ATHLETICS X-MEN FOOTBALL WINS SECOND CONSECUTIVE AUS BANNER

e StFX X-Men football team defeated the Mount Allison Mounties 21-14 in the 2022 AUS Loney Bowl to win their second consecutive conference championship banner, taking home the Jewett Trophy once again. e X-Men had a perfect 8-0 record in regular season competition and had 13 studentathletes honoured as AUS all-stars. e win earned them the right to host the U SPORTS Uteck Bowl national semi nal game at StFX Stadium against the Canada West champion Saskatchewan Huskies. e X-Men were tied 13-13 with the Huskies midway through the fourth quarter before SASK pulled o a 36-19 win.

X-WOMEN CROSS COUNTRY RUN AWAY WITH AUS CHAMPIONSHIP

e StFX X-Women Cross Country team won their second consecutive AUS championship this fall at the 10km championship race held in Charlottetown, PEI. ird-year runner Allie Sandluck was the overall individual champion, leading a strong StFX pack with ve of the top 10 nishers. e X-Women went on to a ninth-place nish at the U SPORTS national championship in Halifax, NS. e X-Men Cross Country team won the bronze medal at the AUS conference championship and were 15th at U SPORTS. Fourth-year runner Jacob Benoit was the individual AUS bronze medalist and came 11th overall nationally, earning second team all-Canadian status.

Championship

StFX Athletics and Sports & Entertainment Atlantic (S|E|A) will be hosting the U SPORTS Final 8 Men’s Basketball Championship at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, NS from March 10-12, 2023. Basketball fans will have the opportunity to cheer on the eight best university basketball teams in Canada, including the StFX X-Men as the host school.

Long-time StFX coach Steve ‘Coach K’ Konchalski will serve as the Honourary Chair of the event. Coach K retired in March 2021 a er serving 46 seasons as X-Men Basketball head coach. e winningest men’s basketball coach in Canadian university sport history, he won three national championships and nine AUS conference championships during his time at StFX.

Ticket packages for the championship are on sale now at www.ticketatlantic.com. More information on the 2023 U SPORTS Final 8 can be found at www.goxgo.ca/ nal8 and stay tuned for details on alumni reunions and events in Halifax in conjunction with the championship.

StFX X-Men football head coach Gary Waterman ’92 was the honoured recipient of the Frank Tindall Trophy as the top coach in the country for U SPORTS football. In his 14th year in charge at StFX, Coach Waterman led the X-Men to an undefeated 8-0 record and their second straight Loney Bowl championship – the h overall in his tenure. His X-Men currently have the longest active regular-season winning streak in the country (15 games), a run that began on Oct. 26, 2019. Waterman has a career coaching record of 66-55, including regular season and postseason play.

“Gary Waterman is, rst and foremost, an outstanding person. We are so proud of the work Gary has put into building our football program,” commented Leo MacPherson’89, StFX Director of Athletics & Recreation. “He drives a successful team culture through deep connections, caring and core values; it all starts with him as the value-set leader for the program.”

Waterman becomes only the second X-Men coach to win the Frank Tindall Trophy, following John Stevens in 1997.

GREY CUP CHAMPIONS!

StFX alumni Gregor MacKellar ’22 and Henoc Muamba ’11 are Grey Cup champions. e former X-Men Football athletes are members of the Toronto Argonauts who recently defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 24-23 to win the 2022 Canadian Football League (CFL) title. Muamba was honoured as the most valuable player and outstanding Canadian in the Grey Cup victory.

Muamba, along with several former X-Men teammates and his brothers, is also a founder of the LIFT Bursary, a $3,000 bursary for a Black student leader at StFX. Passionate about increasing diversity at StFX, Muamba wants to expand this bursary to nancially support more Black student leaders.

To learn more and donate, visit: www.alumni.stfx.ca/li bursary

Soccer And Rugby Wrap Up Competitive Seasons

e X-Men Soccer team had a successful AUS season this fall, posting a 7-3-2 regular season record in second place and qualifying for the AUS championship game. e X-Men fell 2-0 to Cape Breton but earned a berth in the U SPORTS national championship in Kamloops, BC. StFX lost a close quarter nal match to Montreal and then fell in penalty kicks to TMU in the consolation semi nal.

e X-Women Soccer team came in fourth place in the AUS standings with an 8-3-1 record and competed in the AUS championship. ey defeated Saint Mary’s 6-4 in the quarter nal but lost out 1-0 to Cape Breton in the semi nal game.

e X-Women Rugby team had a competitive regular season, placing third in the conference with a 3-3 record. ey lost a very close 14-12 game to eventual AUS champion UPEI in the semi nal playo game.