Olivia Willett (centre, 283) is both a returning senior and foundational leader on the NCAA's No. 11-ranked Div. 2 women's cross-country team, one set to return to the trails Friday in San Francisco. (Photo provided courtesy SFU athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Cross Country

Simon Fraser cross-country 2021 returns Friday to its Happy Trails! Says coach Townsend: “Once you get back on the course, everything’s the same… you compete”

BURNABY — Happy Trails.It’s a song much too dated to register anything resembling a pulse from today’s generation of student-athletes.Yet as cross-country runners at every rank of the NCAA, including those competing at the Div. 2 level at Simon Fraser University, prepare for the mass resumption of their competitive racing schedules this weekend, they might […]

Simon Fraser junior harrier Olivia Willett (left) has been the top Clan finisher over its past eight races dating back to last season. On Saturday, she leads her team at the NCAA D2 West Regionals in Monmouth, Ore. (Photo property of Central Washington University athletics 2019. All rights reserved)
Feature University Cross Country

Clan cross-country captain Olivia Willett embraces team aspects of her sport as SFU junior harrier leads her team to NCAA West Regionals

BURNABY — Ask any collegiate cross-country runner about the most unique aspects of their sport, and they will talk with passion about the power of the pack, and how each individual’s best performance is first-and-foremost a way to raise the level of the entire team.“You want to run with your teammates, not against them,” says […]

Simon Fraser's Olivia Willett (left) and Addy Townsend have trained to be at their best when they take to the line Saturday for the NCAA Div. 2 national cross-country championship race in Pittsburgh. (Photo courtesy Simon Fraser athletics)
Feature University Cross Country

The long & short of it! Clan tradition of track-to-trail excellence continues Saturday in NCAA national XC title race

BURNABY — When the Simon Fraser Clan hit the road to ‘Rep the Leaf’ as the only non-U.S. school in the entire NCAA, they’re so often sought out by curious rival coaches and student-athletes.

Simon Fraser Clan captain Rowan Doherty says he and his teammates have run with no regrets this season as they attempt to return to the 2018 NCAA Div. 2 national cross-country championships Dec. 1 in Pittsburgh. (Photo courtesy Simon Fraser Clan athletics)
Feature University Cross Country

The Run for Redemption: Spurred by 2017’s crushing national title-race snub, SFU Clan men’s X-C hits its NCAA high-water mark

BURNABY — They are a pretty easy team to pull for. Like the late Terry Fox himself, they too are distance runners in training, making the rounds on many days in-and-around the athletic facilities which now bear his name and sit on the same part of the Burnaby Mountain campus that the iconic Canadian hero himself […]

Simon Fraser Clan senior Miryam Bassett (513) has been rock solid in leading her team to a top five national NCAA Div. 2 cross-country ranking. (Photo courtesy UW Sundodger Invitational)
Feature University Cross Country

SFU cross-country: Coach Brit loves her ‘local girls’ as Triple Crown of GNAC, region and national meets await

BURNABY — Simon Fraser has become one of the frontrunners in the world of NCAA Div. 2 women’s cross-country running. The question now, as the 2017 season enters its Triple Crown stretch drive of conference, region and national championship races?

Simon Fraser's Julia Howley, pictured at the UW's Sundodger Invite, has finished top three in every race this season for the Clan. (Photo courtesy SFU athletics)
Feature University Cross Country

SFU’s Julia Howley: How the Clan’s free spirit found her groove on a true cross-country trek

BURNABY — At various points over the summer of 2015, Julia Howley found herself standing in place that looked like it sat on the top of the world.