by Kirk Jessome
(Halifax, NS) – The 2017-2018 indoor track and field season is officially underway after athletes from five AUS teams traveled to Halifax to compete in the Athletics Nova Scotia Last Chance Meet at the Canada Games Centre on Saturday.
Dalhousie's Maya Reynolds (Markham, ON) got the meet off to a hot start taking the top spot in both the 60mH and 60m, running 9.41 and 7.69 respectively. First-year pentathlete Lorena Heubach had a strong performance with a 5.31m long jump to take first place, and an 8.05, 60m run.
Allie Flower (Lunenburg, NS) of StFX took the victory in the 300m run with a 41.26. Hayley Wilson (Skye Glen, NS), also of the X-Women, finished with a best triple jump of 11.21m, which was good for first place.
On the men's side, the highlight of the meet came from first-year Tigers mid-distance runner Hudson Grimshaw-Surrette (Yarmouth, NS) who broke the Nova Scotia junior provincial record in the 800m race with a 1:54.97. The record was previously held by Tigers head coach Richard Lehman.
National bronze medalist Mike Van Der Poel (Truro, NS) took the win in the 300m for the Tigers by nearly two-seconds with a 34.75. In the jumps, Kaelen Schmidt (Sutherlands River, NS) took the top spot in long jump with a 6.48m, and second in high jump with a 1.95m.
Acadia's Logan Coulet took the win in high jump, clearing 2.00m.
StFX looked strong in the 60m, with Adrian Kinney (Bristol, NB) and Jonathan West (Port Hawkesbury, NS) finishing first and second, running 7.03 and 7.06 respectively.
Kirishnia Cooper (Nassau, Bahamas), also of StFX, jumped 13.09m in triple jump, which was good for first place.
Saint Mary's top finisher was Drew LeFrank, who came away with the win in the 1000m, with a time of 2:38.69.
The next meet on the AUS schedule is the Athletics New Brunswick Last Chance Meet, in Moncton on December 16th.