An action-packed Saturday on the Canadian collegiate cross-country scene saw four U Sports conference championships taking place from coast-to-coast. The home-course advantage proved powerful, as both the Queen’s Gaels and the Victoria Vikes delivered dominant performances on familiar ground, each sweeping the men’s and women’s team titles in their respective conferences.

Queen’s domination in Kingston, Ont.

At the OUA Championships, at their home course of Fort Henry in Kingston, Ont., the Queen’s Gaels grabbed double gold, defending their men’s title and taking home the women’s title as well with 50 and 70 points, respectively.

The squads were led by Jude Wheeler-Dee, who placed first overall, and Elizabeth Vroom, who took sixth. On the men’s side, the Guelph Gryphons took second (69 points) and the McMaster Marauders took third (80 points.) On the women’s side, it was a very tight race for the team title, with the Windsor Lancers also scoring 70 points (Queen’s won the tiebreaker that went to the sixth runner on each team) and the Western Mustangs taking bronze with 71 points.

Men’s top three:

Jude Wheeler-Dee, Queen’s Gaels – 23:26.7
Max Davies, Guelph Gryphons – 23:32.3
Jack Lehto, Guelph Gryphons – 23:38.3

Women’s top three:

Alex McDougall,  Guelph Gryphons – 26:50.5
Julia Agostinelli, Toronto Varsity Blues – 27:39.2
Samara Quanz, Windsor Lancers – 27:46.4

See here for full results from the 2025 OUA XC Championships.

A long-awaited return to the top

On the west coast, also on home turf at the CanWest Cross-Country Championships at Royal Roads University on Vancouver Island, the Victoria Vikes cross-country teams swept the team titles for the first time since 1998. The women defended their title with 37 points while the men took home conference gold (scoring 40 points) for the first time in 10 years. Victoria’s Jaxon Kuchar took the overall win, while Madelyn Eybergen, a new addition to the Vikes squad and last year’s OUA champion, took individual silver.

In the men’s race, the University of Regina took silver with 65 points while UBC took bronze with 83 points; on the women’s side, UBC took silver with 54 points and UBC Okanagan rounded out the podium, scoring 71 points for bronze.

Men’s top three

Jaxon Kuchar, UVic Vikes – 25:25.2
Maximilien Filion, UBC Thunderbirds – 25:42.0
Ian McAllister, UVic Vikes – 25:56.5

Women’s top three

Lauren McNeil, UBC Okanagan Heat – 27:44.0
Madelyn Eybergen, UVic Vikes – 27:52.2
Mackenzie Campbell, UBC Thunderbirds – 29:35.8

See here for full results from the 2025 CanWest XC Championships.