VANCOUVER – The UBC track and field team will seek its third consecutive Achilles Cup on Monday in the annual dual meet between the Thunderbirds and the Simon Fraser University Clan. Dating back to 2003, SFU has six victories to UBC's five, as well as a tie in the event's inaugural year. Simon Fraser won three consecutive Achilles Cup titles from 2010 to 2012, the longest winning streak by either team. UBC has a chance to match that feat on Monday.

Last season, the UBC women were the difference makers with a 15-point edge as the SFU and UBC men finished tied, en route to a cumulative score of 121-106. With victories in two consecutive seasons, UBC's overall record sits at 5-6-1 entering Monday's competition.

Not only are both institutions the only Canadian universities in their respective association, UBC in the NAIA and SFU in the NCAA's Division II, the cross-town rivals have very similar lineups on paper. Scoring will be based on a total of 22 events, spanning three hours on Monday afternoon at Terry Fox Field.

The event begins with the women's 200 metres on the track, and the men's javelin in the field at 4:30 p.m., and concludes with the men's 4x400-metre relay at 7:25 p.m., which could very well determine Monday's victor. It will also be a memorable day for UBC head coach Marek Jedrzejek, who will be coaching his final Achilles Cup.

The 1,500- and 800-metre events will be the toughest events to predict as both teams have a number of national-calibre All-Americans in the pipeline. Coming off NAIA Athlete of the Week honours for the second time this season, Maria Bernard (Calgary) will make her season debut in the 1500, and has the NAIA-leading time in both the steeplechase, 5,000m, and third-leading time in the 10,000m. Her 9:53.71 performance in the 3,000m steeplechase last week at the Mt. SAC Relays currently ranks 12th in the world.

For SFU, Lindsey Butterworth has the leading 800m time in the NCAA Div. II thanks to a 2:05.86 clocking while also having the second-best time in the 1500m (4:18.34). At the time, Butterworth's 1500m was the eighth fastest in NCAA Div. II history, but has since been passed in this season's ranking by Hillsdale's Emily Oren. For UBC, Devan Wiebe (Vancouver), Tamara Harris (New Westminster, B.C.), and Kirsten Lee (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) are among top T-Birds to challenge for valuable points.

In the men's distance events, Justin Kent (Surrey, B.C.) and Jack Williams (White Rock, B.C.) are coming off great weekends at the Mt. SAC Relays and will have to continue that Monday. Simon Fraser has three 1500m athletes ranked in the top 17 in the NCAA Div. II, including Cameron Proceviat (3:47.09), Travis Vugteveen (3:47.63), and Marc-Antoine Rouleau (3:48.55). Former GNAC Freshman of the Year Oliver Jorgensen could also be a factor.

The T-Birds top performing 800m runner this season in Lukas Jarron (Ajax, Ont.), coming off a 1:51.60 personal best clocking, will look to challenge Proceviat (1:49.64) for the 800m bragging rights.

Another tightly-contested event will be the men's long jump, which features UBC's Oded Aminov (Richmond, B.C.) and SFU's Vladislav Tsygankov. Aminov will move from the triple jump, where he has a personal best of 14.29 metres, and try to maintain pace with Tsygankov who has already leapt 7.37 metres in the long jump this season, fourth all-time in GNAC history.

In the men's 100m, Stephen Abosi has the top lifetime best of the field at 10.79 seconds, a feat the Gaborone, Botswana, native achieved at the UBC Open on March 28. Countering for SFU, Jerry He has a team-leading time of 11.55 seconds this year. Look for Mark Coles (Calgary) and Connor Smith (Grimsby, Ont.) to vie for the T-Birds' second spot.

In the men's 400m, Simon Fraser's Joel Webster is coming off a personal-best performance, running 47.99 seconds, en route to the third fastest time in GNAC (Great Northwest Athletic Conference) history. UBC will look to Eric Pollard (Victoria, B.C.) and Thomas Kellner (Calgary) to weather the storm.

In the women's javelin, UBC's Christine Ausman (Ottawa) and Selina Byer of SFU have near identical season bests with Ausman's 42.90-metre throw slightly superior to Byer's 42.22-metre toss. T-Birds thrower Smith is the overwhelming favorite in the men's javelin and has a 15-metre edge over SFU's best thrower this season.

Other deep events include the women's 400m hurdles, where UBC's Katherine Tourigny (Vancouver) and Sarah Korpach (White Rock, B.C.) will mix it up with Simon Fraser's Monique Lisek. Tourigny is coming off a great weekend in California where the sophomore ran the NAIA's second-leading time in 61.55 seconds, a half-second advantage over Lisek for best in the field.