SASKATOON, Sask. – The UBC Thunderbirds are the class of the conference as both the men's and women's teams won the Canada West Cross Country Championships at Saskatoon's Victoria Park Saturday afternoon.
Led by Glynis Sim who earned individual bronze, the T-Birds women's team successfully defended their 2019 banner to win their third consecutive Canada West title.
The Thunderbirds men's squad claimed their first championship since their return to Canada West competition in 2018 as Thomas Nobbs also earned the individual gold medal and Athlete of the Year honours, finishing 30 seconds ahead of teammate Tyler Dozzi who took silver.
"It was a great day for the Thunderbirds," exclaimed UBC Head Coach Laurier Primeau. "We had depth and we had excellent running at the front. We feel this is a big springboard en route to the U SPORTS Championships in Quebec City in three weeks. Massive kudos to UBCO with their women's team and in particular, their top two who ran a formidable race."
Those UBC Okanagan leaders, Joanna Brown and Lauren McNeil made for a spectacular finish as the former earned individual gold finishing just two tenths of a second ahead of her teammate.
Sim was not far behind to find her place on the podium, finishing the eight kilometre course in 29:21.7.
Mackenzie Campbell and Zoe Doorenspleet gave UBC three top ten finishes, crossing the line in seventh and tenth, respectively.
On the men's side, Nobbs and Dozzi were joined on the podium by Calgary's Eric Lutz while Joshua Kozelj and Spencer Hardy finished fourth and fifth, respectively, as UBC claimed four of the top five.
Hardy's fifth place time of 25:24.0 was tops among all first year male runners as the Portland, Oregon native was named conference Rookie of the Year.
For UBC's excellence, Assistant Coach Steve Weiler earned men's Coach of the Year.
As Primeau alluded to, the T-Birds will now turn their focus to the upcoming U SPORTS national championships which take place on Saturday, November 20th on the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City.
FULL WOMEN'S RESULTS
FULL MEN'S RESULTS
