Posted: Apr 09, 2014
Written by Duncan Forbes
Rich Lehman’s men’s cross country team came into the 2013 season with hopes of dethroning the two-time defending AUS champion StFX X-Men to capture their first title since 2010.
To get things started, they headed
to the UNB/STU Open in Fredericton on September 14. Although no
runner could crack the top ten, the Tigers still had five runners
in the top 20, which was good for a second-place finish on the day.
Matthias Mueller led the charge for the Tigers with an 11th place
finish, while Adam McGregor and Will Russell were right behind him,
finishing 12th and 13th, respectively.
The team travelled to Antigonish to
compete in the StFX Invitational the next weekend. Matt McNeil
powered his way to a second-place finish in his first race of the
season, finishing only eight seconds back of the lead. Mueller and
Oliver Hatheway also came away with top-ten finishes, placing
eighth and ninth, respectively. It simply wasn’t enough to
get the victory, however, as an impressive performance by StFX
handed Dal another second-place finish.
Their final AUS tune up race of the
season came on October 5 when they hosted the Dalhousie/Saint
Mary’s Invitational at Point Pleasant Park. McNeil made a
late push that nearly gave him the first-place finish, but he
finished a half-second behind Saint Mary’s John Kuto, and
settled for second-place once again. The Tigers had three more
top-ten finishers on the day, with Hatheway, Bruce Russell and
Mueller placing seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively.
The Tigers again missed out on a first-place finish as the X-Men edged them by a mere seven points.
The team then hit the road to compete in the AUS-RSEQ
Interlock meet at the University of Montreal on October 12. The
Tigers finished fifth with 150 points, led by an 18th place finish
from Matt McNeil.
It was another nail biter at the AUS championship for the
Tigers, as the X-Men again came away with the win, this time by a
margin of only eight points. McNeil had yet another second-place
finish, while Hatheway cracked the top-five for a fifth-place
finish. Mueller rounded out the top ten for the Tigers, finishing
in eighth.
McNeil and Hatheway would go on to be named AUS all-stars, which would mark the third time in as many years that McNeil was awarded the honour.
The trio of McNeil, Hatheway and Mueller would make the
trek to the 2013 CIS championship in London, Ontario, the next
week. Hatheway lead the Tigers with a 43rd place finish, while
Mueller and McNeil finished 84th and 105th, respectively.
Lehman is very optimistic about next year’s squad, who
will look to put an end to StFX’s three-year run atop the AUS
podium.
“Our guys have taken huge strides in the last two years to close the gap on our AUS competition,” notes Lehman. “With the addition of some key recruits and redshirts, we will be ready to challenge for an AUS championship in 2014.”
The team will sincerely miss runners Bruce Russell, Adam
McGregor and Oliver Hatheway as they graduate and move on.