Dalhousie wins big at Atlantic University Sport tournaments as season winds down

Hundreds of student athletes took part in Atlantic University Sport championship tournaments over the weekend and the ones wearing black and gold had a lot of success.

The Dalhousie Tigers laid claim to several championships and individual honours at events in several locations.

Nova Scotia athletes led the charge for the Tigers at the track and field championships held in Moncton including three athletes who were all formerly team mates at Avon View High School in Windsor.

Dan Lord, named the male most valuable player of the AUS championship, won four medals including two gold. He won gold in the 600-metre race and silver in the 300-metre race. He also ran the anchor leg for the Tigers gold-medal winning 4 x 400 and silver-medal winning 4 x 200 relay teams.

He set an AUS record in the 600-metre race, eclipsing the previous mark set by Zach James, another Avon View alumnus who runs for Dalhousie, who set the record last year.

"I didn't know at the start of this year if I was going to be any good at the 600-metre distance because I had moved up from running the 300 last year," said Lord, a student in Dalhousie's school of nursing. "It was a big surprise for me to get the record on the Moncton track because it's a bit slower than most tracks, so it really was a cool surprise."

Another Dalhousie runner and former Avon View teammate, Jacob Benoit, won gold in the men's 3,000-metre race. The Hants County runners paved the way for the Tigers men's team to win the team title.

Lord credits their success at the university level to the coaching they received at Avon View from coaches Paula and Edward James, Zach's parents.

"I'm proud to be a part of our group from Avon View and it's been cool having Jacob and Zach as teammates," said Lord. "It almost feels like we're all back in high school again."

Dalhousie's women's team also won the top-team banner. Twenty-three members of the Dalhousie track team, including Lord, Benoit and James, qualified to compete in the USports nationals in Winnipeg next month.

The men's and women's AUS basketball titles were handed out Sunday at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax. The Saint Mary's women's team beat the University of New Brunswick Reds 64-49 meaning they've now won back-to-back titles and six AUS championships in the last eleven years.

The  Saint Mary's Huskies defence turned it up a notch in the fourth quarter to cruise to the win.

"Playing good defence has kind of been our mantra all year and that's why we were the best defensive team in regards to points given up this season," said Huskies coach Scott Munro.

Alaina McMillan scored 22 points in the final for Saint Mary's and was named the tournament MVP for the second straight year. Playing in front of a large crowd, McMillan got the fans going in the second half.

"With the fourth quarter about to start and we were down by four points, the song Country Roads was being played and there was Alaina standing at centre court and she got the whole crowd going on both sides," said Munro.

"I think that was the turning point because it kind of loosened us up and provided some great energy."

Up next is the USports final eight tournament in Edmonton with the Huskies traveling to Alberta next week.

On the men's side of the draw, Dalhousie beat St. Francis Xavier University in overtime as tournament MVP Malcolm Christie scored 21 points in the Tigers 77-67 win. The X-Men forced overtime by making a three point shot as time expired.

Dalhousie will now head to nationals in Quebec City.

Dalhousie also came up the big winners at the AUS swimming championships at Dalplex. Both the Dal men's and women's team won the team titles with Acadia finishing second.

Ten Dalhousie swimmers qualified for the upcoming nationals in Montreal, including some who have qualified for multiple events.