Stefan Daniels is taking a break after a long season that cumulated with contributing to the University of Calgary Dinos winning their second consecutive national USports cross-country championship.

In an extremely close race, the Dinos overcame tough challenges from McMaster, Guelph, and Laval universities.

Dinos Russell Pennock and Matthew Travaglini finished in third and fourth place respectively and Stefan Daniel was 12th to help lead the team to the repeat.

Daniel was named to the second All-Canadian team for his performance.

“Last year was our first ever national win in program history. Doing it again is pretty cool,” says Daniel. “We’ve had such a special group.”

The team has been building momentum since winning its first-ever medal in 2017.

“I didn’t totally expect this type of success when I first joined. I knew it would be good, but the team has really come together and grown."

While a couple of their top performers have finished their cross-country university career, Daniel remains confident the team will remain competitive.

“There are a couple of guys that won’t be around, but it’s a chance for some younger guys to step up to be leaders. There are some guys that weren’t on the team this year who are running really well, and they’ll be counted on for years to come.

“I’m excited. It will be a different challenge, we’ll have a young team but I still think we can do really well.”

Daniel has one year left of eligibility on the cross-country team.

He is now taking a break before ramping up his training for the Paralympics this summer in Tokyo. He won silver in 2016.

“I’m pretty exhausted, so I’m taking a couple of weeks off here, just chilling out, working on school, and all that good stuff. I know it’s going to be a long season, so I’m not in a rush to get back right away.”

His first paratriathlon is in Florida in March.

“I’ve got some races all around the world this year, so it will be fun, but the focus is training for Tokyo.”

It’s been quite the year for Daniel. He successfully defended his world paratriathlon title before helping the Dinos win both the Canada West and USports titles. He finished first in the Canada West cross-country championship leading up to the nationals.