Kelowna sprinter Emma Cannan earns prestigious honour in debut season with SFU

Photo: Thomas Lal GNAC

Kelowna's Emma Cannan is on the third SFU athlete to be named to Great Northwest Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Freshman of the Year

Kelowna sprinter and Simon Fraser University Red Leaf Emma Cannan has been named a co-winner of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Women’s Freshman of the Year award.

She finished second in the women’s 200 metres at the GNAC Indoor Track and Field Championships in Spokane in February, running a personal-best time of 24.68 seconds in the event final. That time put Cannan ninth on the conference’s all-time ranking for 200-meter runners, and fourth-fastest in SFU’s NCAA era.

Cannan was also part of the Red Leafs' winning 4x400-metre relay team. She ran the third leg as the relay team clocked a time of three minutes 48.10 seconds.

She joins Paige Nock (2015) and Addy Townsend (2016) as the only other SFU winners of the GNAC Indoor Track & Field Freshman of the Year award. She shares the award with Western Washington distance runner Meaera Shannon.

Earlier in the season, Cannan also had strong showings at the University of Washington Indoor Preview, the Boston University John Thomas Terrier Classic and the David Hemery Valentine Invitational.

In her debut NCAA meet on January 14, she was eighth in the 200m (26.29) and 14th in the 60m (7.91).

Cannan is a graduate of Kelowna Secondary School. She competed for Team BC in the 200m at the Canada Summer Games in 2022.