Doucet Claims AUS Championship
(HALIFAX, NS) UNB's Emily Doucet is the champion of Atlantic University Sport women's cross country.
Doucet won the women's 8-kilometre event at Saturday's AUS Championships, at Point Pleasant Park, in Halifax.
"I feel pretty good," said Doucet. "It was a good race, a lot of strong competition. Going from not running cross country at all to winning AUS is a pretty fun thing."
Doucet, whose decision to run cross country came just before the start of the season, finished ahead of Allie Sandluck and Eileen Benoit of STFX.
Doucet won a sprint to the finish line, finishing in a time of 31:11, a second ahead of Sandluck and Benoit.
"I was trying to keep with the front group and let them do the work," said Doucet. "They took the third lap, which is usually the hardest lap, so I got to relax a little bit, then I saw they were picking it up a little bit, so I had to respond to every move. At the last lap, that's when it really started to pick up and with a kilometre to go, I kept telling myself I have fast legs I can do this and, for a little bit I was in second, and then I was, alright, we're doing this today and there was a little sprint at the end."
"Emily is a tenacious competitor," said Chris Belof, head coach of the REDS women's and men's cross country teams. "She's been building to this competition all season. We're so excited for her to win and look forward to what the rest of the season will bring."
Doucet's championship run helped the REDS claim second, behind the X-Women, in the team standings.
Georgia Bernhard ran 8th for UNB while Olivia Baggley was 10th.
Other REDS finishers included Sierra Rodrigues, who ran 11th, and Hilary Bishop, who finished 12th.
"This is a great step for our women's team," said Coach Belof. "There was excellent execution of the race plan. It was a full team effort and they're a great group of young women for our staff to work with."
"It was really nice, the conditions were awesome," said Doucet, of the Halifax course. "There was just a little wind by the water and some nice up hills and downhills."
With her first place finish, Doucet was named AUS Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Year and a 1st Team AUS All-Star.
Bernard, Baggley, Rodrigues, Bishop and Laura Laura Dickinson were named 2nd Team AUS All-Stars and Baggley was named AUS Women's Cross Country Rookie of the Year.
The REDS will now focus on the U SPORTS Cross Country Championships, November 12th, in London, Ontario.
STORY BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics
PHOTOS BY: Eduardo Ibarra/for SMU Athletics