Université de Moncton to host best runners, throwers in conference this weekend
By Corey LeBlanc
(MONCTON, N.B.) Despite having to adjust constantly as part of an interrupted and abbreviated season—due to public heath measures taken to deal with the COVID-19 global pandemic—student-athletes are ready to showcase their talents this weekend at the 2022 Subway Atlantic University Sport (AUS) Track and Field Championships.
Hosted by the Université de Moncton, the meet is scheduled for Friday, March 18 and Saturday, March 19.
Steve LeBlanc—Les Aigles Bleus and Bleues head coach—says the university takes “great pride” in hosting “big events,” such as the conference championships.
“There is definitely a certain amount of homefield advantage in that we know the stadium very well, which is especially helpful to our throwers, who train in our circle, and our track athletes, who know the tight turns of the CEPS (Louis-J.-Robichaud) really well,” he explains, in touching on the “positives and negatives” of hosting.
“But, at the same time, hosting means our teams sometimes don't get the same chance to bond the way you do when you are traveling together.”
Noting that it has been “anything but a typical season,” including fewer meets, LeBlanc says, when it comes to how he expects from his team, “It is hard to say how things will go for us.”
With plenty of first-year competitors, he adds, they could have benefitted from having more meets.
“Nevertheless, I am really impressed with how the gang has stayed motivated and come together. It would be a very big success for us, if we could get both teams onto the podium, and I would not bet against them based on their determination,” LeBlanc says.
Like his provincial counterpart, Chris Belof—UNB Reds head coach—notes the unprecedented nature of the year, one he describes as “unique.”
“Unfortunately, it hasn’t been perfect,” he says.
Noting that the Dalhousie Tigers – both on the men’s and women’s sides—are “head and shoulders above the rest of us, for a variety of reasons,” Belof agrees reaching the podium is a realistic expectation.
“If not [the same],” we are a little bit better,” he says of the UNB women, a group that finished fourth in 2020.
And, when it comes to the menperennial silver-medal winners at the AUS level—Belof adds, “We are in a good, not a great place.”
Even so, he expects his Reds to be in the medal hunt in the team and individual events.
“We [women and men] will be ready to go.”
When it comes to the Tigers program that has dominated the conference, with its women and men capturing every team gold since 1989 and 2014, respectively, head coach Rich Lehman—like his colleagues—comments on a 2022 season he calls a “little bit different.”
“We have tried to make the best of it,” he says.
Lehman explains that “speed and power” athletes have been greatly affected, noting “ideal training” for them can only be achieved indoors.
Nevertheless, he adds, “I think we are where we need to be as a team.”
Describing it as “super well-rounded,” Lehman offers it is the “best version,” when it comes to the whole team of his more than decade-long tenure.
“We are going to be ready go,” he says.
As for the team competition, Lehman notes, “UNB has shot at winning on both sides.”
LeBlanc expects a “strong showing” by every team, considering that they are not only competing for conference supremacy, but also—for the first time—the national championship meet will be hosted by an AUS school, which will provide them with the chance to compete closer to home.
The UNB Reds will welcome varsity student-athletes to the Saint John's Irving Oil Field House for the 2022 U SPORTS Track and Field Championships, presented by Saint John LNG, on Thursday, March 31, Friday, April 1 and Saturday, April 2.