As autumn approaches, it’s that point of 12 months once more, once we unveil our annual pre-season U Sports activities cross-country energy rankings.
Right here’s how our rankings function: When a group secures wins, their place within the rankings ascends, whereas losses trigger them to slide down. We’ll be offering updates to those rankings each three weeks all through the season as we construct as much as the 2023 U Sports activities Championships scheduled for Nov. 12, in London, Ont.
With solely eight weeks till the 2023 U Sports activities XC Championships, listed below are the rankings of the nation’s prime 10 males’s groups, and some athletes to regulate for the person title this season.
2023 Girls’s U Sports activities cross nation pre-season energy rankings
10. McGill Redbirds (RSEQ)
9. McMaster Marauders (OUA)
8. Dalhousie Tigers (AUS)
7. Victoria Vikes (CanWest)
6. St. Francis Xavier X-Males (AUS)
5. Western College (OUA)
4. UBC Thunderbirds (CanWest)
3. Guelph Gryphons (OUA)
2. Queen’s Gaels (OUA)
1. Laval College (RSEQ)
Laval Rouge-et-Or’s males’s group reclaims the top-ranked place in our rankings as they head into the 2023 XC season. This follows their second-place end to the McMaster Marauders in Halifax final 12 months. Jean-Simon Desgagnés returns to U Sports activities competitors for what we consider is his closing 12 months of U Sports activities eligibility. Desgagnés just lately completed eighth within the males’s 3,000m steeplechase on the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest. The Rouge-et-Or have additionally introduced again two of their prime two runners from the earlier season, Philippe Morneau-Cartier and Jonathan Tedeschi, together with the brand new addition of 2021 Olympic triathlete Alexis Lepage. Les Rouges are making a concerted effort to win gold in London come November.
With McMaster dropping Alex Drover and Max Turek to commencement, Queen’s and Guelph are poised to step up and contend for the OUA title and to problem Laval for the U Sports activities championship come November. One other group to observe carefully is UBC, particularly with the addition of Andrew Davies, who completed seventh within the males’s 5,000m on the Canadian observe nationals in July. The Western Invitational on Sept. 23 will witness UBC, Queen’s, Guelph, and Western going head-to-head.
Particular person title contenders
Jean-Simon Desgagnés (Laval Rouge-et-Or)
Phillipe Morneau-Cartier (Laval Rouge-et-Or)
Marcel Scheele (Western Mustangs)
Max Davies (Guelph Gryphons)
Andrew Davies (UBC Thunderbirds)
Jude Wheeler-Dee (Queen’s Gaels)
Roman Mironov (Queen’s Gaels)
Jon Podbielski (Regina Cougars)
