Marcel Dufault ran up, down and around opposing defenders as Grant Park's star running back in high school. But it wasn't until grade 11 that he found his true calling as a track and field sprinter.

Inspired by the performance of Team Canada's Andre De Grasse, he decided to give the sport a try for the first time in grade 11. It certainly helped that his coach was the 'speed guru' Glenn Bruce, who has helped players all the way from the NFL to amateur levels reach their goals.

With Bruce's help, Dufault started to turn in strong performances at meets across the city, drawing the attention of former Bisons coach and current UNB track and field head coach Chris Belof.

But according to the humble athlete, it wasn't until he made Manitoba's 4x100 relay team at the 2017 Canada Summer Games (CSG) that he truly felt he could do something in the sport. His abilities at the CSG also caught the eye of Bisons head coach Claude Berube, who brought him into the fold in 2017.

With the help of long-time speed and power coach Alex Gardiner, Dufault continued to make immense strides with the Bisons.

"He really focuses on specific points of contact with the ground," Dufault says of Gardiner's approach to training.

"We spent a long time focusing on proper striding and then kind of eased our way into other things like tempo running. He also loves working on getting out of the blocks. We'd do a start simulation and from there he'll watch and see what kind of flaws we have with our drive and what not."

Dufault's rookie season was a memorable one, both for positive and negative reasons. He was dealing with tonsillitis for the majority of the year and missed a lot of practices and meets.

"It was really weird, because I'd be going through training and then I'd get sick. And it'd be kind of a setback."

Despite his illness, the second-year athlete continued to power through training, noting how much of an impact the workouts had on his growth as a runner.

"In high school, it wasn't a full routine that I had. There was just a workout here and there and run with [Glenn] Bruce whenever. But here you're devoted to a whole program, so you've got to lift this day, run the next day and it was just a full cycle. Getting myself into that rhythm helped me grow so much."

Dufault pulled up to last year's Canada West Track & Field Championships – hosted by Manitoba – still somewhat sick. But in surprising fashion, he not only ran a personal best in the 60m but also finished second and qualified for U SPORTS nationals with a time of 6.95 seconds.

"Everyone was shocked," he says with a laugh. "It might've been the rest that actually helped me."

Dufault's schedule was back on track as he prepped for nationals, as he was no longer dealing with a lingering illness. But his nerves almost got the best of him at the big event.

"I can't remember if it was the prelims or the finals, but one of them I twitched because I was so nervous. They didn't give me a card or anything because other people were twitching."

When push came to shove though, Dufault came up clutch, finishing third in the finals of the 60m with a time of 6.88 seconds.

"After the race, I thought I came out fifth or something," he says nonchalantly. "Sure enough, my name popped up third. I was just so locked in. I knew I finished the race and felt good. It didn't feel like I PB'd or anything, but I guess I did."

Dufault's performance even caught Berube off guard a bit.

"He was definitely the biggest surprise for us last year," the head coach says.

"He came in out of high school as a decent 60m guy and we talked to him and that kind of thing, but nothing that jumped off the page at us. But he just made tremendous improvements."

It's hard to top that phenomenal of a rookie year, however that's exactly what Dufault will attempt to do this season.

Naturally, he's got big ambitions.

"As long as I can maintain my PB that would be nice, because that's the U SPORTS standard. "My main goal is to break the Bison record though. I think it's somewhere around 6.81."