U SPORTS No. 2 ranked Laval Rouge et Or sweep top three spots at UNB/STU Invitational

(FREDERICTON, NB)—The U SPORTS No. 2 ranked Laval Rouge et Or swept the top three spots in the third meet on the 2021 Atlantic University Sport men's cross country schedule, Saturday, in Fredericton. 

Laval's Thomas Fafard (Repentigny, QC) won the eight-kilometre race, run at Fredericton's Kingswood Park, in a time of 24:38. 

He beat teammates Jean-Simon Desgagnes (Quebec City, QC) and Jonathan Tedeschi (Montreal, QC) across the line. 

Andrew Peverill (Lower Sackville, NS), of the Saint Mary's Huskies, was the top AUS runner, finishing fourth, just behind the Laval trio. 

"I knew it was going to be a bit of a faster race and Thomas decided to push out from the start of the race, and I decided I might as well go with him," said Peverill, who led or ran second through much of the first half of the race. "I thought it was going well, but on the third lap, I started to feel it a little bit and ended up falling back, but it was a fun race." 

Six visiting Rouge et Or runners finished in the top ten. 

Jacob Benoit (Windsor, NS), of the St FX X-Men, was the second AUS runner across the line, finishing 7th overall, while Jared Howse (Red Deer, AB), of the host UNB REDS was ninth overall and 3rd among AUS competitors. 

"I'm really happy with this result, especially after my workouts going into this week," said Howse. "I was a bit fatigued during the week, but I thought this went well and I had quite a bit of energy, even over the last lap." 

UNB's William Boyle ran 11th overall and was fifth overall among the AUS runners. 

"I liked the course," said Howse. "A lot of rolling hills, not many switchbacks, which was kind of nice. I liked the long stretches of hills, down into a flat. You could really get going on those." 

The event was run under an almost constant rain and in cool temperatures. 

Next up, the AUS Championship, in Moncton, on October 30th. 

RESULTS 

RECAP AND PHOTOS: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics