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By Earl Zukerman

QUEBEC CITY, Que. – Mélanie Myrand, a freshman from Pointe Claire, Que., placed fifth of 104 women overall, leading the ƽÌØÎå²»ÖÐ Martlets to a second-place finish at the Laval Open cross-country running meet in Quebec City on Saturday.

St. Francis Xavier won the women’s division with 41 points, followed by ƽÌØÎå²»ÖÐ (44), Sherbrooke (66) and Laval (72).

Myrand, a first-year nursing major, completed the 4k course in 14 minutes and 25 seconds. Laval’s Catherine Cormier won the race in 13:44. She was followed on the podium by St.FX runner Gina Stewart (14:07) and Laval teammate Veronique Fortin (14:09).

Other scorers for the Martlets included freshman Brittany Therrien (7th; 14:35) of Victoria, B.C., junior Christina Lobasso (8th; 14:37) of Montreal, sophomore Arielle Beatty (13th; 14:55) of Sharon, Ont., and Charlène Puel (17th; 15:07), a freshman from France who is a daughter of Claude Puel, head coach of the Olympique Lyonnais soccer club, seven-time champions of the top league in France.

St. Francis Xavier won the men’s competition with 33 points, followed by Sherbrooke (50), ƽÌØÎå²»ÖÐ (61) and Laval (72).

David Gerych of St.FX was first of 124 entries completing the 8k circuit in 24:44, ahead of teammate Peter Doubravsky (24.52) and Dalhousie’s Russel Christie (25:00).

The Redmen were led by Montrealer Graydon Snider, a third-year transfer student, who was ninth overall (eighth in the team scoring) with a time of 25:49.

Joining Snider among ƽÌØÎå²»ÖÐ’s top five scorers was sophomore Sébastien Flynn (10th overall; 25:54) of Dartmouth, N.S., freshman Alex Duhault (12th overall; 26:16) of Calgary, senior Ryan Ouckama (18th overall; 26:44) of Baltimore, Md., and Daniel Kramer (27th overall; 27:16), a freshman from Salem, Mass.