Women’s Cross Country
Guelph’s Ubene, Laval’s Lacourse headline cross country award winners
Jessy Lacourse of Laval and Guelph’s Mitchell Ubene ran to gold medal performances at the U SPORTS Cross Country championships in Québec and now earn another honour as the U SPORTS Athletes of the Week.
Lacourse, a fourth-year master's student in Psychoeducation, completed a perfect season on Saturday winning every race this fall. In second place for most of the eight-kilometre race, Lacourse found the energy to overtake UBC-Okanagan's Lauren McNeil in the final two-kilometre loop and cross the finish line with a time of 28:25, three seconds ahead of the silver medallist.
"To win on the Plains of Abraham with everyone cheering me on, that will remain a highlight of my career, no matter what happens next!” said Lacourse.
Other nominees
AUS: Caroline Piertroski – St. Thomas University (women’s hockey)
OUA: Cyanna King – York University (women’s basketball)
Canada West: Samantha Gouveia - MacEwan University (women's soccer)
Mitchell Ubene of Guelph ran a perfect race, leading from start to finish to win the gold medal with a time of 24:27.50.
The fifth-year mechanical engineering student finished second at the 2019 U SPORTS Championship but upgraded his medal to gold in 2021.
“It’s my last year, so I wanted to leave it all out there and I’m super happy. The two Laval guys, Jean-Simon Desgagnés and Thomas Fafard started to make a couple of moves up the hill. With about one kilometre to go, the leading pack split up and it was just a sprint downhill and it was an insane finish!”
Other nominees:
AUS: Elijah Miller, University of Prince Edward Island (men’s basketball)
RSEQ: Thomas Fafard, Université Laval (men's cross country)
Canada West: Nolan Yaremko, Mount Royal University (men's hockey)