The conditions were picturesque for cross country running, last week.
The weather was warm and the skies were clear Thursday throughout the entire duration of the St. Paul Athletics Association (SPAA) Cross Country Finals, which were held at the Ross Lake Campground in Whitney Lakes Provincial Park for the very first time. In recent years this event has been held annually at Westcove.
Jonathan Randall, the athletic director of FG Miller Jr./Sr. High School who served as an organizer of this competition, said the time was right to make a venue change.
“We figured it would be good to have a new location, and have our school host the event. We have been doing lots of positive things at our school and hosting an event like this shows the positive growth we are experiencing at our school.”
Ross Lake received positive reviews at the conclusion of the meet.
“It was a beautiful day at Ross Lake Provincial Park,” said Hank Smid, the athletic director of St. Paul Regional High School. “The course was great for our senior high runners. Jonathan Randall and his team did a great job organizing and running the race. Holding it at Ross Lake this year alleviated some safety concerns that we had at Westcove. Not that it was not safe at Westcove, but we did not have these issues at this year’s venue. For the first competition there, it went extremely well.”
Brad Tillapaugh, the athletic director of Mallaig School, was also complimentary of Ross Lake also. “Ross Lake was a beautiful location to hold the run. It was very scenic with the course being right next to the lake. It was a challenging course with lots of ups and downs and varying terrain (gravel, dirt, sand) to challenge the athletes. I was very pleased with the quality and difficulty of the run.”
Ross Lake will now be playing host to Cross Country Zone Championships on Oct. 7.
Competition
The day saw 12 total races being run between the different grade levels, with the course being altered slightly to account for differing distances. Grade 7 to 12 students were welcome to compete. Grade 6 students were given permission to run the course for fun and practice for next year.
Schools received points for their top three finishers in each category, and then those points were added up to determine which teams would return to school with a banner in tow.
The banner results were an exact repeat of last year’s results. St. Paul Regional collected the senior high boys banner; Mallaig captured the senior high girls banner and Racette Junior High once again managed to collect both the junior boys and girls banners.
“We can always tell how hard our kids work when they come across the finish line,” said Smid. “We were very pleased and proud of those who gave their best.”
Top-Three Finishers:
C Girls (2000m):
Taylor Hebert, Racette – 8:17
Denver Graling. Racette – 8:54
Brooklynn Dolejsi, Two Hills – 9:05
C Boys (2000m):
Dante Devlin, Mallaig – 7:44
Liam Ludlage, FG Miller – 8:02
Cameron Hyska, Myrnam -8:07
B Girls (2000m):
Alycia Cole, Glen Avon – 8:21
Hannah Faucher, Racette – 8:29
Madison Leroux, Racette – 8:44
B Boys (2000m):
David Medema, Mallaig – 7:42
Dustin Dubrule, Racette – 7:44
Jakob Martin, Racette – 7:48
A Girls (3000m):
Abigail Zieverink. Racette – 13:46
Dawn Faichney, Glen Avon – 14:03
Taylor Fedoruk, Racette – 14:29
A Boys (3000m):
Braden Hnatiw, Racette – 12:02
Joshua Foote, Racette – 12:03
Andy Kozicki, Two Hills – 12:06
Junior Girls (3000m):
Haley Kwan, Mallaig – 13:31
Bobbie Osbourne, Mallaig – 13:52
Sydney Theroux, Glendon – 14:10
Junior Boys (4000m):
DJ Drobot, FG Miller – 15:23
Brenden Levasseur, Regional – 15:28
Jesse Osbourne, Mallaig – 15:45
Intermediate Girls (4000m):
Mienna Starosielski, Mallaig – 19:07
Brooke Corbiere, Mallaig – 19:17
Courtney Hebert, Regional – 20:00
Intermediate Boys (5000m):
Bowen Krider, FG Miller – 20:11
Nathen Palsitt, Two Hills – 20:28
Brett Seguin, Mallaig – 20:59
Senior Girls (4000m):
Danielle Chamberland, Regional – 17:52
Marissa Muench, Regional – 20:13
Hayley Theroux, Glendon – 20:27
Senior Boys (6000m):
Romeo Cardines, Regional – 25:54
Logan Hellquist, Regional – 27:01
Ryan Martin, FG Miller, 27:12
