U Sports cross-country early-season power rankings

Canadian university cross-country is underway and many runners have completed at least one race. Having some race results to check out, and only six weeks until the national championship in Kingston, it’s time for some early-season predictions. 

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The Kingston course is deceptively hard. What appears to be a relatively flat course, is actually continuously rolling terrain, with a gradual hill to the finish. The course is run in loops, and after a couple of laps, the rolling hills take a toll on the legs. 

Last year’s winners, Sasha Gollish and Yves Sikuwabo have both completed their eligibility, making space for new champions. The 2017 second place female, Claire Sumner, has also completed her eligibility, meaning the women’s podium could be entirely new faces. 

New this year to U Sports cross-country is the University of British Columbia. Their men’s team looks particularly strong and could pose a podium threat as a team, along with several top 20 individual contenders. 

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Cross-country is a highly variable event, but here’s how athletes stack up in Canadian Running‘s projection of the U Sports Cross-Country Championships, based on PBs, past race results, with national experience weighted, and early results from the late-summer and early-fall of 2017.

Women (8K)

1. Brogan McDougall – Queen’s 
2. Kristina Popadich – Western 
3. Branna MacDougall – Queen’s
4. Courtney Hufsmith – Saskatchewan 
5. Aurelie Dube-Lavoie – Laval
6. Lucia Stafford – Toronto
7. Catherine Beauchemin – Laval
8. Hannah Woodhouse – Guelph
9. Makenna Fitzgerald – Queen’s
10. Danielle Jossinet – Guelph 
11. Jessy Lacourse – Laval
12. Anne-Marie Comeau – Laval
13. Tanis Bolton – Toronto
14. Elizabeth Hirsch – McGill
15. Meggie Dargis – McGill

Men (10K)

1. Sergio Raez-Villanueva – McMaster 
2. Mark Patton – Guelph 
3. Russell Pennock – Calgary
4. John Gay – UBC
5. Connor Black – Guelph 
6. Ben Carson – Western 
7. Jean-Simon Desgagnes – Laval 
8. Stephen Daniel – Calgary 
9. Mitchell Delange – Queen’s
10. Max Turek – McMaster
11. Angus Rawling – St. FX
12. Joshua McGilvary – McMaster
13. Jack Sheffar – Western 
14. Isiah Frielink – Western 
15. Antione Thibeault – Laval