Halifax, NS - At the U SPORTS national cross country championship held at The Links at Brunello Golf Course, the StFX X-Men placed 15th overall in the men's team standings, while the X-Women took home a top ten placing, coming in 9th overall.
In a wet and windy day, the men's runners took to the course first for their 8km race that featured 157 runners and 21 schools with team placings.
MacMaster were the U SPORTS men's champions, finishing with 37 points, ahead of second place Laval (115) and third place Queen's (130). The X-Men garnered 359 points.
Jacob Benoit was the top finisher for STFX, securing U SPORTS second team all-Canadian status with an 11th place individual finish overall. He crossed the line with a time of 25:04.
The race winner was McMaster's Max Turek, crossing the line first at 24:21. Philippe Morneau-Cartier from Laval was second with a 24:24 result, and Andrew Davies from McMaster third at 24:31.
The X-Men runners had the following placements:
11 - Jacob Benoit, 25:04
71 - Liam McCullagh, 26:26
76 - Luc Gallant, 26:34
100 - Liam Patterson, 27:02
101 - Ben Good, 27:05
111 - Jack O'Connell, 27:28
122 - Luke MacDonald, 28:12
On the women's side, the STFX X-Women had a top ten finish in their 8km event, placing ninth overall. The X-Women had 287 points in the No. 9 position out of 21 teams and 150 total runners.
The U SPORTS champions were Laval with 49 points, barely edging out UBC in second with 50 points. Guelph rounded out the podium in third with 93 points.
The individual race winner was UBC's Glynis Sim who crossed the line with a time of 29:19. Laval's Jessy Lacourse was second at 28:31 and Kiana Gibson from UBC was third at 28:54.
AUS champion Allie Sandluck was the top X-Women finisher, coming in 44th position overall in a time of 30:47.
Complete X-Women results included the following:
44 - Allie Sandluck, 30:47
54 - Eileen Benoit, 31:09
56 - Mairin Canning, 31:25
60 - Caroline Ash, 31:34
73 - Breanna Sandluck, 31:54
75 - Caden Lee, 31:58
96 - Taylor Rasmussen, 32:47
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Recap courtesy Krista McKenna, STFX Athletics