The Carleton Ravens extended their dominant legacy with a sweep at this year’s OUA Nordic Skiing Championship.
This year’s championship was hosted by the University of Ottawa, giving the athletes a chance to compete on their home trails in front of loved ones and the Ottawa community.
“It was nice to have it in Ottawa as well because we had a good group of people there,” Ravens’ skier Graeme Abbott said. “Your racing is more exciting than other races during the season because there are more people you know who cheer you on. The environment’s really fun.”
Head coach Kevin Shields echoed Abbott’s excitement, praising the full-team effort from his group on home turf.
The whole team was involved in preparing and training, Shields said, “not just our top eight women and top eight men.”
“That was great to see, because a lot of those people have big leadership roles on the team, and it was nice to have that opportunity,” he said.
The women’s team started the defence of their championship title with steady performances from Helen McCulligh and Sophia Giangrande, who both previously competed at the 2025 Nordiq Canada Nationals. At the national championships, Giangrande placed first in the U20 category.
“It was a wonderful opportunity to be able to not only represent Canada, which was such an honour, but also represent my school for the first time on a really big stage,” Giangrande said.
“Helen and I went together, and it was a good opportunity to really get to know her better, too. We make a really good team, the two of us, and it was definitely a fast introduction to university skiing.”
Both skiers basked in that introduction and carried it through to the OUA championship. McCulligh grabbed silver in both individual races and Giangrande took bronze in the 15-kilometre race. Now, only in her second year, Giangrande anchored the relay team with McCulligh and Beth Marchant, as they claimed the gold over uOttawa.
“Usually, I’m a pretty calm, collected racer, but when you’re trying to set your teammates up for success, there’s a different pressure than just racing for yourself,” Giangrande stated. “But also, when we do well, it’s three times the excitement, so that’s awesome.”
The men’s team kicked off their weekend strong with Abbott claiming gold in the 15-kilometre mass start, with his teammate Nathaniel Sneyd close behind in third. The next day, the duo clinched the top two spots in the nine-kilometre free technique contest.
“I was hoping to win the first day,” Abbott said. “That was my first OUA race as well, so that was kind of the goal. First OUAs — gold.”
After a disappointing second-place finish last year to Lakehead University in the relay, men’s team members Abbott, Sneyd and Kaeden Ward hoped to improve.
Though the team tied with the Lakehead Thunderwolves – just milliseconds off from taking the lead – Shields took note of their competitiveness.
“Lakehead had two very strong skiers, (and) we would have to perform extremely well to beat that team and take the win,” he said. “It was probably disappointing, but it was more that they gained the confidence that they could compete with Lakehead to have come up that close to winning.”
The Ravens go head-to-head with the Thunderwolves in their skiing success, and Carleton and Lakehead are the only schools to win a men’s Nordic Skiing OUA championship since 2001. On the women’s side, this is Carleton’s ninth championship in the last ten years.
It’s also the fourth consecutive championship in head coach Shield’s four-year tenure.
Shields said the success is owed to the aptitude of each individual athlete.
“The team recognizes that sort of tradition that Carleton has,” Shields said.
“The women’s team has been such a strong team for so many years. The men’s team, in recent years, has been second at Ontario Championships — and a very close second. The team has built around this success, with new athletes joining the team, and athletes on the team being stronger each season.
“It’s a competitive group.”
“We want to live up to that standard and hold up that standard, especially when we’re coming into something like OUA’s, but I think we tried not to make that the central focus,” Giangrande added. “We try to race our best in the moment, encourage each other, and it’s just about doing our best as a team.”
This weekend, the Ravens have nine skiers qualifying for the U20/Open interval start race at Canadian College and University National Championships, as they push to double up their provincial success with a national title.
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