Tommies Cross Country runners gearing for Nationals this weekend
Fredericton, NB - St. Thomas University (STU) is set to be well represented at this weekend’s CCAA Cross Country Championships. The school is sending three runners to the event at the Mark Arendz Ski Park on Prince Edward Island (PEI) this coming Saturday.
The National Championship will feature two races. The first is a six-kilometer competition featuring the best female runners from schools across Canada. Start time for the Women’s race is at 12:30. Meanwhile, the male runners take centre stage at 1:30. They will tackle an eight-kilometer race.
The day will finish with a BBQ and the closing ceremony.
2025 was a landmark year for the school. STU posted one of its best finishes on record since the school joined the ACAA for Cross Country. Both the Men’s and Women's teams placed within the top five as a team during multiple races in the regular season.
The Women finished fifth in both of their exhibition races. Meanwhile, the Men’s squad had their best finish at home in a race at Odell Park in Fredericton, finishing second as a team.
The school’s best finish before this season came in 2007, when Tommies runners Nicole Badry and Olivia Long captured the gold and silver medals for the Women’s race. Zachary Nicholson finished the Men’s race with the bronze medal.
Elisabeth Vigneau is a first-year runner with the Women’s Cross Country team. She is currently in her first year at St. Thomas, taking part in the Bachelor of Education program. She is the only member of the Women’s squad representing the school at Nationals.
Vigneau said she is “excited” about going to Nationals and running at the CCAA level. She thinks that taking part in the competition this weekend is a great opportunity given to her and her the teammates by the school’s Athletics department.
“It was a really good season with an amazing team and a wonderful coach. Everyone is just so motivating, and we're all encouraging one another,” she said. “And it was nice to run with the whole team the whole season.”
Familiarity is something that the team hopes to use to their advantage this weekend. All three runners took part in an exhibition race at the Mark Arendz in early September. Each of them found success.
Vigneau placed ninth at the event, finishing the race in just under half an hour. Her time was four minutes behind the eventual winner.
Despite being familiar with the track, Vigneau feels having a new set of opponents creates a new vibe than the other races she and her teammates raced this season. Nationals will allow the team to face runners outside those in the ACAA.
“As athletes coming from the Atlantic, we had the opportunity of running [the course]. It was our first exhibition meet of the season. So, we know the course," said Vigneau. “We're excited to compete at Nationals and to have fun, and it's a nice bonus race for us.”
“It's not every day that we get to participate in the Nationals.”
STU had two cross country runners take home awards for their performance during the regular season. Vigneau was named to the ACAA All-Conference team on the Women’s side. Meanwhile, first-year runner Kensea Aaron was named to the Men’s All-Conference team. Aaron was also named the ACAA Rookie Runner of the Year.
The moment he received the award was something that caught him by surprise.
“I took my all-conference [award] and then was ready to walk over to the rest of the all-conference team. And they had to stop me and tell me to go back so they could announce the rookie of the year,” said Aaron. “It feels really cool to bring home some hardware. I was overwhelmingly grateful and happy to have had that experience.”
Aaron shared many of the same feelings as Vigneau. The third-year Great Books and Philosophy student is super excited about the weekend. At the same time, he feels lucky to compete at the highest level of the sport and run one more time before “the snow starts to fly.”
He is one of two runners from the Men’s Cross-Country team competing at Nationals, along with Arjun Godara. Godara is a second-year runner for the Tommies.
“I'm happy to get that extra two weeks and get this exciting race and see what else is out there from across the country,” said Aaron. “I think that that's all that a person can ask for.”
Two main challenges exist for the team heading into Nationals, according to Aaron. The first is preparation, while the second is dealing with the weather during race day. During the two races this season, the team drove out the same day they were competing. Leaving the same day as the race meant runners could eat a good meal at home the night before.
Having a good meal is what Aaron calls “super important” when preparing for a race. Getting a good night’s sleep is of equal importance.
“We're looking at rain and maybe snow the two nights leading up to the race, and then possibly rain throughout the race day. So, you must be ready to roll with the punches,” he said. “But the nice thing is that everyone's in the same situation.”
Despite these challenges, he has a feeling that the atmosphere will be electric when he and his teammates make their way to the starting line.
“I'm just hoping to run my race. I've run on this track before, and I have a previously standing time that I'm looking to beat by as much as I can. But more than anything, I just want to be the type of person that can compete in races,” said Aaron. “I want to run harder. I want to compete. And everything else comes after.”
Tommies fans can view the results on the CCAA website.
Written by Leo Czank