It was a day to recollect for the College of British Columbia (UBC) Thunderbirds on the 2023 U Sports activities XC Championship on Sunday afternoon in London, Ont. The Thunderbirds gained each the boys’s and ladies’s staff titles for the primary time in class historical past.
Sunday’s win has come from a number of years of development for his or her cross-country program. The ladies completed runners-up to Laval final season, and the boys have been simply off the rostrum in fourth—they have been awaiting a breakthrough.
Girls’s 8K
Whether or not the UBC ladies would win the ladies’s XC title in 2023 was by no means in query, as they have been the top-ranked staff within the nation all season lengthy. The ladies’s 8K bought off to a slower begin, however UBC, Western Mustangs, and StFX X-Girls established themselves on the entrance on the finish of the primary of two laps. With round two kilometres to go, Canada West champion UBC’s Katie Newlove placed on a surge and by no means appeared again, successful the 8K race in 29:06, 12 seconds over Laval’s Catherine Beauchemin (29:18). Erika Jordan got here in for bronze in 29:24 to place the host Western Mustangs on the rostrum.
UBC positioned 5 ladies within the prime 15 to win their first ladies’s U Sports activities XC title in class historical past, led by Newlove. “It’s tremendous empowering to be surrounded by and practice with so many nice ladies,” says 2023 champion Newlove on her UBC staff. “We’ve been attempting to attain this for the previous two years. To make college historical past and have all of it come collectively right now may be very thrilling.”
That is additionally the second consecutive yr a UBC athlete has gained the ladies’s particular person title. Former Thunderbird Glynis Sim gained the race in 2022.
Meet your 2023 Girls’s @USPORTSca XC champion Katie Newlove!
It’s double gold for Newlove! Serving to the @ubctbirds earn their first nationwide ladies’s title in historical past!!#USportsXC pic.twitter.com/5g0jcfZVsO
— Canadian Operating (@CanadianRunning) November 12, 2023
Girls’s outcomes
Workforce
1. UBC Thunderbirds (CanWest) 38
2. Western Mustangs (OUA) 71
3. St Francis Xavier X Girls (AUS) 95
4. Guelph Gryphons (OUA) 161
5. McMaster Marauders (OUA) 175
Particular person
1. Katie Newlove (UBC Thunderbirds) 29:06
2. Catherine Beauchemin (Laval Rouge et Or) 29:18
3. Erika Jordan (Western Mustangs) 29:24
4. Jennifer Erickson (UBC Thunderbirds) 29:27
5. Kaitlyn Harrison (Saskatchewan Huskies) 29:28
Males’s 8K
The climate was an unseasonably heat 12 C firstly of the boys’s 8K, with no clear-cut favorite to win the boys’s staff title. Laval Rouge et Or and UBC Thunderbirds held prime positions in our U Sports activities rankings all through the season, however uncertainties lingered about their efficiency in opposition to stronger competitors. The lads set a quick tempo from the start, with UBC’s Andrew Davies utilizing his 5,000m observe velocity to guide out a small pack. Davies and Laval’s Philippe Morneau-Cartier have been the 2 leaders on the finish of the primary lap. Within the remaining two kilometres, Morneau-Cartier pulled forward of Davies, upgrading his 2022 silver particular person medal to gold, successful the boys’s 8K in 24:17.
Laval goes ONE-TWO with Philippe Morneau-Cartier and Jean-Simon Desgagnes 🥇🥈within the males’s 8K @USPORTSca
That’s FOUR races and FOUR wins for @rougeetor Morneau-Cartier this season 🤯#USportsXC pic.twitter.com/Rh4ni7Y0H1
— Canadian Operating (@CanadianRunning) November 12, 2023
This marked Morneau Cartier’s fourth win of the season in 4 races. His Laval teammate and coaching companion, Jean-Simon Desgagnés, handed Davies within the remaining kilometre to safe silver in 24:20 in what was his remaining U Sports activities race. Davies held on for bronze in 24:24, ending as UBC’s prime male runner.
Initially, it appeared Laval would win their second males’s XC title within the final three years, however a late surge from the UBC males positioned three of their runners within the prime 10, securing their first males’s U Sports activities XC title since 1993, edging out Laval by eight factors.
UBC’s prime finisher, Davies, who gained with McMaster final yr, referred to as the staff win anticipated. “I knew if we may put all the pieces collectively on the massive day, we may pull it off,” mentioned Davies. “This was the ultimate U Sports activities XC race for 3 of our prime 5 scorers. I’m tremendous happy with this staff.”
Males’s outcomes
Workforce
1. UBC Thunderbirds (CanWest) 52
2. Laval Rouge et Or (RSEQ) 60
3. Queen’s Gaels (OUA) 90
4. Guelph Gryphons (OUA) 97
5. Victoria Vikes (CanWest) 177
Particular person
1. Philippe Morneau-Cartier (Laval Rouge et Or) 24:17
2. Jean-Simon Desgagnés (Laval Rouge et Or) 24:20
3. Andrew Davies (UBC Thunderbirds) 24:24
4. Jacob Benoit (Dalhousie Tigers) 24:42
5. John Perrier (UBC Thunderbirds) 24:44
For full outcomes from the 2023 U Sports activities XC Championships, head right here.
