With the OUA Cross-Country Championships less than a month away (Saturday October 28th in Waterloo), picking off a few more schools was a key goal for the Laurentian Voyageurs teams which raced at the Don Mills Open last weekend at Waterloo, a couple of weeks after a season opening test in London.

Mission accomplished for coach Darren Jermyn and company.

With several encouraging performances on both the men's and women's squads, Laurentian was able to leapfrog a couple of OUA competitors from race one to race two.

Standout showings by Kristen Mrozewski (14th - 23:05) and Angela Mozzon (15th - 23:06) over the six kilometre course allowed the Voyageur women to slide into sixth place at the event, 18 points ahead of the Brock Badgers and within striking distance of the Laurier Golden Hawks.

Rounding out the scoring brigade for L.U. were Sarah Booth (54th - 25:00), Charlotte Grenier (61st - 25:30) and Meredith Kusnierczyk (65th - 25:44), with Abbey Maillet, Claire Scholl and Abby Lanteigne also racing for Laurentian.

"Kristen and Angela raced extremely well together, particularly after a fast start," said Jermyn. "Seeing them near the front of the pack is a great reward for how hard they have been training this season."

Coming back from a lengthy injury absence, veteran Keon Wallingford from North Bay topped the L.U. charts on the men's side, placing 20th in a field of 120 competitors in a time of 19:16.

Sophomore Seamus Doherty was next in line (45th - 19:56), followed by Brandon Radey (64th - 20:34), Cameron Date (67th - 20:38) and Patrick Leroux (68th - 20:41), with Owen Roney, Aurel Fx Recollet, Travis Annett and Keegan Lockley a little further back.

"Keon's top 20 performance today is definitely a sign he is returning to form," said Jermyn.

The Voyageurs are back in action on Friday, October 13th, tackling the McMaster Bayfront Open in Hamilton.

Following are the team standings from the Don Mills Open:

Women - Team Standings
1st - McMaster - 43 points
2nd - U of Toronto - 49 points
3rd - Waterloo - 79 points
4th - Guelph - 110 points
5th - Laurier - 135
6th - Laurentian - 148
7th - Brock - 164
8th - TMU Bold - 239

Men - Team Standings
1st - McMaster - 30 points
2nd - U of Toronto - 44 points
3rd - Brock - 88 points
4th - Guelph - 113 points
5th - Laurentian - 147 points
6th - Waterloo - 173 points
7th - York University - 177 points
8th - Laurier - 180 points
9th - TMU Bold - 277 points