Hardy wins individual gold medal at AUS championship

Veteran fifth year X-Women runner Melissa Hardy is the AUS cross country women's individual champion, claiming top spot with a run of 22:52.45 on the 6km course Saturday afternoon in Moncton, N.B. at the Subway AUS cross country championship.

The X-Women team won the silver medal behind Dalhousie University who reclaimed the AUS conference championship from the X-Women, 2012 champs.

The Tigers had 27 points to StFX's 51. UNB finished third with 86 points, followed by Acadia (120), Memorial (127), Moncton (156), St. Thomas (204) and Saint Mary's (217).

Hardy ran to her first place finish beating a pair of Dalhousie runners in Ellen Chappell (23:06.09) and Natalie Sachrajda (23:14.72). With the gold medal performance she also took home the AUS most valuable athlete award. The Deer Lake, Nfld native was also honored for her accomplishments off the running trails as Hardy received the AUS female student-athlete community service award.

Hardy becomes the first X-Women to win the individual AUS title since Gina Stewart won gold in 2008.

Lynette Manuel was the next X-Women finisher in ninth place with a time of 23:43.79, while Alexa Zarins was  11th at 24:19.84.

Liz O'Connell (24:38.60) was 14th and a trio of X-Women placed 16th, 17th and 18th as Kendra MacNeil, Beth MacDonald and Ginny Anderson posted times of 25:45.07, 25:58.65 and 26:09.57.

The race featured 55 competitors.

The CIS national championship is scheduled for Nov. 9th in London, Ont. as Western University will play host to the top runners in the nation.