Canadian women continued their stellar form in collegiate cross-country this fall, with five athletes earning All-American honours on Saturday at the 2024 NCAA XC Championships in Madison, Wisc. The All-American accolades are only awarded to the top 40 finishers in the women’s 6K.
Olympic steeplechaser Ceili McCabe of Vancouver led the Canadian contingent, placing sixth with a time of 19:41—just 20 seconds behind the winner, Kenya’s Doris Lemngole (19:21). McCabe’s outstanding performance helped West Virginia University achieve its best-ever team finish in school history, securing second place behind Brigham Young University. McCabe told Canadian Running in a pre-race interview that her goal was to put the team in a position to score well.
The Mountaineers climb onto the podium!! 🥈
@WVUXCTF exceeds expectations with a stellar run at the #NCAAXC Championships, taking second place off a pre-race #4 ranking with a 164-point team score led by Ceili McCabe’s 6th place finish. pic.twitter.com/e1qwOF30Ht— CITIUS MAG (@CitiusMag) November 23, 2024
Hamilton’s Chloe Thomas added another top-10 finish for Canada, placing ninth in 19:43 for the University of Connecticut. This marked the highest-ever finish by a UConn women’s cross-country runner at the NCAA Championships and made Thomas only the third woman from the school to earn All-American honours. For both McCabe and Thomas, the race was a fitting conclusion to their collegiate cross-country careers.
A standout performance came from Rachel Forsyth, a Michigan State University freshman from London, Ont., who was the top North American rookie in the field. Known for her prowess over 1,500m, Forsyth is anticipated to shine during the upcoming NCAA indoor and outdoor track seasons. She already made history this summer by earning a silver medal at the U20 World Championships in Peru, becoming the first Canadian female distance runner to achieve this feat.
Third-year runners Sadie Sigfstead (Edmonton) and Florence Caron (La Malbaie, Que.) rounded out the All-American finishes among Canadians. Sigfstead placed 15th in 19:49, becoming Villanova University’s first women’s cross-country All-American since 2013. Caron finished 19th, making history as Penn State’s first cross-country All-American in eight years.
All-America honors for Sadie Sigfstead after finishing 15th at the 2024 NCAA Cross Country Championships!
Sigfstead tallied the highest individual finish for Women’s Cross Country since 2013 ✌️ pic.twitter.com/gMrpy0263t
— Villanova Athletics (@NovaAthletics) November 24, 2024
The collective success highlights the depth of the nation’s future talent. Scoring by country at NCAA’s showed Canada’s dominance, with 65 points (among the top five), they finished second to Kenya (29 points) and edged out the U.S. (66 points). The future of women’s distance running is undeniably bright, as Canadian athletes continue to raise the bar.
