Over the course of two days the AUS track and field championships took place at University de Moncton. With plenty of records being broken, and lots of exciting action from many of the events, it lead to a fantastic championship to end the AUS track and field season.
In the women's 60 meter heats 4
th year athlete
Anissa Owen placed 9
th in a big field for a seasonal best time of 8.19 seconds. Owen also had an excellent day in the long jump event, placing 3
rd and earning an AUS bronze medal with a seasonal best jump of 5.25 meters. In the women's 600 meter event Blessing Nwaigwe ran to a personal best time of 1:46.12.
In the women's 1000 meter event
Meghan Clark placed 7
th in a time of 3:10.66, Clark was also 6
th in the women's 1500 meter event with a season best time of 5:01.74. In the longest distance event on the track
Monique Muise had a fantastic race to cap off her season running a hug personal best over 3000m in 11:35.41. Competing in the women's weight throw event both
Jessica Hayman and
Julia Loparco recorded seasonal bests with throws of 7.65 meters and 7.05 meters respectively.
In the women's 4x400 meter relay Saint Mary's had a solid effort placing 5th, members of the 4x400 relay were Jonneice Rigby, Anissa Owen, Meghan Clark, and Blessing Nwaigwe. In the women's 4x800 meter relay that Saint Mary's women also had a very good run placing 4th overall, members of the 4x800 were Blessing Nwaigwe, Jonneice Rigby, Monique Muise, and Meghan Clark.
In the men's 300 meter event M'Kyle Rigby recorded a seasonal best time of 39.75 seconds, Rigby also competed in a stacked 60 meter field recording a time of 7.57 seconds. The Saint Mary's men also had a very strong showing in the 600 meter event, with rookie
Drew LeFrank and second year athlete
Greg Williams both recording personal best times of 1:26.7 and 1:27.5 respectively. LeFrank also ran very well in the men's 1000 meter event placing 8
th overall in a time of 2:43.76. In the men's 1500 meter event 3
rd year athlete Chris MacKinnon ran a seasonal best time of 4:48.14. In the men's 3000 meter event first year athlete Jonathan Peverille ran a personal best time of 9:47.14, Peverille was followed closely by 5
th year huskie
Angus MacDonald who also ran a personal best time over 3000 meters in 9:47.92.
In the multi-event pentathlon Matthew Musoke earned an AUS bronze medal while recording personal bests in each of the five events. Musoke ran 8.85 seconds for the 60 meter hurdles, soared to 1.76 meters in the high jump, ran a time of 3:10.21 over 1000 meters, threw the shot put 10.70 meters and jumped 6.10 meters in the long jump. Also competing in the men's pentathlon was second year huskie Matthew Smith who recorded personal bests in the 60-meter hurdles, long jump, and shot put.
For the men's relay events Saint Mary's had great success. The 4x200 team consisting of M'Kyle Rigby, Greg Allen, Drew LeFrank and Greg Allen put forward a solid effort placing 4th overall just shy of a bronze medal. The men's 4x400 relay team also placed 4th overall, consisting of the same athletes that ran the 4x200. In the men's 4x800 relay SMU athletes Greg Williams, J.K. MacAdam, John Kuto, and Drew LeFrank all had amazing races which gave the 4x800 relay its fastest time all year and earned them the AUS bronze medal.
It turned out to be quite the exciting weekend at the AUS track and field championships with all of the athletes competing extremely hard. The AUS conference seems to be expanding and growing bigger each year, which is very good for the sport of track and field at the university level.
SMU Communications (Angus MacDonald)
