This is part of an ongoing series of profiles to highlight the achievements of Sheridan's varsity student athletes academically and competitively. To view the rest of the Student Athlete Spotlight profiles, click here.

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IT IS CRITICAL in any fact-finding career to gather information and discover truths, and often the most direct route is by asking the right questions. Jaskirat Aujla, a cross country runner and 2018 graduate of the Community and Justice Services program, knows the value of questions and plans to put them to use as a member of the police force.

 

"You can never ask enough questions," he says. "They are the path to gaining all of our answers."

 

While he entered Sheridan inquisitive by nature, his experience in the classroom only expanded his ability to reach the truth by asking. Aujla arrived in the third year of the revived cross country program and played a role in helping establish the team as a contender. Prior to his arrival, the team had placed 13th out of 16 teams in the 2015 OCAA Championship, but they climbed to an eighth place result during his first season, and last year, they won Ontario bronze and made their first appearance as a team at the national championship. 

 

"We could not have made it without Danny [Webster] our coach, and the veterans who built a strong foundation for the freshmen to run on," he says.

 

It's said that a rising tide lifts all boats and the same is true for Aujla and the cross country team. He posted a 44th place finish in the 2016 OCAA Championship and in his second year - just as the team entered the national rankings for the first time - he picked up his best full-field result when he placed 31st in the Fleming Invitational last fall. By the time his two years in Double Blue had ended, he had garnered a pair of individual accolades, earning OCAA All-Academic and CCAA National Scholar Athlete recognition in 2016-17.    

 

He now heads off to begin his career, having learned the valuable lessons that perseverance is key and that doing your part for your teammates is the pinnacle of team sports.  

 

"If you've exhausted all of your will and think you are at your limit, then so is the person you're competing against," he says. "All you need is to do is outlast them, and if you feel truly desperate don't do it for yourself, do it for the team, and you won't burn out anytime soon."