X-Women finish second and X-Men third at AUS track & field championship

Moncton, NB – The StFX track and field team competed at the 2017 Subway AUS Championship on Friday and Saturday at the Universite de Moncton.

The X-Women team earned a second place finish, coming home with 15 medals including three gold, eight silver and four bronze. The Dalhousie Tigers were the AUS champions, finishing with 137 points to StFX's 125. UNB was third with 54 points amidst I 10 teams.

The competition drew a record-high 240 Atlantic University Sport athletes from 10 of 11 schools.

The Tigers also claimed the AUS banner on the men's side, finishing with 144 points. UNB was second with 101 and the X-Men finished in thrid place (86) amongt ten teams. The X-Men won 11 medals including three gold, three silver and five bronze.

Complete individual results are available HERE.

Gold medals won by X-Women athletes included Mary Catherine Thompson (Antigonish, NS) who was champion in the pole vault with a jump of 2.20m. Ellen Murphy (Augustine Cove, PE) was the AUS champion in the weight throw with a 14.18m result, while the X-Women 4x200m relay team won a close race to claim AUS gold at 1:45.87, just edging out Dalhousie. Team members include Emma Floris (Vanderhoof, BC), Abbi Finnan (Kingston, ON), Allie Flower (Lunenburg, NS) and Jillian Murphy (Port Williams, NS).

On the men's side, X-Men Angus Rawling (Calgary, AB), Alex Cyr (Abram-Village, PE) and Adrian Kinney (Bristol, NB) were AUS gold medalists. Rawling was the AUS champion in the 3000m race, finishing with a time of 8:30.62. Cyr won the 1500m race at 3:56.08 and sprinter Kinney claimed gold in the 60m dash, clocking in at 6.94 seconds.

Calvin DeWolfe (Bridgewater, NS) won silver in the 3000m (8:32.86) for the X-Men, a runner-up to his teamate Rawling. Earlier this season DeWolfe claimed the AUS individual cross country gold medal with the AUS champion X-Men cross country team.

Dual-sport athlete Jonathan Heidebrecht (Camrose, AB) who is an AUS all-star kicker on the AUS champion X-Men football team, won silver in the 60m hurdles. He clocked in at 8.84 seconds.

Rounding out the X-Men silver medals was the 4x800m relay team consisting of Cyr, Rawling, Ryan Washburn (New Glasgow, NS) and Leo Jusiak (Toulouse, France). 

Cry earned his third medal of the weekend in the 3000m race as he made it an X-Men podium sweep with a bronze medal, finishing with a time of 8:34.29.

Kinney added to his AUS gold medal performance with a bronze in the 300m race, finishing at 36.30. He also won bronze with the X-Men 4x200m relay team. That squad consisted of Kinney, Andrew Bain (Gatineau, QC), Timothy Brennan (Beechwood, NB) and Jonathan West (Port Hawkesbury, NS).  

The X-Men 4x400m relay team of Bain, Brennan, West and Washburn also won bronze.

HRounding out the X-Men medal haul was a bronze for Garrette Vanderslyk (Malagash, NS) in the long jump. He had a 6.59m performance.

In the women's field events, Hayley Wilson (Skye Glen, NS) won a silver medal in the triple jump (11.47m) and a bronze in the long jump (5.38m).

Freshman Alana Deakin (Dubai, UAE) won a silver medal in the high jump with a 1.56m result while Thompson added to her her medal count with a bronze in the pentathlon (2591).

Hannah Pollock (Barrie, ON) won a pair of medals, claiming silver in the weight throw (13.18m) as runner-up to teammate Murphy, and bronze in the shot put (11.34m).

Flower, in addition to her gold medal with the 4x200m realy team, also won a silver with the 4x400m relay squad and two individual medals. She won silver in the 300m with a 42.78 time and bronze in the 600m (1:38.80). Her teammates in the 4x400m relay were Floris, Megan Graham (Trenton, NS) and Kevyn Timmons (Calgary, AB).

Liz MacDonald (Bedford, NS) was the AUS silver medalist in the 3000m race, finishing with a time of 10:41.14.

Abbi Finnan actually finished with the same time of 8.86 as the Tigers gold medalist in the 60m hurdles but she earned the silver medal for X when times were further broken down. The time set a new AUS record in that event.

Rounding out the X-Women medals was a silver in the 4x800m relay race. Timmons, MacDonald, Paige Chisholm (Port Williams, NS) and Hana Marmura (Antigonish, NS) made up that squad.

Following the track & field events the AUS major awards were handed out at the championship banquet. StFX head coach Bernie Chisholm was honored as the women's coach of the year while StFX assistant coach Lindsey MacKenzie earned the inagural volunteer coach of the year award for both the men's and women's teams. Jason Reindl of the UNB Varsity Reds was the AUS men's coach of the year.

Other AUS major award jwinners were Alain Doucet (Moncton) and Sarah Myatt (Dalhousie) as MVP's of the AUS championship; Mike Van der Poel (Dalhousie) and Colleen Wilson (Dalhousie) as AUS athletes track athletes of the year; Jordan Bruce (Dalhousie) and Jennifer Bell (Mount Allison) as AUS field athletes of the year; Andrew Wood (Memorial) and Maya Reynolds (Dalhousie) as AUS rookies of the year; and Troy Wilson (UNB) and Tess McDonald (UNB) as AUS community service award winners.

The U SPORTS national championship is scheduled for March 9-11 at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

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