Cara MacDonald and Lukas Rudaitis clutch national track and field medals
MacDonald breaks 31-year-old program record
Dalhousie University track athletes Lukas Rudaitis and Cara MacDonald shone at the U Sports national championships in Winnipeg, with Rudaitis earning a national medal in the 1,000-metre and MacDonald breaking a 31-year university record in the 600-metre.
The Tigers sent 10 athletes to the University of Manitoba for the national championships.
Rudaitis, a master of science student, had his hands full running in three events. The 4×400-metre relay team placed 12th, and Rudaitis placed in the top five in both his individual events.
Despite focusing his expectations on the 1,000-metre race, Rudaitis surprised himself with a fourth-place finish in the 600-metre race.
In the 1,000-metre race, Rudaitis wanted to make some noise and did, crossing the finish line as the third fastest runner and winning a national medal. He said his teammates pushing him to be better got him to that moment.
“It’s been huge in terms of building confidence in workouts and building confidence in races to be able to see myself, and see ourselves, in a medal position on the national stage,” Rudaitis said.
MacDonald had her U Sports sights on the 600-metre and two relay races, including the 4×400-metre relay team, which earned a top Atlantic University Sport finish.
The third-year science student finished the U Sports championships with two Dalhousie varsity records in the 600-metre and 4×800 relay. She took home a silver medal in the 600-metre, breaking a Dal record that stood for 31 years, first in the preliminaries and then again in the final.
“It was a cool moment,” MacDonald said.
During training, Tigers head coach Richard Lehman said that even though MacDonald’s teammates were running fast, she was ahead of the pack.
“She was Superman,” he said.
Conference success
The Tigers’ track and field success this season began at the conference level, with the women’s team claiming its 35th straight AUS title and the men’s team capturing its 10th consecutive title.
Lukas Rudaitis was awarded the Male Track Athlete of the Year award after a tight win for the Tigers’ men’s team at the AUS championships, as they outpaced the University of New Brunswick 142-127.
Rudaiti finished second in the 1,000-metre run and earned a top finish on the 4×400-metre relay team.
“It was a bit of a breakout season for me,” Rudaitis said.
On the women’s side, Cara MacDonald sprinted to a top AUS time in the 600-metre race, guiding the Tigers’ women’s team to a 41-point victory, with 127 points. UNB and Memorial University of Newfoundland followed behind with 86 and 85 points, respectively.
