HAMILTON, Ont. – For the sixth consecutive year, the UBC Thunderbirds women's Cross Country squad has landed on the podium, claiming team bronze in Hamilton while fourth-year T-Bird Max Filion earned First Team All-Canadian with a fourth place men's individual finish at the 2026 U SPORTS National Championships Saturday in Hamilton.
Capping off an incredible season in which he earned Canada West men's gold, Filion crossed the finish line Saturday with a time of 24:01.5, just half a second back of the bronze medallist from Sherbrooke and ten places and 17 seconds ahead of the next Canada West competitor.
As a team, the UBC men finished 11
th, one better than their 2026 result, but second among Canada West teams behind Victoria's seventh. The 'Birds amassed 309 total points while the host McMaster Marauders earned the team title with 52 points, all five scoring within the top 18.
"It was incredibly rewarding to see Max finish his U SPORTS career so strongly and I'm proud to have been a small part of his journey," said UBC head coach,
Laurier Primeau. "It was a special day for the Filion family as his sister, Beatrice, was the top rookie and an All-Canadian for Laval."
A second straight team bronze for the UBC women was led by fifth-year
Sarah MacGillivray's 17
th place overall finishing time of 28:33.9, the first of the T-Bird scoring five who crossed the line within 27 seconds of each other.
Mia Zurkovic ran a 28:40.7 in 22
nd followed by
Grace Beach,
Katelyn Cotterell and
Rachel McDonald in 26
th, 33
rd and 36
th, respectively.
Just one point behind the silver medal winning Marauders, the T-Bird women combined for 123, just one ahead of fourth place Laval in an incredibly tight field with Victoria winning their second consecutive U SPORTS banner.
"Our women are so consistent and reliable," Primeau said. "For the sixth year in the row we finished on the podium as a team and if you were watching live you would have seen that two kilometres in we were in 13
th. (Lead endurance coach
Steve Weiler) had our women dialled into their race plan and they let the field burn themselves out early, allowing us to make significant moves on each consecutive loop."
After Filion's fourth place finish, the T-Birds counting five included
James Doughty (60
th),
Ryerson Stockton-Thomas (82
nd),
Randy Ren (94
th) and
Calvin Brain (95
th).
2026 U SPORTS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
