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Preview: Cross-country

Tigers prepare for another head-to-head matchup with StFX

 

Matt McNeil crossed the line in second at the AUS championship. (Chris Parent photo)
Matt McNeil crossed the line in second at the AUS championship in 2012 (Chris Parent photo)

The battle for cross-country supremacy between Dalhousie and St. FX is about to take new heights, and Tigers head coach Rich Lehman feels this is both squads’ most prepared year yet.

“This is the team,” Lehman says confidently. “I think St. FX has a very similar team to what they had last year, but I think ours is much better.”

Lehman, who is entering his third year as head coach of both teams, and his coaching staff worked vigorously throughout the offseason to ensure that both teams are able to compete at the highest caliber possible. He feels they are prepared to fine-tune how they approach each meet.

“We don’t want to dwell on how good [St. FX] is. We want them to start thinking about how good we are,” he says.

Leading the pack on the men’s side are Matt McNeil and Matthias Mueller. McNeil, who placed second overall at the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) championships last year, agrees with Lehman in regards to the team’s potential.

“Definitely in the four years I’ve been here this is the most promising year,” he says.

New additions to the men’s roster include Will Russell and Jacob Wing. Not returning to the Tigers lineup this year are Oliver Hathaway, Adam McGregor and Bruce Russell. Lehman says the transition has been going smoothly in the early stages of the season.

“Jake is right around the same level as Oliver,” he says. “Anyone that we lost, someone definitely stepped up and replaced them.”

Names to watch out for on the women’s side include Ellen Chappell, Coleen Wilson and Maddie Crowell. Similarly to McNeil, Chappell placed second overall at the AUS championships last year. Those not returning are dual-athlete Natalie Sachrajda and dual-athlete Anna Von Maltzahn.

Every year, both Tigers teams find themselves battling with St. FX for top spot. The X-Men have taken home the AUS banner the past three years. The last men’s cross-country team to win the championship that was neither Dal nor St. FX was UNB in 2001.

The women Tigers, on the other hand, have taken home the AUS title in three of the past four years.

Lehman stresses the importance in making their presence known in each individual race.

“It’s very hard to win an AUS championship if you haven’t beat [St. FX] at least once throughout the year,” he says. “The plan is, right from the first race, to let them know we’re there.”

Lehman says his approach to how each team will compete weekly will vary.

“With the women, it will be to keep the pedal down and not let any other team feel like they have a chance,” he says. “With the men, we want to be able to show [the X-Men] that we’re a more serious and competitive team than we’ve been.”

The Tigers that competed at the Canadian Interuniversity Championships (CIS) in London, Ont. last year achieved lackluster results, with both teams unable to crack the top 10. Lehman says it is mostly due to unpreparedness.

“When you’re in a situation where you have seven athletes and none of them run well, you don’t blame the athlete,” he says. “I don’t think as a coaching staff we put them in enough situations to really challenge themselves and go to the mental, emotional place where they needed to be.”

Despite the CIS blunder, Lehman believes this year’s team prepared to learn from their mistakes and make a stir in the CIS rankings this year.

AUS cross-country championships will be hosted in Halifax on Oct. 25.

 

 

 

 

 

Graeme Benjamin
Graeme Benjamin
Graeme is the Gazette's Sports Editor. He was the Assistant Sports Editor for Volume 145.
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