's exactly how it played out."

Next up, the AUS Championship, in Moncton, on October 30^th.

RECAP AND PHOTOS: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics