UBC Okanagan @ U SPORTS Nat. Championships

Nov 11, 2018 | 9:14 AM

In her first U SPORTS national championships, UBC Okanagan’s Veronika Fagan raced fast enough to earn a Canada West All-Star…but in what is her last race for UBC Okanagan, Fagan was still left feeling she had more in the tank.

Fagan would finish in 18th spot out of 157 female runners in her first and last U SPORTS National Championship, just missing out on an All-Canadian, but still finishing in the top-20 amongst the top university runners in Canada.

The individual national champion was from the host Queen’s Gaels, as Brogan MacDougall ran a 27:48.6 to claim the gold medal.

Brogan not only finished as the Athlete of the Year but was also the top rookie for the women.

On the Canada West women’s side, the UBC Thunderbirds earned the conference banner in their return to U SPORTS competition, after running south of the border for the last two decades in NAIA.

Safety First

Vernon RCMP urge parents not to allow kids to ride e-dirt bikes on roads

9h ago

$700K up to $1.4M

Rising costs double price of flood protection work at Vernon Water Reclamation Centre

9h ago

Abducted Four-Year Old

Amber Alert for West Kelowna child cancelled

15h ago

UBC finished as the top CW team at the national event, which also doubled as the conference championship for the final time, as 2019 will mark the start of a standalone CW championship each season.

Three Heat individuals would take on the best runners in Canada and would stack up well against the top competition in their first U SPORTS national championship in cross country as all of the athletes battled strong winds in Kingston, Ont., at Fort Henry Hill.

Michael Mitchell would be the top Heat runner in Ontario as he finished in 85th spot out of 158 total runners, in a time of 33:34.4 over the 10-kilometres in the race hosted by Queen’s University.

Rookie Turner Woodroff came in at 126th place for UBCO, racing to a time of 35:08.4 while Owen Harris would finish in the 136th spot in the men’s individual competition (35:41.8). The three Heat runners would just compete as individuals in the championship, you need at least five scoring racers to qualify in the team competition.

by Duane Grandbois