Regional High School gets zone banner for 16th year in a row

St. Paul Regional High School athletes offered strong showings at the Northeast Alberta Schools' Athletic Association zone competition, held in Vermilion on Oct. ? The school came away with the zone banner, and will be sending 29 athletes to provincials.

"We were really excited about the outcome and feel that we prepared our students for the competition," said Hank Smid, one of the Regional High School cross country coaches. "Last year, we had only two medallists, and this year we had five with Tyler Duffy taking bronze in senior boys, Taylor Fedoruk taking silver in senior girls, and Alanna Mounce winning gold in para, Dustin Dubrule winning gold in intermediate boys and Denver Graling also taking gold in junior girls."

Regional had 35 athletes compete at zones. The top 18 from each race advance to provincials.

"There was quite a bit of snow in Vermilion. We knew they got more than we did last weekend and their organizing committee worked hard preparing for the competition," said Smid. "They actually got their snow grooming equipment out for cross country skiing and packed down the snow. They had up to 18 inches of snow in areas. So we raced on six inches of compacted snow. The day of the competition was actually quite nice with minimal wind and sunny skies."

This is the 16th year in a row that Regional has won the zone championship for 3A schools.

"We also outscored all schools who competed. We have seen nice growth in our program over the past three years and this year is no exception," said Smid. "Cross country training is hard work and we have students who are willing to put in the time. We commented to each other that we have both quality and quantity runners."

Provincials will also take place in Vermilion, which is a benefit to the competitors who just competed at zones.

"We are very curious to see what the weather will do and whether or not the snow will melt and how dry the course will be next Saturday. Regardless, we will be ready and our students will give their best effort."

Students will head to Vermilion the day before the provincial competition and job the course, to get a sense of the footing. Then, athletes will go home and have a good sleep before heading back to Vermilion for the Oct. 20 competition.

Top individual zone cross country results

Local results of athletes finishing in the top 18^th and securing a spot at provincials.

Junior Boys

Mallaig School – Dante Devlin – 5^th

FG Miller – Liam Ludlage – 8th

SPRHS – Reid Fedoruk – 13^th

FG Miller – Mathew Quinney – 14th

SPRHS – Legend Cardinal – 16^th

SPRHS - Davis Warren – 17^th

Intermediate boys

SPRHS – Dustin Dubrule – 1^st

FG Miller – Ty Smereka – 11^th

Ashmont – Gabe Jackson – 12^th

Mallaig – Patrick Corbiere – 16^th

FG Miller – Hank Rogal – 17^th

Senior Boys

SPRHS – Tyler Duffy – 3^rd

FG Miller – Nick Anderson – 4^th

SPRHS – Daniel Hebert – 5^th

SPRHS – Matthieu Bardal – 8^th

SPRHS – Owen Breast – 11^th

FG Miller – Chase Dorey – 12^th

FG Miller – Kaiden Evans-Anderson – 13^th

Junior Girls

SPRHS – Denver Graling – 1^st

SPRHS – Mikayla Smily – 7^th

SPRHS – Jaynna Gogowich – 8^th

SPRHS – Jordan Gerlinsky – 10^th

SPRHS – Paityne Chartrand – 11^th

FG Miller – Rhianna Bjorkman – 12^th

Mallaig – Brooke Dechaine – 15^th

SPRHS – Taylor Paradis – 18^th

Intermediate Girls

SPRHS – Hannnah Faucher – 6^th

SPRHS – Cameron Kuzma – 7^th

SPRHS – Alycia Cole – 9^th

SPRHS – Kaylee Krawchuck – 10^th

SPRHS – Brook Kotowich – 11^th

Mallaig – Payton Smith – 13^th

FG Miller – Jorja Theriault – 14^th

FG Miller – Tenille Ballas – 15^th

Glendon – Nikayla Whelen – 16^th

Two Hills – Sasha Fox – 17^th

Glendon – Janelle Tran – 18^th

Senior Girls

SPRHS – Taylor Fedoruk – 2^nd

SPRHS – Cassidy Lysons – 5^th

Mallaig – Haley Dechaine – 6^th

SPRHS – Abigail Zievernick – 7^th

SPRHS – Megan Adkins – 8^th

FG Miller – Abby Baker – 11^th

SPRHS – Brooklyn Riopel – 12^th

SPRHS – Morgan Gerlinsky – 13^th

SPRHS – Kristina Kotowich – 14^th

Two Hills – Kendall Musgrave – 10^th

FG Miller – Same Urquhart – 17^th

Para

SPRHS – Alanna Mounce – 1^st