(By: Julie Mutis, Mark McKelvie & Hilary Punchard)

This season, the Ryerson Rams Cross Country team qualified four runners for the championships despite struggling throughout the season with funds for races fees, travel and treatment for injured athletes. Cross country is considered a “club-status” team, which means that unlike varsity sports, their season is not fully funded.

We spoke to cross country athletes and Ivan Joseph, the director of athletics at Ryerson, about the relationship between the athletics department and competitive club teams and what it would take for a team to be promoted to varsity status.