Today's Throwback Thursday takes us back to the 2004-05 season and the men's cross country team. Check out their season recap below.
The season began at Point Pleasant Park under grey skies. Team leaders Matt Sheffield and Paul Chafe ran most of the race comfortably, before using the final loop to run away from the competition. In a memorable burst, just metres from the finish line, Chafe stole first-place honours with Sheffield finishing one point back in second place. Dave Eaton, Chris Algar, Mihira Lakshman and Nicholas McBride all finished in the top 10, giving the Tigers a dominant 22-point margin of victory.
September 25 saw the Tigers competing on two fronts. Several Tigers flew to London, ON to compete in Canada’s premiere mid-season university cross country meet. Eighteen teams from three Canadian conferences and the US showed up to run the hilly Thames Valley golf course. Chafe once again led the team finishing fourth overall. Stanley Chaisson, Eaton, Algar and Lakshman also scored for the Tigers, who finished fifth overall. With many team leaders away in London, the Tigers relied on the experience of veteran Nicholas McBride to lead a young Tiger squad at the second AUS meet hosted by StFX. Tyler Germani, John Corbit, Minh-Tiet Tan, Chris Goulet and Gerard Bray all contributed.
The University of Maine’s Murray Keating course is famed for being fast and flat. The quick course, along with a lobster dinner banquet, draws in many top NCAA schools. Against the very best from New England and as far away as Texas and Iowa, Dalhousie held their own. Chafe led the men's squad to take the top Dalhousie performance ever at the meet. He finished fourteenth and broke 25 minutes on the five-mile course. Chaisson also improved over the previous week’s result to finish second for the Tigers; followed by rookies John Corbit and Toby Hennigar. Dave Eaton rounded out scoring runs for the Tigers to give the team a sixth place finish and a win over CIS number-five ranked Queen’s. McBride and Lakshman finished in a tie in what was a best-ever cross country race for both.
At UNB on October 16, Tyler Germani ran the university race of his life to lead the Tiger team. Gerard Bray also demonstrated he was still on a rather dramatic improvement curve as he backed Tyler as the Tigers’ second scorer. Goulet, Tan and Pat Atwell also scored.
The final AUS meet of the regular season took place under rainy skies and through muddy fields at the Université de Moncton. Chafe once again led the Tigers; splashing through the puddles and easily out-distancing the entire field. Rookie Toby Hennigar was the second Tiger across the line while, Chaisson, Eaton and Algar rounded out the scorers, giving the Tigers six in the top eight and an impressive sub-twenty-point score – over forty points ahead of second place.
Crowds in the hundreds showed up at Point Pleasant Park to the AUS championship race to cheer on the Tigers. The Tigers responded, with Paul Chafe leading the way to his first-ever AUS individual championship and AUS Athlete of the Year honours. Chaisson finished second while Eaton smashed his previous best, finishing fourth. Also scoring for the Tigers were McBride and Algar. John Corbit won the AUS Rookie of the Year award for his eighth-place finish, while Hennigar finished in tenth spot to see Dalhousie place all seven championship runners in the top 10.
The CIS championship was held on a rolling hills golf course at the University of Guelph. Bright skies and cold temperatures greeted over 100 starters in the men’s event. Chafe led the Tigers once again. After running with the lead pack for most of the race, he was finally left on his own to try and chase down a group of three Windsor runners who had broken away at the race’s midpoint. A final surge with one mile left allowed Chafe to close the gap to within a few metres. At the finish line he crossed in fourth place, becoming an all-Canadian and among Dalhousie’s best ever, but still hungry for a podium spot that will have to wait. Chaisson finished second for the Tigers in sixteenth place while Sheffield, Eaton and Algar took the final three scoring spots to give the Tigers another top five national team placing.
With almost the entire team returning, and some excellent recruits standing by, the Tiger team is looking forward to jumping to whole new level at next year's CIS championship at home in Point Pleasant Park.