The St. Thomas Tommies cross country team kicked off their 2019 season with the first AUS exhibition meet in Antigonish, hosted by the St. FX X-Men. With the first AUS race in Halifax cancelled due to Hurricane Dorian, it was a bigger race than normal as over 60 women and over 80 men lined up to take part. Eight STU runners made the trip to get some race experience, with four athletes running for the first time in a Tommies singlet. It was a challenging technical course full of twists and short steep climbs. Other than some moderate winds, the Tommies had fantastic weather for their first meet.
Returning captain Jensen Elliott and new team member Jessica Kenny represented the women's team in the 6km race. Elliott ran a time of 28:36, improving on her time from last year's St. FX meet by over three minutes. Kenny, in her first appearance in green and gold, ran a solid time of 33:05. The other members of the women's team were unable to attend, but special mention needs to be made for Priya Bhutani who successfully defended her Master's thesis on Friday.
In the men's 8km race, six athletes toed the line with four of those runners taking part in their first university race. Second year runner, Lars Schwarz, was the top STU finisher in 33rd overall in a time of 27:19, improving by two minutes on his St. FX result from 2018. Team captain Ryan Terry, despite an injury from stepping on glass prior to the race, ran a time of 31:37. New runners Tristan Eisnor and Cameron Miller worked together for most of the race to finish in 32:28 and 33:40 as STU's third and fourth runners. Daniel Ghosn-Taimaine finished in a solid time of 39:21 as our final scoring runner. New athlete Alexander Gallant participated in the first 5km of the race to gain valuable experience for the upcoming meets.
St. Thomas will next participate in the UPEI Invitational on Saturday October 12th in Charlottetown. The AUS Cross Country Championships, hosted by the UNB, will take place in Fredericton on Saturday October 26th