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Victoria’s Hilary Stellingwerff was named Canada West women’s coach of the year as her University of Victoria Vikes won the Western Conference cross-country championship on Sunday in Camrose, Alta.
It was the 16th Canada West title for UVic. However, the win was the first since 2017 and under Stellingwerff’s leadership.
The Vikes recorded a meet-low 42 points to 52 for the defending U Sports national champion UBC Thunderbirds. Bronze-medallist UBC-Okanagan Heat picked up 72 points while the University of Saskatchewan Huskies and Alberta Golden Bears took fourth and fifth with 111 and 164 points, respectively.
“I came into such a great legacy created by Brent (Fougner) and am happy to be able to carry that legacy forward,” Stellingwerff told the local Times Colonist newspaper’s Cleve Dheensaw.
Stellingwerff is a two-time Olympian having competed in the 2012 London and 2016 Rio editions. She was a 1500-metre specialist with a personal best of 4:05.08 before super shoes. Stellingwerff also competed in the 2007 Osaka World Athletics Championships (IAAF) and the 2010 Delhi and 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games.
