Ever since his childhood jogging along quiet roads and trails in his hometown near Windsor, N.S., Jacob Benoit has found that running served as an important anchor in his life, propelling him to academic and professional success.
Now, the recent Dal MBA grad and accomplished track and field and cross-country athlete is preparing to celebrate his next big accomplishment: being named one of the 2024-2025 U SPORTS Top 8 Academic All-Canadians.
The award honours the best and brightest academic student-athletes from across Canada. It’s affiliated with the Canadian university sport governing body’s broader Academic All-Canadian program, which recognizes students who maintain an average above 80 per cent while playing a varsity sport.
Benoit becomes Dal’s 19th student-athlete to receive the Top 8 honour, giving Dal the second-most such awards in Canada after McGill University.
Athletic excellence
This was by no means Benoit’s first award. During his time as a varsity athlete, he received countless Atlantic University Sport (AUS) team titles such as a third-place finish in the Cross-Country championships of 2024-2025 and several sports awards, like Dalhousie’s Climo Award for male athlete of the year in 2024 and the Sir Graham Day award.
Benoit credits his coaches with helping him succeed on and off of the field.
“I was super grateful to be selected,” he says. “Hard work went into it, but it was also a product of their support.”
I was super grateful to be selected.
Benoit says Cindy Tye, Dal women’s soccer head coach, has inspired and encouraged him since she was a teacher at his middle school. And Rich Lehman, the head coach of Dal’s track and field team, has also been a big support.
“He understands his athletes not only just from the sports perspective, but he also gets them as people, which is sometimes pretty rare,” says Benoit.
A recipe for success
Maintaining good grades in school while succeeding in sports is no easy task, but Benoit felt like being an athlete helped improve his work ethic.
“When a test came back and I needed to step it up a little bit in one subject, then I felt like it would make me work harder on the track as well,” says Benoit.
But for Benoit, running and school were more a passion than a burden.
“A huge component of it is just having something that you enjoy doing as an anchor,” says Benoit. “If I wasn’t having fun with the running or with school, then I wasn’t doing as well.”
A huge component of it is just having something that you enjoy doing.
The Dal track-and-field community was another important source of joy in Benoit’s university life. The house he lived in during his time at Dal, dubbed “the cabin” because of its cozy attic, was a hub for track-and-field athletes.
“Runners would come over and congregate in the living room before and after practices, to play Wii, exchange jokes, and occasionally attempt to get some schoolwork done,” says Benoit.
For Benoit, his teammates felt like family. Two of his track teammates, Jach James and Dan Lord, were from near his hometown, which made Benoit feel closer to home.
“Competing in university felt a bit nostalgic to high-school, or like being close to home because I knew some of my teammates so well,” says Benoit.
Guided by peers
Benoit’s teammate and former roommate, Aiden Goslett, who won the Top 8 award a few years ago, was a particularly big inspiration to him.
“He is an incredible athlete and a phenomenal person overall, so I always looked to him for advice when I needed help on the track or in school as well,” says Benoit.
Benoit, left, with former roommate and teammate Aidan Goslett.
After completing his MBA in spring 2025, Benoit now works as an Associate Account Executive at AON, an insurance and consulting company. While running looks different now than it did when he was a student, he says he will always stay connected with his track and field family.
“Even when you retire from the varsity roster, you don’t necessarily retire from the Tigers. You stay connected, just in a different way,” says Benoit.
Benoit and the eight other Academic-All Canadian award-winners will be hosted by the Honourable Francis Scarpaleggia, Speaker of the House of Commons for a luncheon reception on Wednesday January 28th in Ottawa and will meet with Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary Simon, Governor General of Canada.