Reds Women Close AUS Championships With Podium Performances
UNB finishes 4th in women's team standings
(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 1/100th 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.
RECAP BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics
PHOTOS BY: Kevin Barrett/for UNB Athletics