Cougars are now in the running
Nov. 13, 2009 - Regina Leader-Post
By Tim Switzer
Eric Benjamin does not seem to be one to sugarcoat his feelings.
So it's probably a good thing that the fifth-year runner for the University of Regina Cougars no longer has to put on a brave face when talking about the resurgent cross-country team.
"It's pretty amazing when you look at how bad we sucked," said Benjamin, a 23-year-old Consul product. "With the coming of Doc (coach Graeme McMaster), he changed things around and now we're one of the best teams in the country."
In Benjamin's first season with the Cougars in 2005, the U of R sent just one runner -- Sandy Bain -- to the CIS championship meet. Regina sent two runners in 2006 (Kris Frisk and Dale Wig) and 2007 (Wig and Kelly Wiebe).
It wasn't until Benjamin's fourth season that he earned a trip to nationals. It even appeared the Cougars would field a full men's team of five runners before an injury prevented Wiebe from competing.
So when Benjamin lines up with Wig, Wiebe, Iain Fyfe and Wyatt Baiton on Saturday at the CIS championships in Kingston, Ont., he is going to savour the moment.
"Basically this is all I've thought about since we were doing the warmup last year and Kelly had to stop running because his leg hurt too much," Benjamin said. "Last year they awarded the Canada West (championship) banner at the CIS banquet and watching Calgary walk up and get that broke all of our hearts because we knew it should have been us."
As the No. 4-ranked team in the country, the Cougars don't plan to show up as also-rans this year.
The Guelph Gryphons, who have won the previous three CIS team titles, are considered the far-and-away favourite to repeat while the four-time national-champion Windsor Lancers are not far behind.
"That third spot is open for anybody's taking," said Wiebe.
The Cougars women's team will be represented by Melissa Petersen and Karissa LePage.