Three Gaels headed to Paraguay this summer and returned not just with memories, but with special additions to their trophy case.
Jude Wheeler-Dee, ArtSci ’26, Kennedi Stevenson, ArtSci ’28, and Jiggy Schonfeld, Kin ’27, all represented Canada at the 2025 Junior Pan American Games in Asuncion, Paraguay. The competition, which ran from August 9 to August 23, featured top-tier under-23 athletes from across North and South America in 334 events across 28 sports.
READ MORE: Wheeler-Dee set to compete for Team Canada at the Junior Pan American Games
Wheeler-Dee won gold in the 1500m with a 3:45.08. Stevenson and Schonfeld won bronze with Canada’s U20 Women’s Rugby Sevens team, winning four out of five games at the competition.
Coming off an extremely successful year highlighted by a national championship with the Gaels, Wheeler-Dee’s name has seemingly become synonymous with victory. Still, a gold in his international debut is a huge step for the rising star. All three players were unable to provide a statement to The Journal in time for publication.
As a result of his gold-medal-winning performance in Paraguay, Wheeler-Dee has earned an automatic spot on Canada’s roster for the 2027 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.
The experience is sure to give the track star a boost as he looks to continue to compete for Canada at the international level, and a spot at the world’s third-largest multi-sport competition will surely give Wheeler-Dee the visibility required to become a mainstay in red and white. Still, Wheeler-Dee told The Journal in an interview last month that he’s focused on the near future, as he and the rest of Queen’s Cross Country and Distance Track program are motivated to build on their success and become a powerhouse at the national level.
For Stevenson and Schonfeld, earning hardware with Team Canada is the cherry on top of an extremely successful year for the Queen’s Women’s Rugby program. The duo was a part of the powerhouse that achieved an undefeated regular season, a provincial silver medal, and a bronze medal at Nationals.
It’s been a meteoric rise for Stevenson, who was named the U SPORTS Women’s Rugby Rookie of the Year and was recognized as one of Queen’s top first-year student-athletes, as she became an integral part of the Gaels rugby team in her first year.
Gael’s fans can look forward to a busy fall for Queen’s athletics. The Women’s Rugby team returns after last season’s OUA championship loss to Guelph in extra time, opening at home against York University at Nixon Field on Sept. 6 at 2:00 p.m. ET. Meanwhile, the Cross Country team kicks off their season at the Hoffman Invitational in Canton, NY, on Sept. 20.
Tags
distance track, Jiggy Schonfeld, Jude Wheeler-Dee, Junior Pan American Games, Kennedi Stevenson, Women's rugby
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