PREVIEW: 2022 Subway AUS Cross Country Championships

(CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I.) The conference’s runners are on Prince Edward Island this weekend as the UPEI Panthers host the 2022 Subway AUS Cross Country Championships presented by Bell on Saturday, October 29.

Championship races will be held at the Fox Meadow Golf Course in Stratford, P.E.I. with the women's 8km beginning at noon, followed by the men's 8km at 1 pm. You can tune in to both of this year’s championship races on AUStv.ca.

On the women's side, student-athletes representing eight AUS schools—Acadia, Dalhousie, Moncton, Memorial, Saint Mary's, UNB, UPEI and the U SPORTS eighth-ranked STFX—will compete for the 2022 title. The reigning champion STFX X-Women will be the team to beat on Saturday—their 2021 banner broke a seven-year streak for the Dalhousie Tigers and they've won the team title at both of this season's invitational meets.

Individual runners to watch include STFX’s Eileen Benoit (Windsor, N.S.), Allie Sandluck and Breanna Sandluck (Thorburn, N.S.), as well as Dalhousie’s Lauren Lowther (Antigonish, N.S.), who’ve all dominated the top three in 2022 meets so far. 

On the men’s side, runners representing Dalhousie, Memorial, Moncton, Saint Mary’s, STFX, UNB and UPEI will race for the banner. Currently, Dalhousie and STFX are ranked seventh and 10^th in U SPORTS standings, respectively.

The Dalhousie Tigers and STFX X-Men have been dominating the AUS men’s cross country championships for the last 19 years, with the Tigers taking the last two conference banners home. So far in 2022, both Dalhousie and STFX topped team standings once.

Runners who’ve seen the podium on the men’s side this season include STFX’s Jacob Benoit (Windsor, N.S.) and perennial favourite Andrew Peverill (Sackville, N.S.) from Saint Mary's—who’ve both won gold medals in 2022—Dalhousie’s Will Cox (Ottawa, ON), Memorial’s Levi Moulton (Paradise, NL), the Huskies’ Rory McGarvey (Belleville, ON) and X-Men’s Liam Patterson (Toronto, ON).

The major awards, championship banners, individual medals and all-star awards will be presented following Saturday’s races. The top 14 finishers of each race will be named 2022 AUS all-stars while major award winners include athletes of the year, rookies of the year, student-athlete community service award recipients, and coaches of the year.

Both races will be broadcast live on AUStv.ca. Qualifying runners will move on to compete in the U SPORTS Cross Country Championships, co-hosted by Dalhousie and Saint Mary’s on November 12, 2022.