VANCOUVER – Three UBC Thunderbirds will represent Canada in track and field at the 2015 Summer Universiade in Gwangju, South Korea (July 3-14).
 
Ben Thorne of Kitimat, B.C., will take part in the 20-kilometre race walk, North Vancouver, B.C.'s Andy White will throw in the men's javelin and Maria Bernard of Calgary will run the steeplechase while wearing the maple leaf in Asia this summer.
 
The full roster is comprised of 23 women and 18 men, including 26 who attend Canadian universities and 15 who study at institutions based in the United States.
 
Thorne, a two-time National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) 5,000-metre race walk champion, is one of four returnees from the 2013 Summer Universiade, held in Kazan, Russia, where he claimed a bronze medal in the 20-kilometre race walk team competition. He also placed 16th in the individual standings.
 
A week ago, Thorne triumphed in the race walk at the NAIA meet in Gulf Shores, Ala., winning the five-kilometre race in in 21:37.50, nearly 15 seconds ahead of his nearest rival. He was also the NAIA champion in 2012 and competed for Canada at the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Moscow, Russia.
 
White completed his university career in 2014 by winning silver at the NAIA championship for the second consecutive season. He will represent Canada for the first time at the 2015 Universiade.
  
Bernard won double gold at the 2015 NAIA outdoor championships, taking first place in both the 3,000-metre steeplechase – her second straight title in the event – and the 5,000 metres. For her efforts, the fourth-year senior was named the NAIA women's Outstanding Performer.
 
Bernard was also the NAIA cross country individual champion in 2014 and has run for Canada at the World Cross Country Championships. She was named the Marilyn Pomfret Trophy winner as UBC Female Athlete of the Year at the Big Block Awards in April. Both Bernard and Thorne also raced for Canada at the NACAC Under-23 championships in Kamloops, B.C., last summer.
 
- with files from Canadian Interuniversity Sport