Four teams comprising a total of 22 runners will travel to Serra, Brazil to represent Athletics Canada at the 2022 Pan American Cross-Country Cup on March 27.

Athletics Canada is sending a U20 women’s team, a U20 men’s team, as well as men’s and women’s senior teams to the championship. At this event’s last edition in 2020, Canada won the U20 women’s and senior women’s division, while picking up a pair of team bronze medals in the men’s U20 and senior races. Canada ultimately finished second to the United States in final standings for the overall Pan-Am Cup.

This year’s teams will be coached by Bruce Deacon, a two-time Olympian in the marathon and the general manager of the 2020 Pan American Cross-Country Cup in Victoria, B.C.

The U20 women’s team will be led by the 2021 Canadian cross-country champion Sadie Sigfstead, of the Edmonton Harriers. Sigfstead was Villanova University’s top finisher at the 2021 NCAA Championship, despite being a freshman at the Pennsylvania D1 college. She also won a silver medal at the 2020 edition of these championships.

The U20 men’s team, meanwhile, will comprise two Citius teammates from Victoriaville, QC, including Nolan Turgeon, who won the 2021 Canadian U20 cross-country individual title despite being just 17 years old on competition day.

Long-time teammates at Club d’Athlétisme Université Laval Jessy Lacourse, Catherine Beauchemin and Jade Bérubé will star on a senior women’s team looking to defend its 2020 title, despite the absence of perennial Canadian cross-country favourite and 2020 Pan-Am champion Geneviève Lalonde.

On the senior men’s side, a trio of London Western Track and Field club teammates – Mike Tate, Connor Black and Phil Parrot-Migas – will be looking to improve on a bronze medal finish at the 2020 championships, a race in which Black was the fifth place finisher.

FULL TEAMS

U20 WOMEN
Sadie Sigfstead – Edmonton – Gina Procaccio – Edmonton Harriers

Caroline Ash – Newmarket – Sue Deighan – Newmarket Huskies Track Club

Jalen Marcil – London – Dave Mills – London Western Track and Field Club

Ivy Biolowas – Fredericton – Chris Belof – SJ Reds

U20 MEN
Nolan Turgeon – Victoriaville – Dany Racine – Citius

Aiden Coles – St. Thomas – Dave Mills – London Western Track and Field Club

Rudy Saal – Pembroke – Félix-Antoine Lapointe – Les Coureurs de Bois

Mathis Vallières – Victoriaville – Dany Racine – Citius

Daniel Damian – Victoria – Hilary Stellingwerff – UVic Track Club

Xavier Lemaître – Lac Brome – Martin Angel – Athlétisme Rive-Sud

SENIOR WOMEN

Alexandra Lucki – Toronto – Gary Westgate – Toronto West Athletics

Catherine Beauchemin – Québec – Dany Racine – Club d’Athlétisme de l’Université Laval

Jade Bérubé – Québec – Félix-Antoine Lapointe – Club d’Athlétisme de l’Université Laval

Lindsay Carson – Burnaby – Mark Bomba – Pacific Track Club

Ally Ginther – White Rock – Mark Bomba – Pacific Track Club – Senior Women’s

Jessy Lacourse – Quebec – Félix-Antoine Lapointe – Club d’athlétisme de l’Université Laval

SENIOR MEN
Thomas Fafard – Repentigny – Félix-Antoine Lapointe – Club d’athlétisme de l’Université Laval

Phil Parrot-Migas – London – Dave Mills – London Western Track and Field Club

Mike Tate – Antigonish – Dave Mills – London Western Track and Field Club

Thomas Nobbs – Vancouver – Steve Weiler – Vancouver Thunderbirds Track & Field Club

Connor Black – London – Dave Mills – London Western Track and Field Club

Joshua De Souza – Brampton – Derek Hackshaw – Newmarket Huskies