The Concordia Stingers finished off their season in a place perhaps no one expected them to be: at the CIS National Cross-Country championships in Quebec City two weeks ago.            

             Although the Stingers did not officially qualify for the event, the race’s proximity to Montreal was an opportunity they couldn’t turn down.

            The Stingers went into the race with personal goals, but had a good idea of just how fast the competition at the national level was going to be.

            The women’s team finished 15^th out of 16 teams, taking down Acadia University along the way. They were lead by Johanna Winters, who finished in 34^th place in the women’s 5-kilometre event.

            “The plan was to be conservative in the first 2k of the race, and not worry about what position I was in,” said Winters, who is currently training in Montana for the upcoming Nordic ski season. “After 2k I was then supposed to start 'picking off' the competition and just keep moving forward on the second lap.”

            “When I hit 2k, though, my coach called to me that I was in 60th place, which was a bit farther back than I had wanted to be,” admitted Winters. “This jolted me into action, I suppose.”

            And jolt she did. Winters picked off nearly 30 competitors, jumping from 63^rd place after 2.5-kilometres to 34^th at the finish. She ran almost equal splits, impressing Stingers coach John Lofranco.

            Other women’s results from Concordia include Christina Lo Basso in 87^th, Amélie Marcil-Roy in 100^th, Paola Calderon in 102^nd and Emilie Cameron in 103^rd.

            The Stingers men also took to the field in the 10-kilometre event that same day. Although they finished 16^th out of 16, coach Lofranco was pleased with the improvement the men made over the course of the season.

            Simon Malik-Giroux led the men’s team in 101^st place, followed by Stinger men’s captain Kyle Verboomen who finished in 102^nd. Other men’s results include Flavio Vasquez-Silva in 106^th, Jonathon Dempsey in 108^th, Chris Gates in 109^th, Kirill Kompaniets in 110^th and Matt Tamblyn in 111^th.

            Coach Lofranco, an elite mountain runner himself, was impressed with the team’s efforts.

            “I think the team did quite well for themselves,” he said. “I hope we can go back to CIS and be competitive in the near future.”

            The team shares Lofranco’s vision. After taking a week break from training, the entire squad has set their sights on goals for next season.

            With the exception of losing Johanna Winters, who will be returning back to her home school, the University of Wisconsin Green Bay and men’s captain Kyle Verboomen and women’s captain Christina Lo Basso to graduation, the entire team hopes to be back in competition next year.

            Over the course of the next year, the team plans to increase their mileage significantly and test themselves in a few indoor track competitions this winter in the middle distance events.

            Runners like Jonathon Dempsey, who plan to be back next year, just want to improve.

            “Better fitness should naturally improve all our times,” said Dempsey, “I hope to achieve better results and if, as a team if we all commit to this, we can hopefully become more competitive within our conference next year.

            Flavio Vasquez-Silva is just aiming at consistency.

            “I haven't set up any specific goals for next season except the one of improving the most I can,” said Vasquez-Silva, “For that I need to do a lot of mileage. I plan to run at least 6 days a week.

            And although Verboomen and Lo Basso will be moving on, they will both keep training with the team until graduation.

            “I hope to better my performances from this past season,” said Lo Basso. “In order to get to where I want to be, it's a matter of consistent training.  You have no choice but to just run as much as you can.  That's what I've been taught and I believe it.  Mileage is very important because you need to establish a base before getting into specifics.”

            “I will still be training with the team, I will just be running for my club instead,” she added.

            These willing attitudes bode well for coach Lofranco’s long-term plans.

         “My goals for the team according to our long term plan called for two

second place finishes,” said Lofranco. “It will be tough for the guys to achieve that,

as the other schools in the league are quite strong. I believe in the guys we have, though, and a lot can happen in a year.”

         “I think the goal we are setting for ourselves now is to be consistent in our training

and get the mileage in so we can be ready to work hard again in the fall,” he added.

         And, although the CIS championships is all the way in Victoria next year, Lofranco is confident that a few runners could be making the trip.

         The team, according to Lofranco, just has to “run as much as possible and be consistent.”

         With that in mind, the Stingers will head into the long winter months eager to run, no matter what is thrown their way.