Memorial's Roberts Wins AUS, UNB's Cormier 4th
(HANWELL, NB) Jade Roberts, of the Memorial University Sea Hawks, raced to victory in the women's 8 kilometre race at the Subway Atlantic University Sport Cross Country Championships, in Hanwell, New Brunswick, on Saturday.
Roberts beat St FX's Jane Hergett to the finish line by 20 seconds, winning in a time of 30:23.
"It's amazing," said Roberts, of being the AUS Champion. "I raced three years ago and I finished my degree and took a couple years off and then I came back, so it's kind of like a big redemption. Back then I was way back in the pack and now, this time around, I'm a champion, so it just shows that hard work can really pay off."
Dalhousie's Catherine Thompson was third, while Hannah Cormier, of the host UNB Reds, finished fourth, 23 seconds back of Roberts.
Paige Chisholm, of the X-Women, was fifth.
"I went out and did the best I could," said Cormier. "I wanted to leave it all out there and make it to the national championships this year, so I'm pretty happy."
Cormier finished just five seconds off the podium.
"I thought I'd go out hard and see if I could hold on. In the end there were a couple that kicked by me, but I'm happy I could get where I got."
"It certainly was an impressive performance," said Reds head coach Chris Belof, of Cormier's top five finish. "She doesn't take a lot of risks and we thought about, we wanted to be in one of the top two spots, so we rolled the dice. We ran for the win, or a podium finish."
Belof says Cormier's was one of a number of good performances.
"We are really happy with all of the girls," said Belof. "We're taking steps in the right direction and they keep progressing and we're excited about that."
The Dalhousie Tigers won the women's team competition, ahead of St FX and Memorial.
The event, hosted by the University of New Brunswick, was held at Kingswood Golf, just outside of Fredericton.
The U SPORTS Championships will be held at Queen's University, in Kingston, Ontario, on November 9th.
RECAP BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics
PHOTOS BY: James West/for UNB Athletics