Top rookie runner

Jordan Cote was Guelph's top first-year runner in cros-country

Posted By DAVE BORODY, THE OBSERVER

Sarnia's Jordan Cote was recently named rookie of the year for the Guelph University cross-country team.

Cote, 18, is a graduate of St. Christopher Secondary School where he ran on the crosscountry team for three of his four years there.
In his last year of high school, he won the senior boys Lambton Secondary Schools Athletic Association crosscountry title, placed fourth at SWOSSAA and competed at OFSAA in Thunder Bay.
Cote said he enjoyed his freshman year at Guelph.
"I wasn't sure if I would go to Guelph or McMaster. But I went to visit a friend at Guelph and really felt at home there. I met the coach and he was really nice and down to earth. The older guys on the team took me around campus."
Cote was one of 15 males and 15 females on the Guelph team. He admitted his first season had it's ups and downs.
"I went to a training camp a week before school started. It proved to be a whole new experience. It was tough. My times actually got worse for awhile from high school as I wasn't used to the training schedule."
But Cote said it proved to be a blessing in disguise.
"During the indoor track season, the coach got me involved in running at indoor meets in the 1500 and 3000 metres. I got more accustomed to the training and my times really improved. At a last chance meet, I qualified for the Ontario championships at the University of Windsor."
So what was different in training from high school to university?
"It was mainly mileage and amount of time you train. In high school it was about one and a half hours a session. At university it was almost double that. So it took awhile for my body to adjust to that kind of training. But I got used to it as time went on."

He added, "I'm now more prepared for my second year both mentally and physically. I do like cross-country more than track because instead of running around in a circle on the track, in cross-country you are running through trails and up and down hills."

The son of Karen and Dan Cote, his goal for next year is to make the roster for the CIS (Canadian championships). He said Guelph has a good team and only seven members get to compete at the Ontario championships.
But Cote says he will be home in early November for the OFSAA cross-country championships at Canatara Park.
"It will be fun to watch something like that in your hometown. From being in Thunder Bay, I know how big it is and it's great for Sarnia to have something like this."
Cote said one of runners he trains with in Guelph, Taylor Milne of North Bay has qualified for the Olympics next month in China in the 1,500 metres.
"It's a neat setup in Guelph.
We have something called the national endurance centre where amateur athletes continue to train after their schooling is done. They are coached by our coaches and we do get to train with them. They are a tight group and we get to hang out with them as well. You get the sense of what it takes to be a top runner in Canada."