HAMILTON – The driving rain and resulting mud at the 2013 Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Cross Country Championship may have slowed times on the Chedoke GC course, but it did not stop the Guelph Gryphons from repeating as men's and women's champions Saturday.

The Guelph women won their OUA record tenth consecutive championship title and the men their ninth.

The Gryphon women used their depth to secure this year's championship, but it was a pair of Queen's runners who stole the show topping the podium. Victoria Coates (Newmarket, Ont.) improved on her 2012 OUA silver medal finish with the McMaster Marauders by winning this year's event as a member of the Gaels finishing in a time of 21:50.2. Fellow Gael Julie-Anne Staehli (Lucknow, Ont.) followed Coates in a time of 22:01.8 to secure silver. The Gryphons swept the next five spots with Carise Thompson's (Orkney, Ont.) 22:15.3 run securing bronze and the team title for Guelph. The Western Mustangs and Toronto Varsity Blues finished second and third on all-star runs from their top finishers. Heather Petrick was the top female rookie finisher. The Niagara on the Lake, Ont., native clocked in at 22:23.5 for the Gryphons.

The Gryphon's swept the podium in the men's 10km race with Aaron Hendrikx (Parkhill, Ont.) finishing in a time of 32:39.7, just over four seconds ahead of teammate and defending champion Ross Proudfoot (Sudbury, Ont.), to take the men's individual title. First-year Tristan Woodfine (Cobden, Ont.) secured the podium sweep for Guelph placing third in a time of 33:03.3 and earned men's rookie of the year honours.

McMaster's Maddy McDonald (Toronto) takes home the OUA community service award. The second-year kinesiology student is an executive member of the McMaster Athletes Care program. On top of her training, she finds time weekly to volunteer at the Hamilton Boys and Girls Clubs. This season, she organized a FAB (Fit-Active-Beautiful) activity day at the McMaster campus for at-risk, inner-city female youth. McDonald finished in 25th place at this year's OUA championship.



The men's community service award recipient is Guelph's Chris Dulhanty (Mississauga, Ont. The bio-medical engineering student is in his fourth year of eligibility for the Gryphons and is a three-time academic all-Canadian. In addition to his academic and athletic prowess, Dulhanty has a passion for media. Dulhanty recently used this skill to help young people adjusting to university life. He produced a series of videos for incoming students on residence life and living on campus for the Residences Admissions department, providing helpful information on the transition from home to university living.

Bob Vigars, head coach of the Western Mustangs, has been named the OUA women's cross country coach of the year. Vigars is the longest serving head coach among all coaches in all sports in Western Mustangs history; this is his 46^th season with the school. He led the Mustangs to team silver at the OUA championship.

McMaster's Rory Sneyd is the 2013 OUA men's cross country coach of the year. Sneyd, in his 8^th season at the helm of the Marauders, led the Marauder men's team to a surprising second place finish and the silver medal. The Marauders were ranked No. 6 in the country, and managed to out-run higher-ranked Windsor and Queen's in the OUA championship under Sneyd's leadership.