When the dust settled in Truro’s Victoria Park at the ACAA Cross Country Championships on Saturday, a pair of familiar faces topped the podium, and history was made.

Crandall University Chargers runner Sean Finnigan, who had previously won meets at Holland College and Universite Sainte-Anne this season, took the men’s individual gold as the only runner to go below 30 minutes on the eight-kilometre circuit, crossing the line in 29:56.6 to lead the Chargers men’s team to the school’s first ACAA championship of any kind since women’s soccer in 2003, when it was previously known as Atlantic Baptist University, and the second championship overall.

The Chargers finished on 18 points, with counting performances from Finnigan, Daniel Hawkes (30:59.7, third among team runners, fourth overall), William Ross (32:22.1, sixth among team runners, seventh overall) and Aaron Reimer (33:19.4, eighth among team runners, ninth overall).

The Mount Allison University Mounties, who had won all three ACAA regular season meets going into Saturday, had to settle for the silver medal with 30 points from Isaac McCardle, Jacob MacPhee, Nevis Hunt and Rajan Minocha-McKinney, while the host Dalhousie Agricultural College took third at 41 points behind performances from individual silver medallist Kieran Thornell (30:10.5), Raj Zimmerman, Thian Carmen and Myles Sweet.

Mitchell Firth of the Mount St. Vincent University Mystics took individual bronze, as his time of 30:32.8 was a comfortable 27 seconds ahead of Hawkes for the final podium position.

Meanwhile, on the women’s side, it was Kiona Osterlin of the Mount Allison University Mounties, after winning the meets at Universite Sainte-Anne and Crandall this season, who captured her third consecutive race, finishing the six-kilometre course in 25:51.8, 8.5 seconds clear of Mount Allison teammate Teagan Stewart as they fuelled the Mounties to the team gold medal, with the remainder of the team’s 13 points coming from Lauren Doyle (third among team runners, fourth overall) and Claire Wilbur (seventh among team runners, ninth overall).

Joining Osterlin and Stewart on the individual podium was Mary MacLean of the Crandall University Chargers, who finished with a time of 27:21.7.

The host Dalhousie Agricultural Campus Rams took home the team silver medal, with its 30 points coming from Sophia Hrycak, Julia Voica, Hailey Quilty and Abbey Thiesen; meanwhile, it was Universite Sainte-Anne finishing, with its 41 points coming from Sophie Landry, Alexa Johnston, Adele Landry, and Katie d’Eon.

The CCAA Cross-Country Championships will be contested on November 12 and 13, hosted by St. Mary's University in Calgary.

ACAA Cross Country Championships Results

Men's Individual and Team Results

Women's Individual and Team Results

Below is a full list of Saturday's award winners:

Men ACAA All-Conference Winners

(Left to Right: 1st CU Sean Finnigan, 2nd Dal AC Kieran Thornell, 3rd MSVU Mitchell Firth, missing from photo 4th CU Daniel Hawkes)

Women ACAA All-Conference Winners

(Left to Right: 1st MTA Kona Osterlin, 2nd MTA Teagan Stewart, 3rd CU Mary MacLean, 4th MTA Lauren Doyle)

Men's Team Winners

Gold - Crandall University Chargers

Silver - Mount Allison Mounties

Women Team Winners

Gold - Mount Allison Mounties

Silver - Dalhousie Agriculture Campus Rams

2021 ACAA Coach of the Year

Crandall Univeristy's Brandon LeBlanc
(Left to right: Brandon LeBlanc accepting award from XC Convenor Andrew Dobson)