St. Paul Regional High School took second place among all 3A schools, at this year's high school provincial cross country championship race on Oct. 20 in Vermilion.
"We had an outstanding provincial championship at Vermilion . . . We took 28 students to the competition and each ran their best," said coach Hank Smid. "We ended up coming second in the province for 3A schools with 1,352 points. That was over 500 more points than last year, and our average point per athlete went from 40 points in 2017 to 50 points in 2018."
Regional High School's top finishers included Denver Graling coming in 33rd in the junior girls category; Taylor Fedoruk got 48th in senior girls; Dustin Dubrule got 30th in intermediate boys; and Tyler Duffy got 48th in senior boys.
A highlight for St. Paul Regional High School was that Alanna Mounce won the PARA Girls race and became an ASAA Provincial Champion.
"This was the first time that Alanna competed at a ASAA High School Provincial competition. We are very proud of her and all the work she has put into athletics over the past three years," said Smid.
A couple weeks ago, athletes competed at zones, also held in Vermilion. This time around, the weather was much warmer, and athletes weren't running through the snow. All of the student athletes saw their times dramatically improve by three to four minutes.
"This was partially due to the better course condition, and each of our runners digging deep and improving their time from zones," said Smid. "Because the course conditions were so poor at zones, we decided to take our team down on Friday prior to provincials and jog the course to better prepare our athletes for the course. We then also talked to them about what they could expect to prepare them mentally."
Other schools in the area also sent athletes to compete at provincials. Mallaig School also saw new personal bests set by its senior athletes.
FG Miller School sent nine students to compete at provincials.
"The weather was great, kids ran hard, and Nick Anderson was our top finisher in 58th place," said coach Jonathan Randall. "Vermilion did a great job, and the course was in great shape."
Athletes who finished in the top 18 at zones are given the opportunity to compete at provincials.
