Posted: Apr 09, 2014
Written by: Duncan Forbes
The Tigers men’s track and field team could not clinch their 13th consecutive AUS championship this year as they fell to the StFX X-Men in a season that will serve as a great learning experience for the young Tigers team.
The season kicked off at the McGill Team Challenge on January
24. Last year’s AUS rookie of the year, Jordan Bruce started
off hot again this year with a gold medal finish in the men’s
triple jump, with his first-year teammate Chas Smith right beside
him on the podium with a second place finish. Smith also had an
eighth place finish in the men’s long jump. The Tigers ended
up finishing eighth at the team challenge with 24.5 points over the
weekend.
At the Tigers Track Classic the following weekend, the Tigers
earned four gold medals in the final tune-up event before the AUS
championships as they looked to earn their 13th consecutive
title.
Adam Lewis got things going for the Tigers with a gold medal
in the 60m dash and Matt McNeil got second place in the 1500m and
first in the 3000m. Bruce had another strong meet with a gold in
the 60m hurdles and a silver in the men’s triple jump. Chas
Smith showed no signs of inexperience or nerves in his first AUS
championship as he earned gold in both the long jump and triple
jump events. The Tigers 4x800 (Alex McCarthy, Adam McGregor,
Kahmall McCabe and Adam Manuel) relay team earned gold after
beating out the X-Men, and Devin Errington and James Gillis stood
atop the podium in men’s high jump as they finished first and
second, respectively.
David Kerr, who was forced to train by himself at Exhibition
Park all year, threw 13.81m in the weight throw to run away with
the competition by almost 0.5m. The individual successes did not
translate into another banner as the Tigers fell 30 points short of
the championship.
Bruce was named the AUS field athlete of the year while Smith
was named the AUS rookie of the year.
Heading into the CIS championships in Edmonton, Alberta,
ranked first in men’s triple jump, Bruce finished just shy of
the podium, one centimetre short of teammate Chas Smith, who jumped
14.53m for the CIS bronze medal to cap off a very impressive rookie
season with the black and gold.
David Errington jumped 1.98m in the men’s high jump to
earn sixth place while Smith jumped 6.95m to earn eighth in
men’s long jump.
Despite not capturing the AUS title, head coach Rich Lehman is
already looking towards next year as the Tigers will try and find
themselves atop the AUS podium once again.
“Our men battled hard at the AUS championships,”
says Lehman. “We are now looking ahead to reclaiming our
conference title next year and being competitive at the national
level across all four event groups.”
The team will be saying goodbye to Adam McGregor, Isaac Norman
and James Gillis, who will be graduating this spring.