SHERBROOKE, Que. – The UBC Thunderbirds women earned a place on the podium for a fourth consecutive year, claiming team bronze at the 2025 U SPORTS Cross Country Championships Saturday afternoon in Sherbrooke while the men finished 12
th out of the 23 teams competing for the team title.
"The consistency of being on the podium four years in a row, that's not very common, that's just fantastic," said UBC lead endurance coach,
Steve Weiler. "And doing that with turnover and a different team every single year, I'm very, very proud of the women for yet another podium finish and exceeding their ranking."
"Kudos to the University of Sherbrooke for an incredible hosting job," said UBC head coach,
Laurier Primeau. "I am so proud of both our teams, for different reasons – the men for battling and investing in an experience that will make them better for 2026, and the women for helping Canada West to dominate the podium."
Fifth-year T-Bird
Mackenzie Campbell was the first to cross the finish line for the women, completing the eight kilometre course under sunny skies in a time of 29:17, 19
th place overall. In her final U SPORTS race, Campbell improved her previous national championship placement by 12 places.
Where the blue and gold really came in clutch were the next to place as
Elysse Fleming and
Amelia Pfohl finished 22
nd and 24
th, respectively.
Abby Ylipahkala was the fourth of five counting Thunderbird times with a 30
th place individual finishing time of 29:36.
Sarah MacGillivray took the final counting place for UBC in 30:17.
"Honestly it was really impressive to have so many consecutive performances on the podium," said Fleming who was proud to have such a strong finish in her final U SPORTS race. "It's definitely a younger team than we're used to so seeing people step up and having a good day is really impressive.
"It's only my second time making the U SPORTS squad and last year didn't go so great, so being able to end off my UBC Cross Country career on a good note feels really good. I didn't even plan on being here this year so I'm very happy with my decision to extend my degree and run for the team again."
The team total score of 153 was a full 36 points ahead of fourth place Queen's while the Victoria Vikes claimed their first national championship title since 2001, 18 points ahead of the silver medal winning St. FX.
"We were the first team to have seven women across the line, that's a point of pride that we've done that two or three times in the past five years now," Weiler said. "And to lay the claim of being the deepest team in Canada whether we're first or second or third, knowing we're the deepest team, that's pretty cool and speaks to the strength of the training group, including our eighth and ninth runners who aren't even here but they know they're near that level as well."
Maximilien Filion made it two top-20 U SPORTS showings in a row as the leading T-Bird Saturday. The third-year's finishing time of 25:17 was 20
th out of a total of 163 total competitors on the men's side.
Second-year T-Bird
Steven Brittain, racing at his first national championship, was the second counting UBC runner on the men's side. His final time of 26:10 was good for 63
rd overall but the 59
th counting toward the team standings.
Fifth-year
Dylan Uhrich, second-year
Kai Martland and first-year
James Doughty were the final three counting times for the T-Birds who finished with a total score of 327, just 18 behind 11
th place Regina as UBC finished third among Canada West teams, equalling their third place standing at the recent Canada West Championship.
"I'm really proud of just being able to make it to the start line for U SPORTS this year," said Uhrich after battling through injury throughout much of the season, finally returning for the Canada West Championship two weeks ago. "I was a little worried back in September that wouldn't happen so I'm really grateful to be here. Even when I was struggling in the middle of the race I was remembering just being grateful to be there and be in the moment and enjoy my last ever collegiate race.
"Overall it was a pretty good day for the men's team. We're definitely in a rebuild situation and other than me and Max it was their first ever U SPORTS race. I think they all executed really smart, good races and that's a really good sign for the future for us. I can see in the next year or two as they progress, we can be a real podium threat again in the next few years. I'm really proud of them."
The Victoria Vikes were the top Canada West team on the men's side, finishing sixth while the Queen's Gaels put together an impressive score of 63 to take team gold.
"In my opinion, we matched what we should have been ranked," Weiler added. "The men who ran for us at U SPORTS are a very young squad. We return a very high percentage, not just for one year but for multiple years, so there's a lot of potential on the men's side to build on this over the coming years."
While the U SPORTS Cross Country season has now officially come to a close, several UBC athletes past and present have the upcoming Canadian Championships to look forward to November 29 and 30 in London, Ontario.
FULL RESULTS
