Track & Field athletes take home nine medals on first day of AUS Championship
The StFX track & field team earned nine medals on the first day of the Subway AUS Championship at the Irving Oil Fieldhouse on Friday. X-Women athletes won two gold, one silver and two bronze, while the X-Men won three silver and one bronze medal.
Saint John, NB - The StFX track & field team earned nine medals on the first day of the Subway AUS Championship at the Irving Oil Fieldhouse on Friday. X-Women athletes won two gold, one silver and two bronze, while the X-Men won three silver and one bronze medal.
On the women's side, Jane Hergett (Port Williams, NS) claimed gold in the 1000m race, clocking in at 2:53.83, just shy of setting a new AUS record.
Olivia Crewe (Ottawa, ON) was the gold medalist in the grueling pentathlon event, besting the field of six competitors with 2995 points. Crewe won the long jump (4.92m) and 60m hurdles (9.48), placed second in both the high jump (1.48m) and 800m (2:42.47), and was third in the shot put (9.57m).
Jumper Riley van den Heuvel (Port Hood, NS) claimed the silver medal in the high jump with a 1.62m result.
X-Women bronze medals came from sprinter Megan Graham (Trenton, NS) in the 60m hurdles (9.13) and Aidan MacDonald (Antigonish, NS) in the 1000m (3:03.20).
On the men's side of the competition, third year sprinter/jumper Brad Barclay (Coldwater, ON) claimed three medals - all silver. His time of 35.89 was second best in the 300m, while he also jumped to a silver medal in the long jump (6.39m) and won silver with the X-Men 4x200m relay team. Logan Coulet (Westville, NS), Justin Major (Nassau, Bahamas) and Eric Sutton (Peterborough, ON) were also part of the 4x200m performance of 1:31.87.
Rounding out the X-Men medals on day one was Skeets Green (Barrie, ON) in the long jump with a 6.34m result.
Kirishnia Cooper (Nassau, Bahamas) was fourth in the long jump at 6.32m and the X-Men 4x800m team was within medal contention but were disqualified from the race.
The X-Women 4x800m relay team thought they had won gold but due to technicalities the race results were incomplete and it will be re-run on Saturday.
StFX's 4x200m women's team placed just off the podium in fourth place with a 1:47.74 result. Other fourth place finishes included Lani Deakin (Dubai, UAE) in the triple jump (10.56m), Catherine Kennedy (Antigonish, NS) in the 300m (41.63) and Erin Brennan (Beechwood, NB) in the pentathlon (2603 points).
Events continue throughout the day on Saturday.
Day One recap follows
(SAINT JOHN, NB) Victoria LeBlanc wanted the record, and she got it.
Jumping in her hometown at the 2020 Subway Atlantic University Sport Track and Field Championships, LeBlanc won the women's triple jump for the host UNB Reds, establishing a new AUS record of 12.01 metres in the process.
"That was my goal, to get the record, to finish my last AUS and be able to put UNB in the record books," said LeBlanc, who set the new mark in her final attempt. "I had one more shot, and I thought to myself don't worry about the distance, it will come, so I just focused on projecting and jumping and I got it, so I'm very pleased."
LeBlanc and her Reds teammates Erin McCavour and Lexie Shannon swept the women's triple jump podium, with McCavour grabbing the silver medal and Shannon the bronze.
The women's triple jump record wasn't the only one to fall on day one of the conference championships.
In an exciting men's 1000 metres, Dalhousie's Hudson Grimshaw-Surette threw himself across the finish line to beat Saint Mary's Andrew Peverill by 1/100th of a second.
Grimshaw-Surette, in 2:26.53, Peverill, in 2:26.54, and bronze medallist Aidan Goslett, from Dal, in 2:27.66, all finished faster than the previous AUS record.
After the first day of competition, at the new Irving Oil Field House, in Saint John, Dalhousie leads the men's competition with a total of 80 points, followed by the host UNB Reds, with 69, and the St FX X-Men, with 31. Saint Mary's, Memorial, Moncton, St. Thomas and UPEI round out the men's standings.
In the women's standings, after day one, Dal is in first place with 77 points. The X-Women are second, with 61, and Moncton is third with 38. UNB, Saint Mary's, Memorial, Acadia, and St. Thomas round out the women's standings.
In the premiere sprint events, Dalhousie runners captured both gold medals.
In the women's 300 metres, Maya Reynolds out-ran Moncton's Véronique Omalosanga to the finish line. In the men's 300 metres, Dal's Josh Lunda edged X's Bradley Barclay by 6/10ths of a second.
Dal's Lorena Heubach won a pair of gold medals, finishing first in the women's 60 metre hurdles, and taking the women's high jump.
"It was really about the start," said Heubach, of her 60 metre hurdles victory. "I've been having better starts. Every time I get the start right, it turns out to be a really good race."
Moncton's Kyla Hughes won the women's shot put, edging Dalhousie's Chelsea MacIsaac.
Jarod Manuel, of the UNB Reds, won the men's shot put, beating Dal's Andre Hendricks.
Dalhousie's Catherine Thompson used a late kick to win the women's 3000 metres, beating teammate Emily Hamilton and UNB's Hannah Cormier across the line.
In the men's 3000 metres, Dal's Callum Drever edged UNB's Isaac Cull at the line, while Michael Colford of the Reds ran third.
The Tigers' Matt Coolen won the men's 60 metre hurdles, beating Reds Eric Hughes and Micah Hesman.
Jane Hergett, of the X-Women, won the women's 1000 metres, beating Saint Mary's Bhreagh Burke. Hergett finished in a time of 2:52.82, just a 1/10th of a second off the AUS record.
In the men's long jump, Dal's Nic Beaulieu jumped 6.70 metres to beat Bradley Barclay, of the X-Men.
Olivia Crewe, of the X-Women amassed 2995 points to with the women's pentathlon, beating Emily Batt, of Saint Mary's, and Memorial's Shae Ledevehat.
"It feels awesome. It feels like all the hard work I've been putting in at practice, eating right, everything I've done over the last eight months, this school year, has really paid off for me," said Crewe. "I didn't necessarily look for the win, but I definitely wanted to come in and make some PBs and just hope that would take me to the podium."
The Reds took gold and silver in the men's pole vault, with Micah Hesman finishing first, after clearing 3.60 metres. He beat teammate Ryan Olson, and Memorial's Nicholas Pike.
"I feel good. It's been tough, I've been injury prone for a long time, so coming to this meet was never about how well I did, it was about if I could keep the body in one piece," said Hesman. "I feel good about the win. Ryan was definitely making me work for it."
In the women's 4-by-200 metre relay, the Tigers beat Moncton, with UNB finishing third.
In the men's 4-by-200 metre relay, Dal edged X and the Reds.
In the men's 4-by-800 metre relay, Dal took the gold medal, with UNB grabbing silver and Saint Mary's getting the bronze.
Results of the women's 4-by-800 metre relay were scratched. The top four finishers, St FX, Dal, UNB, and Acadia, will re-run the race on Saturday.
The 2020 Subway AUS Track and Field Championships conclude Saturday.
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RECAP BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics