A first place finish at the Marauder Bayfront Open on Oct. 11 has Wilfrid Laurier University’s women’s cross country runner, Lizzy Laurie, striding toward another promising performance on the same course.
This Saturday the McMaster Marauders will host the 2019 Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Cross Country Championship in Hamilton, where Laurie is hoping to repeat her success on the Bayfront course.
“Honestly I was pretty shocked [about the win]. I was honestly not expecting that to happen,” said Laurie of her well-deserved winning performance.
Laurie’s first place accomplishment comes with an impressive time of 28:35.4 and the honor of being named Laurier Hawk Shop’s ‘Athlete of the Week’ for the third time this season.
When you watch Laurie race it is hard to believe that she is only six months back from experiencing a season ending injury in October of last year, which kept her from running until April of this year.
“I was pretty scared because this was the course my stress fracture happened on last year, and I was really nervous driving there but I was pretty excited. I hadn’t been feeling any pain in my leg at all and I was really excited to hopefully try to place. I definitely was not expecting [to win].”
Golden Hawk’s men and women’s cross-country Head Coach, Ian Clancy, had a lot to say about the fourth-year athlete and her season thus far.
“She has worked really hard in the last three years. She’s just running at a new level. Confident in her abilities, but also has trained really hard and consistently smart as well.”
Laurie’s self-proclaimed “comeback season” is undoubtedly filled with grit, leadership, and high-hopes. She has placed within the top five at all three races competed this season, and her goal for the OUA championship race is to place within the top 14 to result in being named an OUA All-Star.
Stepping onto a familiar ground has Laurie and her teammates feeling prepared this season in knowing how to run the championship course.
“We spent a lot of time going over the course, knowing the ins and outs. It really helps. I think it does significantly. So hopefully [Laurie] is ready both physical and psychologically to race at her highest level on Saturday,” shared Coach Clancy on the opportunity to run the championship course two weeks prior.
Hopefully the early familiarity will bring about a competitive edge and a boost of confidence as the Golden Hawk men and women go stride to stride against the heated competition in the OUA.
Despite any outcome this race is monumental in Laurie’s career as she runs her final provincial championship race for the Golden Hawks Cross Country team.
“The fact that I’m in fourth year now and this is my last one is kind of scary so I’m just really hoping that everything goes well and that we can make it to nationals because I would love to be able to go out with a bang.”