The X-Men cross country team are the two-time defending AUS champions, after running to championship victory Saturday afternoon in Halifax, and earning their third AUS banner in the past 4 years.

The X-Men had 5 runners in the top ten and tallied 21 points for the first place win, ahead of second place Dalhousie (36) and third place Memorial (86). Saint Mary’s rounded out the field with 100 points.

Dalhousie runner Russell Christie was the individual AUS champion and winner of the 10k race, finishing in a time of 32:17, and StFX took the next five positions.

The 2007 and 2008 AUS champion from StFX, David Gerych, was the second place finisher. Gerych crossed the line at 32:25, just 8 seconds behind Christie and challenged for the top spot throughout the race. 

His StFX teammates Petr Doubravsky (32:33), Lee McCarron (32:36) and Brent Addison (33:19) placed 3rd, 4th and 5th, respectively. John Corbit rounded out the top ten finishes for the X-Men with a 7th place run in a time of 33:59. All five of the X-Men runners earned AUS all-star distinction for their results.

Connor MacGuire, a freshman with StFX this season, placed 14th overall at 35:14 and Julian MacLean (36:06) was 17th. A total of 33 runners competed in the AUS championship race. 

X-Men head coach Bernie Chisholm earned AUS Coach of the Year honors, the fourth time he has received the distinction.

The X-Men will now travel to Kingston, ON on Nov. 14th to compete at the CIS national championship being hosted by Queen’s University. The X-Men had their best ever finish last year at the 2008 championship as they took home a silver medal. In addition, David Gerych has won individual CIS bronze at each of the past two national championships.