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.