For the final 12 weeks, college cross nation groups throughout Canada have competed on grass and filth with one goal: reaching the 2023 U Sports activities XC Championships in London, Ont., on Nov. 12. The championships are simply three days away, and we’ve all the knowledge you could know heading into the top race of the XC season, together with previews and predictions for each the lads’s and ladies’s races.

Easy methods to comply with

You may catch all of the motion from Thames Valley Golf Course in London on CBC Sports activities, beginning with the ladies’s race at 12 p.m. ET, adopted by the lads’s race at 1 p.m.

Males’s U Sports activities cross nation convention championships energy rankings

Ladies’s 8K: Can UBC win their first nationwide title?

It’s been an distinctive season for head coach Steve Weiler and the top-ranked crew within the nation, the UBC Thunderbirds. Following final yr’s runner-up end to Laval in Halifax, the Thunderbirds have seen constant success, profitable each meet they’ve entered this season. Earlier within the season, Weiler’s squad travelled from Level Gray, B.C., to London, to run within the Western Invite, aiming to familiarize each the lads’s and ladies’s groups with the 2023 U Sports activities course. The ladies’s had a landslide victory by inserting 5 runners within the high six, beating a deep Western Mustangs crew.

UBC seems to be the front-runner within the ladies’s area for Sunday’s occasion, however securing a win gained’t be a cakewalk. The host faculty, Western Mustangs, has proven continued enchancment all through the season. If the race is gradual and strategic, Western may supply a troublesome problem to UBC, with the power of Sophie and Chloe Coutts and Olivia Roussel.

Anticipate the Laval Rouge et Or ladies to around the third spot on the rostrum except UBC or Western faces challenges—there’s room for unpredictability. Laval has one of many favourites for the U Sports activities ladies’s particular person title in Catherine Beauchemin. She has gone undefeated this season and has performed an important position in Laval’s final two gold-medal-winning groups. Beauchemin might be eyeing a 3rd U Sports activities crew gold on Sunday.

Predictions

Staff
1. UBC Thunderbirds (CanWest)
2. Western Mustangs (OUA)
3. Laval Rouge et Or (RSEQ)
4. Guelph Gryphons (OUA)
5. Victoria Vikes (CanWest)

Weekend recap: Laval Rouge et Or win double gold Quebec XC championships

Particular person 
1. Catherine Beauchemin (Laval Rouge et Or)
2. Kyla Becker (UBC Thunderbirds)
3. Katie Newlove (UBC Thunderbirds)
4. Cameron Ormond (Guelph Gryphons)
5. Kaitlyn Harrison (Saskatchewan Huskies)

Males’s 8K: What can we anticipate from top-ranked Laval?

Laval has maintained the highest rank within the nation all through the season, however they’ve but to compete towards any of the highest 5 groups main as much as the U Sports activities XC Championships. On paper, they boast two of the very best distance runners within the nation: Philippe Morneau-Cartier and Jean-Simon Desgagnés. Morneau-Cartier, unbeaten in all his XC races this season, has displayed dominance in all three of his wins. As for Desgagnés, in his ultimate yr of XC eligibility at Laval, enters U Sports activities after profitable a gold medal within the 3,000m steeplechase on the 2023 Pan American Video games final week. Whereas these two may each take the person title, the crew’s success depends on their third and fourth runners, Jonathan Tedeschi and Alexis Lepage, to revive Rouge et Or to gold.

There are about three different groups with a good shot at claiming the title in the event that they carry out properly, starting with the UBC Thunderbirds. UBC, led by Andrew Davies, beforehand gained an OUA convention title on this U Sports activities course in 2021. Davies was a part of the gold-medal-winning males’s McMaster Marauders squad final yr and transferred to UBC for his graduate program. Past Davies, UBC has substantial depth and consistency inside their high six, which may catch many groups off guard.

The Guelph Gryphons have proven constant enchancment all through the season. Their standout performer, Nicholas Bannon, triumphed over UBC’s Davies earlier this yr on the Western Invite (the identical course), he additionally earned OUA MVP for his excellent performances this season. Because the Gryphons proceed to enhance, they’re a darkish horse decide to win and will shake issues up on the rostrum. 

The Queen’s Gaels males’s squad has proven potential this season however confronted challenges on the OUA convention championship, ending second to Guelph. Very like UBC, the Queen’s crew boasts a ton of depth, and if they’ll throw down a constant efficiency on Sunday, it wouldn’t be a shock if their high 5 may outperform Laval, UBC and Guelph, to win their first males’s nationwide XC title since 1984.

Predictions

Staff
1. Laval Rouge et Or (RSEQ)
2. UBC Thunderbirds (CanWest)
3. Guelph Gryphons (OUA)
4. Queen’s Gaels (OUA)
5. UNB Reds (AUS)

Particular person 
1. Philippe Morneau-Cartier (Laval Rouge-et-Or)
2. Andrew Davies (UBC Thunderbirds)
3. Jean-Simon Desgagnes (UBC Thunderbirds)
4. Nicholas Bannon (Guelph Gryphons)
5. Jared Howse (UNB Reds)