by Cody Baugh

Coach Rich Lehman’s women’s cross country team had an amazing season in 2015. The Tigers captured an AUS championship and dominated the podium all season.

The Tigers won every AUS team title and captured the individual gold medal at each of the three AUS invitational meets. Colleen Wilson won gold at the SMU/DAL and Moncton invitational meets as well as the AUS championship, while Jenna MacDonald captured gold at the StFX Invitational.

The Tigers placed well outside of the conference as well with a second place team finish at the Vic Matthews Invitational at Guelph and third at the AUS-Interlock at l’Universite de Laval. Wilson paced the Tigers with a fifth place finish at Guelph while Kayte Kowal was the top Tiger finisher at Laval, crossing the line in 14th place.

The Tigers recorded a perfect score at the AUS championship in Fredericton, taking the top five spots, a feat that had never been accomplished in the AUS until now. They swept the podium and all seven runners placed in the top eight. Wilson won her first AUS championship while Michelle Reddy placed second and MacDonald finished third. Kowal, Emily Clarke and Emily Ferguson finished fourth through sixth and Kate Scallion was eighth. This was the third consecutive championship for the Tigers and second consecutive podium sweep.

At the CIS championship at Guelph, Colleen Wilson was named a second team all-Canadian after finishing 12th, leading the Tigers to a fifth place team finish. Wilson was also named to the FISU team that represented Canada at the FISU world championships in Italy on March 12. The third Canadian to cross the line, she placed 27th in the race, helping Canada to a fifth place team finish.

Michelle Reddy had the break-out performance of the year for the Tigers. “Going into the season, the goal for her was to crack our top seven,” says head coach Rich Lehman. “She ended up being our second runner all year including an impressive silver medal performance at the AUS championship.”

The women’s cross country team was especially dominant this year grabbing six of the seven AUS all-star spots. Joining Wilson and Reddy on the all-star team were MacDonald, Kowal, Clarke and Ferguson. Rich Lehman was also honored with his third consecutive coach of the year award.

Looking forward to next season, the Tigers will lose Emily Clarke and Morgan Hawkes to graduation, but will look to Kate Scallion to step up and fill the role of the departing athletes.