Saint Mary's Kuto and StFX's Hardy win individual golds at the AUS cross country
(MONCTON, N.B.) - Melissa Hardy of the St. Francis Xavier X-Women and John Kuto of the Saint Mary's Huskies registered the fastest times to earn individual gold medals at the Subway Atlantic University Sport cross country championships that were held on Saturday at Université de Moncton.
Hardy covered the 6km distance in a time of 22:52:45. She was followed by Ellen Chappell (23:06:09) and Natalie Sachrajda (23:14:72), both of the Dalhousie Tigers.
Host Moncton Aigles Bleues' best runner was Jessica Leroux who finished 13thwith a time of 24:34:59.
Fifty-five runner in total participated in the women's championship.
John Kuto continued his domination in the men's 10km race by winning with a time of 32:42:62, 26 seconds faster than Matt MacNeil of the Dalhousie Tigers (33:07:67).Riley Johnston of the X-Men came in third with a time of 33:17:14.
Moncton's top runner in the race was Jérémie Pellerin who finished ninth with a time of 34:30:16.
The StFX X-Men earned the first place team finish in the men's championship, taking home the AUS banner, trophy and team gold medals. Dalhousie earned a silver team finish and Memorial claimed bronze.
The Dalhousie Tigers claimed a first-place team finish in the women's championship. The StFX X-Women's team were the runners up, taking home silver medals, and the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds claimed a third-place team finish.
Both the host Moncton Aigles Bleus women's and men's teams earned sixth place finishes.
The individual winners in today's championship are as follows:
Women's:
Gold: Melissa Hardy, StFX
Silver: Ellen Chappell, Dal
Bronze: Natalie Schrajda, Dal
Men's:
Gold: John Kuto, SMU
Silver: Matt MacNeil, Dal
Bronze: Riley Johnston, StFX
2013 AUS cross country major award winners and all-stars:
Women's:
Athlete of the year: Melissa Hardy, StFX
Coach of the year: Rich Lehman, Dal
Rookie of the year: Kathie Robinson, UNB
Student-athlete community service award: Melissa Hardy, StFX
All-star team:
Melissa Hardy, StFX
Ellen Chappell, Dal
Natalie Schrajda, Dal
Caroline McIlroy, MUN
Anna Von Malzahn, Dal
Sarah Myatt, UNB
Britany MacArthur, Dal
Men's:
Athlete of the year: John Kuto, SMU
Coach of the year: Bernie Chisholm, StFX
Rookie of the year: Alex Neuffer, StFX
Student-athlete community service award: Gabriel Quenneville, StFX
All-star team:
John Kuto, SMU
Matt MacNeil, Dal
Riley Johnston, StFX
Scott Donald, StFX
Oliver Hatheway, Dal
Lee Wesselius, StFX
Tate Bryden, StFX
Source: Moncton Sport Information