Maddy McDonald made a triumphant return to the trails on Saturday, leading the McMaster women to team gold and narrowly missing the individual podium at the Western International in London.

The fourth-year runner was held out of competition in the team's opening meet in Buffalo two weeks ago, but returned on Saturday to score first for the Marauders, crossing the finish line of the 5km course in 17:42 — just a second behind the meet's bronze medallist from McGill, Melanie Myrand.

McMaster's men also enjoyed a strong day, and were denied the team title as the tiebreaker fell the way of the Windsor Lancers after both teams finished with 58 points through five racers.

Following McDonald, Mac veteran Chelsea Mackinnon provided the Marauders second score in 10th, with Gabrielle Foran (17th), Maddie Benjamin (19th) and Emily Nowak (25th) rounding out the top five.

With the Forbes brothers absent, it was the veteran duo of Blair Morgan and Connor Darlington who led the way for the Mac men on Saturday, scoring third and fourth respectively to provide the team's low posts. Gabe Ghiglione (12th), Jeff Tweedle (18th) and Derek Van Schepen (21st) completed the top five.

The Marauders will now spend a few weeks away from competition, before traveling to Queen's on October 17 to take part in their final preparatory meet before Halloween's OUA Championship in Waterloo.