Track team picks up eight more medals on Day 2, Hergett earns major award

Saint John, NB - The StFX track & field team earned eight medals on the second and final day of the Subway AUS Championship at the Irving Oil Fieldhouse on Saturday. X-Women athletes won four gold and one bronze, while the X-Men won one gold and two silver medals.

The complete weekend total was 10 medals for the X-Women (six gold, one silver, three bronze) who came in second place overall, and seven medals for the X-Men (one gold, five silver, one bronze), who were the third best team at the championship.

On Saturday, runner Jane Hergett (Port Williams, NS) added to her medal haul with three more gold medals, in addition to the gold she won in the 1000m Friday. For her efforts she received the AUS Female Track Athlete of the Year award. She won the 1500m in a time of 4:33.42 and was a member of the champion 4x800m and 4x400m relay teams.

Joining Hergett on the 4x800m squad was Paige Chisholm (Port Williams, NS), Aidan MacDonald (Antigonish, NS) and Catherine Kennedy (Antigonish, NS). They bested the field of seven teams with a time of 10:19.35.

Hergett and Kennedy were also members of the X-Women 4x400m relay team, along with Jessica Clarke (Wileville, NS) and Megan Graham (Trenton, NS). Their gold medal time of 4:00.35 was just two seconds shy of the AUS record.

Like Hergett, Kennedy was also triple gold medalist on Saturday as she claimed top spot in the 600m sprint, winning with a time of 1:37.92.

The X-Women's final medal of the day came from Chisholm who got the bronze in the 1500m with a time of 4:52.29.

On the men's side, jumper Logan Coulet (Westville, NS) earned the lone X-Men gold medal of the weekend with a champion performance in the high jump, winning with a 1.95m result.

Veteran jumper Kirishnia Cooper (Nassau, Bahamas) claimed the silver in the triple jump with a 13.47m jump.

The X-Men 4x400m relay team won the silver medal after a controversial race that saw the UNB Reds team not finish due to a bump by a Dalhousie runner. The Tigers took home top spot while the X-Men's time of 3:28.98 earned them silver. Team members includes Justin Major (Nassau, Bahamas), Quinn Alexander (Truro, NS), Brad Barclay (Coldwater, ON) and Eric Sutton (Peterborough, ON).

The Dalhousie Tigers won both the men's and women's AUS championship banners. Final team standings for the men were as follows:

Dalhousie – 151
UNB – 128
StFX – 57
Saint Mary's – 27
Memorial – 21
Moncton – 11
UPEI – 4
St. Thomas – 4

On the women's side, the teams finished as follows:

Dalhousie – 122
StFX – 92
Moncton – 70
UNB – 60
Saint Mary's – 26
Memorial – 16
UPEI – 7
Acadia – 5
St. Thomas – 2

Day Two recap follows

(SAINT JOHN, NB) The Dalhousie Tigers captured the women's and men's team titles as the 2020 Subway Atlantic University Sport Track and Field Championships concluded Saturday, at the new Irving Oil Field House, in Saint John.

On the women's side, Dalhousie extended its Atlantic conference championship streak to 31 years. The Tigers amassed 122 points over the two days. St FX finished second, with 92 points, while Moncton was third, with 70. UNB, Saint Mary's, Memorial, UPEI, Acadia, and St. Thomas were fourth through ninth.

The Tigers' men won for the sixth consecutive year with a total of 151 points, 33 better than UNB's 128. The St FX X-Men were third, with 57 points. Saint Mary's, Memorial, Moncton, UPEI, and St. Thomas were fourth through eighth.

The final day of competition began with a re-running of the women's 4-by-800 metre relay.

The X-Women beat Dal and UNB to the line. The results from Friday's race were scratched when a scoring error arose.

In the sprint races, the Tigers swept the gold medals.

In the men's 60 metres, Matt Coolen repeated as AUS champion, covering the distance in 6.89 seconds. His Tigers teammates Josh Lunda and Nic Beaulieu took the silver and bronze medals respectively.

In the women's 60 metres, Dal's Maya Reynolds edged defending champion Bailey Smith, of the UPEI Panthers, by 4/100ths of a second. Moncton's Veronique Omalosanga was third.

"I knew I had to have a good start, Veronique and Bailey are both amazing starters, so I knew if I had a good start, I had a good chance of getting it," said Reynolds. "Right at the end, Bailey was so close. I knew at the end that I had it, but in the middle of the race, it could've been anybody's game."

In a pair of exciting 1500 metre races, the X-Women added another gold medal, while the Saint Mary's Huskies scored their first of the meet.

X's Jane Hergett won the women's 1500 by more than 18 seconds, beating the Huskies' Bhreagh Burke.

"It feels awesome, this was something I really wanted to do," said Hergett. "It's awesome that I was able to execute that. Our focus going into this weekend was trying to have good, quality races instead of just going for points, and I think we've done a good job of that."

In the men's 1500, Saint Mary's Andrew Peverill defended his AUS title, finishing ahead of Dal's Aidan Goslett and UNB's Michael Colford.

"It was not the easiest, leading from wire to wire," said Peverill. "I had the record in my mind, but I was a little slow through 800, so I thought I'd just settle in and go for the win. Luckily, everything turned out well on the last lap, and the legs were there."

In the women's pole vault, Moncton's Sharo Ngongo out-duelled Memorial's Niamh Molloy.

Dal's Temi Toba-Oluboka threw 15.62 metres to win the women's weight throw, beating Moncton's Rachel Hache, who took silver, and Tigers' teammate Chelsea MacIsaac, who grabbed the bronze medal.

UNB's Jarod Manuel completed a sweep of the men's throw events, taking the men's weight throw with a heave of 16.11 metres.

His Reds teammates Chris Grant and Thayne Hebb took the silver and bronze medals, for a UNB podium sweep.

"I executed my game plan for the weekend, which was to provide seven points for my team in each event, and now we can prep on for two weeks," said Manuel, referring to preparing for the coming U SPORTS Championships, in March, in Edmonton.

"I've been shuffling between two turns and three turns all year, so we decided to go with two turns right away, just to try to get a safe one in, a nice, easy one, and that ended up being my winning throw," said Manuel.

Dalhousie's Hudson Grimshaw-Surette won his second individual gold medal of the championships, out-racing UNB's Benjamin Perrett in the men's 600 metres. Grimshaw-Surette finished 15/100ths of a second ahead of Perrett. The Reds' Bailey Ferguson edged teammate Tyler Adams by 1/100^th of a second for the bronze medal.

In the women's 600 metres, Catherine Kennedy, of the X-Women took the gold medal, ahead of UNB's Robyn Davis and Dal's Eden Bishop.

In the men's triple jump, Dal's Tobi Oshikoya's leap of 13.53 metres was enough to beat Kirishnia Cooper, of the X-Men.

Dal's Lorena Heubach captured her third individual gold medal of the championships, winning the women's long jump. Her leap of 5.97 metres auto-qualifies her for the U SPORTS Championships in the event. Heubach beat UNB's Victoria LeBlanc and Erin McCavour.

Logan Coulet, of the X-Men, won gold in the men's high jump, beating UNB's Ryan Olson and Dal's Ethan Dahr.

The Reds' Micah Hesman earned his second gold medal of the games, winning the men's heptathlon. Hesman earned 4269 points, beating Reds teammate Kevin Le and Dal's Zach Lowe.

St FX and Dal split the final events, the women's and men's 4-by-400 metre relays.

The X-Women beat Moncton and UNB across the line, while Dal beat the X-Men and Saint Mary's in a controversial finish that saw the Tigers disqualified, but later reinstated.

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RECAP BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics

AUS Women's Track and Field Major Award Winners (For the complete release, please click here.)

TRACK ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Jane Hergett, StFX X-Women
FIELD ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Lorena Heubach, Dalhousie Tigers
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Caroline Gagnon, Moncton Aigles Bleues
STUDENT-ATHLETE COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD: Joëlle Léger, Moncton Aigles Bleues
COACH OF THE YEAR: Rich Lehman, Dalhousie Tigers
VOLUNTEER COACH OF THE YEAR: Earl Church, Moncton Aigles Bleues
SUBWAY AUS ATHLETE OF THE MEET: Lorena Heubach, Dalhousie Tigers

AUS Men's Track and Field Major Award Winners (For the complete release, please click here.)

TRACK ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Hudson Grimshaw-Surette
FIELD ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Jarod Manuel, UNB Reds
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Nick Beaulieu, Dalhousie Tigers
STUDENT-ATHLETE COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD: Jacob Halloran, Dalhousie Tigers
COACH OF THE YEAR: Rich Lehman, Dalhousie Tigers
VOLUNTEER COACH OF THE YEAR: Mike Bawol, Dalhousie Tigers
SUBWAY AUS ATHLETE OF THE MEET:  Michah Hesman, UNB Reds