Jared Howse and Sophie Courville named Under Armour Athletes of the Week
The UNB Reds and McGill Martlets standouts are showing strong form heading into next weekend's U Sports finale
Will Thompson / @christianmartinphoto
The 2025 U Sports cross-country season is nearing its peak, with top collegiate athletes from across Canada hitting the grass and getting muddy as they chase national glory. The national U Sports Cross-Country Championships will be returning to Sherbrooke, Que., on Nov. 8 for the first time in 15 years; Canadian Running, in partnership with Under Armour, will spotlight the country’s standout performers each week as the Under Armour Athlete of the Week.
This week, we are highlighting Jared Howse of the University of New Brunswick and Sophie Courville of McGill University for their dominant wins at their respective U Sports conferences on Saturday–their penultimate competition of the season.
Jared Howse, UNB Reds (AUS)
At the AUS Championships hosted at Henniger’s Farm Market in Wolfville, N.S., Howse successfully defended his championship title, running 24:49.9 over the 8K course to win by eight seconds. With a combined effort from him and UNB teammate Silas Conlin-Morse, who took silver with a last-minute surge and a time of 24:57.8, the Reds men’s squad secured a third straight AUS title, scoring a total of 30 points.
“This course was tougher than it looked, with a couple of long hills,” Howse, a Red Deer, Alta., native, told Canadian Running. “The opening km was quick, but it eventually settled. Ending on an individual win was the perfect way for my last AUS cross-country race to conclude. Huge shoutout to my teammates for an amazing race day.”
Brett King of St. Francis-Xavier University took bronze in 24:58.9; St.FX took the team runner-up spot with 36 points, while the Dalhousie Tigers earned third, with 72 points.
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In early October, Howse opened his season at the Paul Short race at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA, where he placed third in the men’s College Brown 8K, a field of more than 300 runners. “Last year, my coach and I decided racing once before conferences is a good strategy for me, so we went with the same method this year,” he said.
At last year’s U Sports Championships in Kelowna, B.C., Howse earned national silver, marking the highest finish in UNB program history. He finished just six seconds behind back-to-back champ Philippe Morneau-Cartier of Université Laval. Howse was the only athlete to respond to Morneau-Cartier’s injection of pace heading into the final lap of the race.
The pair are slated to face off once again at the U Sports Championships in Sherbrooke on Nov. 8. There, Howse will aim for another individual medal, and the UNB Reds team will look to swap their previous fifth-place finish for a spot on the podium.
See here for full results from the AUS XC Championships.
Sophie Courville, McGill Martlets (RSEQ)
At the RSEQ Championships in Parc Saint-Lazare in Vaudreuil, Que., McGill athlete Courville ran away with the conference win by a 10-second margin, clocking 28:29 and upgrading her last year’s bronze to gold. She’s the first McGill woman to win the RSEQ title since 2016.
Last year’s winner, Elisa Tripotin of Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), settled for second, in a time of 28:39; Morgane Drouin of Université Laval took bronze, in 28:43.
“I was pretty sick on Thursday and Friday, and still didn’t feel great the morning of the race,” Courville told Canadian Running. “So I didn’t have many expectations, but as the race went on, I started feeling better and stronger, which gave me a lot of confidence.
“With about one km to go, it was just Elisa Tripotin and I, and she always has a really strong finish, so I knew I would really need to push to beat her,” Courville continued. “I dropped her a bit on the last big hill and gave everything I had until the line, hoping she wouldn’t catch up.”
Despite Courville’s win, the Martlets women took fourth overall, a downgrade from last year’s gold.
The Montreal native has been slowly improving her finishes throughout the season; she opened with a third-place result at the McGill Invitational 6K in September before securing second at the Laval Invitational 8K on the notoriously difficult Plains of Abraham course in Quebec City last month.
“I’m very happy with my season, so far,” she said. “I feel like I’m progressing nicely and still gaining lots of fitness from training. There is still space for improvement, as I started my season later because of the Canada Summer Games.”
When it comes to the U Sports Championships, now just one week away, Courville isn’t sure what to expect. “I would love to sneak into the top 10–and every position from there would be an achievement,” she said.
See here for full results from the RSEQ XC Championships.
