By Joe Ryba

The Dalhousie men's and women's cross country runners are flying high, keeping pace with big expectations for the 2004 season.

"The men's team has had an incredible season," says coach Dan Hennigar. "We have guys who have dropped at least one minute off their time. Some of our guys are definitely top five on any team.”

The women's team is a similar story. We have at lot of depth at the top. We never had four runners who competed so intensely. There are at least nine stellar athletes and any one of them could step it up and become all-stars."

Women's cross-country sensation Janice Ashworth is leading the charge. "Things have never been better," she says. "Judging by the calibre of our team, we are heading in the right direction. This is a very close-knit team, and our chemistry is great. We keep motivating each other to do our best. Actually, the depth on both the men's and women's side is better than ever."

Men's captain Matt Sheffield expressed similar sentiments to Hennigar and Ashworth. "I think things are going very well," Sheffield says. "I agree with both Dan and Janice. There are at least nine runners who deserve to compete, but only seven can compete in the race. We're definitely going in the right direction and have to keep it up."

This weekend is the AUS cross-country championship hosted by St. Mary's at Point Pleasant Park. At the beginning of the season, Hennigar said the team had plans to win the US championship.

He still agrees with his prediction.

"We are at least as confident," says Hennigar. "When we put our best runners on the line, no one else comes close. When we're having a good day, no one can catch us."

"We're really motivated," says Ashworth. "Our whole team is going to come out and cheer us on. It's a really nice course, and we know it really well. It's like home field advantage. We're pretty confident we will achieve our goals."

"This will be a great competition," says Sheffield. "St. F.X. is our biggest rival. They have a really strong team this year. I think we have a few mouse-traps set for them and we'll beat them."

After the AUS championship, the Tigers will compete in the CIS championship hosted by Guelph University. "The Cis are much deeper than ever," says Hennigar. "We could run better than last year, but not finish as high. There are many top runners and there are six teams on either the men's or women's side who could win. It all depends on who's healthy and who's running well on that day."

The Tigers have been training hard for the CI's and are ready to take it to another level. "We've been gearing up for the CI's all year," says Ashworth. "Our coaches have done an excellent job preparing us. The mental aspect of our training will now really come into effect."

"We've trained for a whole year to this point," say Sheffield. "It's very emotional and we want to come out on top."

First published in the Dalhousie Gazette vol 137, iss8 on October 28, 2004