QUICKLY
Jonathan Podbielski had one of the highest finishes in history by a University of Regina runner at a national meet at the 2024 U SPORTS Cross Country Championships on Saturday in Kelowna, B.C.

PODBIELSKI PLACES THIRD

• Laval's Philippe Morneau-Cartier and New Brunswick's Jared Howse finished one-two with times of 23:19 and 23:25 on the 8K Mission Recreation Park course, but Podbielski emerged from a large group of harriers vying for third to finish as the top Canada West runner at the meet.
• Podbielski's finishing time was 23:32, with his third-place performance giving him first-team All-Canadian status and the highest finish for a Cougar runner since Kelly Wiebe won the individual title back in 2012.
• Podbielski becomes just the second U of R runner to secure a third-place finish at the national meet, joining Wiebe. Wiebe finished in third at both the 2009 and 2010 meets before winning the event outright in 2012.
• The third-year runner is the third U of R student-athlete to earn first-team All-Canadian recognition in cross country. Wiebe was a first-team All-Canadian in 2009, 2010, and 2012 while Matt Johnson earned that honour in 2013.

TEICHLER EARNS ALL-ROOKIE TEAM HONOURS

• Running in his first national meet, Ian Teichler put together a strong time of 24:26 to finish 38th overall and as the fifth first-year runner across the line.
• Teichler earned a spot on the U SPORTS All-Rookie Team with his performance. He becomes the first U of R runner to earn that award since...

MEN'S TEAM PLACES 16TH OVERALL

• Besides Podbielski and Teichler, the Cougars were rounded out by rookies Brett MacLean and Henry Sharp along with Morgan Kilgour.
• MacLean placed 74th (24:57), Sharp was 127th (26:05), and Kilgour placed 130th (26:14) as the Cougars finished in 16th place out of the 22 teams at the meet.

BRIGHT FUTURE
The future is bright for the group of Cougars that represented the U of R at the U SPORTS meet. MacLean, Sharp, and Teichler are all in their first years of eligibility while Podbielski has two seasons of eligibility remaining. Kilgour can also return next season as he's currently in his fourth U SPORTS season.