Cool, blustery conditions at the USPORTS Cross Country Championships in Sherbrooke, Quebec, provided a true test of endurance for all competitors, but the Ottawa Lions contingent proved up to the challenge. With temperatures hovering around 7°C and a biting wind that made it feel closer to the freezing mark, athletes navigated a demanding course that began on the Université de Sherbrooke track, wound through three loops of rolling fields and hairpin turns, and finished back on the home straight.
The day began with the women’s 8-kilometre race, where Queen’s University’s Elizabeth Vroom once again led the way among Lions athletes. The fourth-year engineering student clocked 29:27 to place 26th overall, finishing as the Gaels second scorer. Fresh off a sixth-place finish at the OUA Championships, Vroom helped Queen’s tally 169 points to earn fourth place in the team standings, just 31 points behind bronze medalists UBC.
Representing the University of Ottawa, Zoe Gardiner was the Gee-Gees’ lone entrant. The medical student finished 54th overall in 30:15, placing 16th among OUA runners—a four-spot improvement from her showing two weeks earlier at the conference championships in Kingston.
On the men’s side, Nicolas Belan of the University of Guelph proudly carried the Lions’ colours. The second-year runner crossed the line 85th overall in 26:25, serving as the sixth scorer for the Gryphons as they secured team bronze behind Queen’s and Sherbrooke. Belan’s strong finish over the final two kilometres saw him surge 74 positions from 157th, capping off an impressive race.
The cross country season continues next weekend in Whitby with the Ontario Championships, which will be held over two days, Saturday and Sunday.
Full results from the championships are available on Athletic Live.