O’Neill and Davies dominate ACXC U20 fields
Fresh off of strong collegiate championships, O'Neill and Davies are the new U20 national champions
Taryn O’Neill was the U20 women’s winner at the Athletics Canada Cross-Country Championships on Saturday. The B.C. native was at the front of the race for the entire 6K, out kicking Naomi Lang who finished second. Sadie Sigfstead, who was racing up a division, finished third. Fourth place went to 2019 senior women’s OFSAA champion Abbey Yuhasz.
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O’Neill’s win comes only one week after her 123rd place finish at the NCAA Championships which ran in Terre Haute, Indiana. There, she raced her first championship as an NAU Lumberjack. It’s been a long season for O’Neill who said post-race, “I’m kind of happy it’s over now.” From here she’ll gear up for a quick indoor and big outdoor season.
Sigfstead’s finish is extremely impressive, especially when considering the young runner’s age. The 16-year-old ran extremely well, sitting in the front pack for the entire race.
Men’s U20 8km race up next! #ACXC2019 #ACXC pic.twitter.com/u7kopK1ZEY
— Athletics Canada (@AthleticsCanada) November 30, 2019
In the men’s race, McMaster’s Andrew Davies ran away with the win. Davies finished 22 seconds ahead of second place, Marc-Andre Trudeau Perron of the Saint-Laurent Select. Third place went to Ottawa’s Kevin Robertson.
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And they are off! U20 women’s 6km race has begun ?♀️?♀️
Watch all the races live at https://t.co/oYrnCaDLPJ ?#ACXC2019 #ACXC pic.twitter.com/sl2Ausiljc
— Athletics Canada (@AthleticsCanada) November 30, 2019
Davies is fresh off of a killer U Sports championship where he finished in the top ten and helped his McMaster team of Max Turek, Alex Drover, Josh McGillivray, and Evan Ubene to a second-place finish after tying for second with Guelph (the scoring went down to the fifth runner where Mac bested Guelph.)
The top ten are in the pool for Pan Am team selection. The games will run this February in Victoria. Full results can be found here.