Local sports briefs

by Evan Mathias

St Clair College cross country

The St. Clair College cross country team left for the New Balance Toronto Canadian Collegiate Athletic Assoctiation Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships Nov. 7.

The Saints Women’s team is coming off their first OCAA Provincial Championship since 1998 and is going to be led by Donia Oumesrour and Kodi Morgan.

Oumesrour was named Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association All-Canadian for her season which included a fourth place finish at the Fanshawe Invitational and a fifth place finish at the Humber Invitational.

The men’s team was led this season by John Trojansek who helped St. Clair claim a bronze with a seventh place finish. The bronze medal was the first time the St. Clair men’s team has medaled since 2005.

LaSalle Vipers

The LaSalle Vipers were unable to recover from a five-goal second period from the Sarnia Legionnaires, falling 5-4 Nov. 7 at Sarnia Arena.

The Vipers offence stormed out of the gate to build a 3-0 lead after one period. Dan Beaudoin opened the scoring for the Vipers and Aaron Luchuk added a pair of goals just over five minutes apart.

The Legionnaires battled back to erase the Vipers’ three goal lead early in the second period with Ryan Vendramin’s first of two goals in the frame. Josh Kestner also beat Cameron Zanussi twice in the period and Riley Babkirk added a goal to give the Legionnaires a lead they would not relinquish.

“Maybe we got a little complacent, but give them credit. That’s a crazy building every time we play there,” said Vipers head coach Bill Bowler. “Hopefully our guys learn something from that.”

Brendan McCann added a goal in the third period but it wasn’t enough for the Vipers’ to complete the comeback.