Canadian Running and Under Armour have teamed up for the 2024 Canadian U Sports cross-country season to highlight some of the top homegrown talents across the country. Each week, leading up to the 2024 U Sports Cross-Country Championships in Kelowna, B.C., in November, Canadian Running will select the top athlete as the Under Armour Athlete of the Week.
The award will go to a U Sports cross-country athlete who achieved a standout performance at their meet. These athletes will be featured on Canadian Running and awarded an Under Armour prize pack featuring the new UA Infinite Pro Trail shoe. This week we are covering the first two weeks of the season, and highlighting two sensational athletes: Jacob Benoit of Dalhousie University and Madelyn Eybergen of the University of Windsor, for their performances between Sept. 7 and Sept. 21.
Jacob Benoit, Dalhousie University (AUS)
After taking first place at the STFX Invitational in Antigonish, N.S., on Saturday, Dalhousie’s Jacob Benoit has thus far gone undefeated in the 2024 cross-country season. He completed the men’s 8K course in 25:04, winning over second place by more than 50 seconds. He also won the Acadia Invitational in Greenwich, N.S., on Sept. 7, clocking 26:54.
The Windsor, N.S., native is in his second year completing his MBA. “I’m happy with how the race went,” he told Canadian Running. “I did my undergrad at St. Francis Xavier University, so I’m pretty familiar with that course. I tried to get out fast for the first couple of laps, and then ease in a bit more with about 4 km to go.”
Last year, Benoit won the AUS conference title for the first time, but at the 2023 U Sports Championships in London, Ont., he missed the podium by a single spot. “This year, I’m aiming to get individual and team wins at the AUS level, and improve my performance in Kelowna for a podium spot at the U Sports Championships in Kelowna,” he reveals.
Madelyn Eybergen, University of Windsor (OUA)
At Saturday’s Vigars & Salter Western Invitational in London, Ont., University of Windsor’s Madelyn Eybergen won the women’s 8K race. She dominated last year’s U Sports championship course, clocking 29:50 to beat second place by 10 seconds–in her first-ever cross-country race.
Saying Eybergen has had an unconventional introduction to cross-country might be an understatement. The graduate student, only in her second year of U Sports eligibility, was initially recruited to the Lancers track and field team for the 2020-21 school year–but not as an endurance athlete. The Kincardine, Ont., native comes from a high-jump background, and wrote on Instagram that she hadn’t taken part in a cross-country race since Grade 9.
“I feel great about my race,” Eybergen told Canadian Running. “I was not expecting to win, considering it was my first cross-country race. I found out after the fact that the girls I beat were top athletes for OUAs and U Sports [in 2023].” Eybergen’s performance marks the first time a Lancer has won that race in more than 30 years.
After dealing with injuries during her primary years at UWindsor, Eybergen says she built her strength back up to return to competing. “I raced the mile for fun at the first competition of the 2024 indoor season,” she says. The former high jumper explains that she continued to compete for both mid-distance and high jump for the remainder of the indoor season before transitioning completely to mid- and long-distance events over the summer.
“At the start of the season, my goal was to train as best as I could and see how well I could do,” Eybergen admits. “Now, after the race this past weekend, my goal is to make it to U Sports and shoot for a medal.”
2024 women’s U Sports cross country pre-season power rankings
