VANCOUVER – Ethan Meyer ran to a third-place finish and Jenna Conrad cracked the top 10 as the University of Calgary Dinos cross-country teams took on much of the Canada West field Saturday at the Western Canadian Challenge.

Both the men's and women's races were run over 8 kilometres at UBC Farm. Hosted by the UBC Thunderbirds, the meet served as a final tune-up for many conference programs ahead of the Canada West Championships.

Meyer crossed the line in 25:39 to take third in a field of 68, up from sixth in the Dinos' season opener against a largely ACAC field. UBC's Maximilien Filion took the individual win in 24:48, while Ian Teichler of the Regina Cougars was second in 25:13. Meyer held off a chasing pack led by Regina's Brett MacLean, who finished four seconds back.

Max Cook placed 12th in 26:12, crossing one second ahead of Ben Higham of the Alberta Golden Bears and UBC's Kouken Narbett.

Conrad, who won the women's race at the season opener, placed ninth out of 45 finishers in 30:02 against a much deeper field. She finished five seconds behind UBC's Clare Goodison in eighth and seven seconds ahead of Libby Dunn of the Alberta Pandas.

Abigail Yakemchuk of the UBC Okanagan Heat won the women's race in 29:17, ahead of UBC's Katelyn Cotterell and Alberta's Natalie Boston.

Chloe Turner was the second Dino across the line in the women's race, finishing 24th in 31:13, two seconds ahead of UBC Okanagan's Anna-Veronika Titova.

The Dinos will return to action Saturday, Oct. 17 when they travel to Edmonton for the ACAC Running Room Grand Prix Series Race No. 4. Calgary will then host the 2026 Canada West Cross Country Championships on Oct. 31 at St. Mary's University.

-UC-