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,"