WEEK IN REVIEW: Pair of Dawgs race to top-10 finishes at Canadian XC champs...

As is traditionally the case after the NCAA cross country championships, the news cycle slows down until after the new year, but we will break in news at the minimum once a week, and as necessary.

At the Canadian cross country championships in Kingston, Ontario Saturday, a pair of University of Washington freshmen ran to top-ten finishes in the under-20 category.

Thomas Nobbs (left/photo courtesy University of Washington) finished fourth in the under-20 men’s 8k race, running 25:24.

Shona McCullough finished tenth in the under-20 women’s 6k race, running 21:58.

Both Nobbs and McCullough were redshirted this fall.

Complete results of the Canadian national cross country championships are available here.

On Friday, the IAAF announced at its annual Athletics Award ceremony in Monaco that high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar and Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam were the recipients of the federation’s World Athletes of the Year for 2017.

In eleven meets, including the world championships in London, where he won with a leap of 7-8.5 (2.35m), Barshim went undefeated. Four days after winning in London, he cleared a world leading 7-10.5 (2.40m), and capped off his season by securing the IAAF Diamond League series title in Zürich with a jump of 7-8.75 (2.36m).

Thiam (left/photo by Paul Merca), the reigning Olympic champ, began the year by winning the European indoor pentathlon title with a score of 4870, then made people notice by winning the Götzis heptathlon with a seven-event total of 7013 points, the third best all-time.

She then added the world championship to her Olympic title, scoring 6784 points.

Earlier in the week, USA Track & Field announced that steeplechaser Emma Coburn and pole vaulter Sam Kendricks were named the Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and Jesse Owens Award winners.

The Jackie Joyner-Kersee award honors USATF’s top female athlete of the year, while the Jesse Owens Award honors the top male athlete.

Colorado alum Coburn was the first American to win a world title in the steeplechase in London, while breaking her own American record by running 9:02.58.

Kendricks went undefeated in 17 competitions this season, winning the national outdoor title with a world leading jump of 19-8.25/6.00m, and winning the world title. He capped off 2017 by winning the IAAF Diamond League title.

NOTE:  Athletics Canada, the IAAF and USA Track & Field contributed to this report.  Publisher Paul Merca is a media voter for both the IAAF World Athlete of the Year as well as USATF’s Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Jesse Owens Awards.