Simon Fraser's Olivia Willett, pictured here at the NCAA Div. 2 West Region championships, closed out her collegiate career Saturday in the national championship race by making a statement about the size her heart. (Photo courtesy Simon Fraser athletics 2021. All Original Rights Reserved)
Feature University Cross Country

SFU’s pure-guts harrier Olivia Willett collapses on course at NCAA XC nationals 300m shy of finish: “My brain was telling me to keep going but my legs were Jello”

The late, great U.S. middle distance runner Steve Prefontaine would likely have been smiling from above Saturday morning.And not because a talented collegian, in the final race of her NCAA cross-country career, had collapsed on the course at the national Div. 2 women’s championship race just 300 metres from the finish line.“To give anything less […]

After being forced to medically retire following a spate of injuries over the first two years of her NCAA Div. 1 career at Arizona State, Salmon Arm's own Glynis Sim has found her perfect athletic and academic fit with the UBC Thunderbirds. (Vid Wadhwani photo property of Vid Wadhwani 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Cross Country

UBC’s Glynis Sim: After injuries forced her into medical retirement almost four years ago, ex-Salmon Arm harrier back on track at Canada West XC championships Saturday!

VANCOUVER — There were times when Glynis Sim didn’t want to look over her shoulder for fear that she may well have left her competitive running career too far behind in the rearview mirror.After all, when you cut bait and walk away from a promising career in the manner she was forced to almost four […]

Olivia Willett has helped elevate the Simon Fraser women's cross-country team to the No. 1-ranking in the West Region heading into Saturday's GNAC championship races at St. Martin's University in Lacey Washington. (Photo property of WWU athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Cross Country

As Simon Fraser cross-country hits the post-season trail in full stride at GNACs championships, forecast calls for mud with a chance of gold!

BURNABY — When the Simon Fraser’s men’s and women’s cross-country teams take to the trails Saturday morning for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship races at St. Martin’s University in Lacey, Wash., one thing will be abundantly clear.Despite the atmospheric forecasts calling for rain, rain and more rain, an historic opportunity exists along the way […]

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 […]

UBC's Nicola Symonds (right), en route to out-kicking Saskatchewan's Courtney Hufsmith on Saturday to win the Canada West women's cross country title, did it on the same Canmore Park course she won her very first cross-country meet as an eight-year old back in 2005. (Photo by David Moll property of Calgary Dinos athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Cross Country

UBC’s Nicola Symonds: Some 14 years and a stone’s throw later, gutsy ‘Birds harrier returns to her Calgary course and wins race of her life in CW final

VANCOUVER — Ask any devoted harrier to define their love of cross-country running, and many will tell you that on their best days, it’s an act which takes them back to being a kid at recess, running unbridled through their old school yard.Last Saturday, at the age of 22, UBC Thunderbirds’ senior Nicola Symonds had […]

For Trinity Western's Joanna Williams, a courageous decision to speak about her mental health struggles has put her in a joyful place, one where she has left her worries behind her. (Photo by Bailey Broadbent property of Trinity Western athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Cross Country

A Sunday Read: TWU’s Joanna Williams confronts her mental health struggles and says “I think there is something so beautiful about feeling strong”

LANGLEY — She’d never had this feeling before.For the first seven seasons of her competitive running life, Joanna Williams had tried to justify the myriad reasons that she trained and she raced, yet in her deepest place, they had all rung hollow.But this new feeling? What was it? She’d never had this feeling before.Two Saturday mornings […]

Feature High School Football Podcast University Cross Country

PODCAST — The VL Pod is back, celebrating a big anniversary for Abby Panthers football, and a new cross-country season for the SFU Clan

Varsity Letters — The Podcast is back with episode No. 2 in our re-launch. This week, we open our show with a high school football theme, celebrating Saturday’s 35th anniversary of the Abbotsford Panthers’ 1984 B.C. championship win over the Notre Dame Jugglers. Paul Gill, Denis Kelly and Jalem Catlin are all a part of […]

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 […]