‘Like Pac Man’: Lancers’ Alkerton and Quanz gobbling up the competition
Windsor Lancers cross-country runners Alyshia Alkerton and Samara Quanz have finished first and second at every regular-season meet this fall. Alkerton has won all three, but Quanz has closed the gap to 11 seconds along the way.
“She’s got me fair and square every time,” Quanz said.
The two have a lot in common. Both are in their second year of teachers college, and they train together. They also race together for big stretches, which is when the fun starts.
“Sometimes the way that it works is we’ll be on opposite sides of the athletes in the middle, and it’s kind of, we say, like Pac Man,” Alkerton said. “So we’re going around them, eating them.”
The plan is usually to sit back and let others set the pace, then make a move around the halfway mark. “I think having each other pushes us because I think we both know that we’re a lot stronger than maybe we think we are,” Alkerton said.
For Quanz, the success came after a step back. She did her kinesiology undergrad at Windsor, then took a year off to work. She ran the Detroit Half Marathon that fall, then stepped away from training for a few months.
She came back stronger. Last season she finished third at the OUA cross-country championships and 14th at U Sports, earning second-team All-Canadian honours. She added an OUA silver medal in the 3,000 metres on the track.
“It’s definitely been better since I came back for sure. I’ve taken a big like leap for sure,” Quanz said.
Now in her final season, she’s expecting even more. “This year is like starting off even better, so I’m excited to see where it goes for sure.”
Next up is the OUA championship on Oct. 31 at Malden Park, on the Lancers’ home course.
They’ll go in as the team to beat. Windsor is ranked first in Ontario and tied with UBC for second in the country. That’s the highest ranking in program history heading into the championship.
“Our team’s looking really good, and we’re hoping for big things,” Quanz said.
Alkerton says the team is peaking at the right time.“I think we’re all very strong and we’re ready and we’re excited,” she said.