Six members of the StFX Rowing team recently competed at the Canada Games, held in the Niagara region of Ontario. The Nova Scotian rowing team had its best-ever showing, earning five medals in competition and placing third overall. StFX students’ residency renders them eligible to represent Nova Scotia at the Canada Games; thus, Peter MacGregor (Thunder Bay, ON) and Jack Petrunick (St. Catharine’s, ON) joined Madison Taljaard (Dartmouth, NS) and Emma Smith (Antigonish, NS) on the Nova Scotian rowing team. Incoming first-year Morgan Stull represented New Brunswick in rowing, and Chloe Stubbert competed in athletics for New Brunswick.
Ms. Smith, who studies biology with a psychology minor, only joined the StFX Rowing team last summer. She quickly established herself as a highly competent coxswain, who steers the boat and is responsible for the execution of the race plan and the motivation of her athletes. Selection to a provincial team in one’s first year of rowing is very unusual and speaks to Ms. Smith’s work ethic and devotion to her crews. She led the women’s 8 boat to a fifth-place finish at the Games; the line-up included her StFX teammate, Ms. Taljaard, in the bow seat.
The two Xaverians competed together at the Canadian University Rowing Championships last fall, also in the women’s 8. Ms. Taljaard, a multi-sport athlete, had previously represented Nova Scotia at the Winter Canada Games in biathlon. An accomplished cross-country skier, rifle shooter, equestrienne, and rower, Ms. Taljaard competed in both the 8 and the lightweight double this past weekend at the summer Canada Games, earning fifth with the 8 and sixth with the double. She is enrolled in the BSc program in psychology and spends her summers coaching rowing in Dartmouth.
Mr. Petrunick came to StFX from Ridley College and is the most experienced of the StFX rowers to compete at the Games. Attending the Canada Games in his hometown, St. Catharine’s, was a “very special ‘full circle’ moment for me. I was overwhelmed by how much the city committed to the Games.” As a lightweight rower, Mr. Petrunick earned spots in both the heavyweight quadruple sculls and the men’s 8. He is in his final year in the human kinetics program, and has been a four-year rower at university. In his first year, he competed at the Canadian University Rowing Championships in Victoria, BC, placing sixth in the lightweight double. He placed fifth in the quad at the recent Canada Games, and fourth in the men’s 8 – an accomplishment he shared with his StFX teammate, Mr. MacGregor.
Mr. MacGregor, also majoring in biology, is the president of the StFX Rowing team, and a dedicated athlete. Immediately following Canada Games, he is participating in the Tip2Tip bike race, a 1000km route that takes cyclists from Clark’s Harbour to Meat Cove, Nova Scotia; they must finish the race in no more than five days, by August 31st … just in time for the StFX Rowing training camp! The fourth-place finish in the men’s 8 by both Mr. MacGregor and Mr. Petrunick is remarkable: Nova Scotia has not entered a men’s (or women’s) 8 at the Canada Games in more than 30 years, and these results speak to the incredible development of rowing in Nova Scotia in the past decade. He notes: “The summer Games really put Nova Scotia on the map for rowing in Canada. The experience of training hard and building relationships all summer is something I’ll never forget.”
Ms. Stubbert joined the StFX Rowing team as a novice last fall, quickly establishing herself as a gifted all-around athlete. For these Canada Games, she returned to her roots in athletics, competing for New Brunswick, her home province. She placed 14th in the triple jump, in a very tough field. Finally, incoming first-year rower Ms. Stull is coming to StFX from the Rothesay Netherwood School; she competed in both the women’s 8 and the women’s 4- for New Brunswick, achieving eighth and seventh, respectively.
These results are a strong indicator of success for the StFX Rowing team, which had previously sent one athlete to the Canada Games, in 2013. Head Coach Katie Edwards is ecstatic: “It’s difficult to express how proud I am of this group of student-athletes. Earning a spot on the provincial team for Games is one thing; it’s quite another to place among the top athletes in the country at the event itself. Our crew has shown incredible dedication these past months, traveling every weekend to the HRM to train with the others, and hosting a training camp here in Antigonish. I’m particularly pleased that these athletes will now bring their wonderful experiences from Games back to the StFX team; their performance has been a massive source of pride for me and their teammates.”
This November, the Canadian University Rowing Championships will take place on the same course in St. Catharine’s, and Mr. Petrunick is especially excited: “This year, we have lots to look forward to with great athletes and great people, which embodies what it means to row for StFX.”
