Battling unseasonable heat and swarms of mosquitoes, a record 275 runners turned out for the Moose Jaw Invitational Cross Country Meet on Wednesday afternoon in Wakamow Valley.
After the elementary runners hit the course to start the meet, the high school runners took over and Peacock came away with a win in the girls and boys race.
Libby Epoch and Graeme Fish were both able to pull away from the competition for sizeable wins in the high school race.
“We’ve been coming down here a lot and training at lunchtime on this course, so I felt really confident with it, I know it really well,” said Epoch, who also finished atop the senior girls division.
Epoch finished in front of Central’s Taylor Kell in the race and said she was happy with the race that she was able to run, leading from start to finish.
“I’ve gained some more muscle, so that helps with the hills and stuff,” said Epoch. “Sometimes for cross country I’m able to pull away more on the hills because they’re more my thing and (Kell) is better on the straight aways.”
The high school cross country season is compact with just two weeks making up the entire schedule. For Epoch, it’s even tighter as she plays volleyball with Peacock as well and had a busy basketball schedule over the summer.
“It’s still just like a four or five week season for me,” she said. “Right from basketball to cross country, so I just get to the running that I do at practice.”
Despite the limited training, Epoch is hoping to be golden at districts on Tuesday and provincials next Saturday.
“It will be harder this year because I’m a senior, so I’ll have the grade 12s against me too,” said the grade 11 student.
Fish is in the same predicament that Epoch is in as he is also busy training for another sport, focusing on speed skating, while trying to put in as much work as possible towards cross country.
“I haven’t got out as much this year because I’ve been training for skating, but it was good to finally get back to running,” he said.
Cross country and long distance speed skating can go hand in hand as far as training goes and Fish said he sees the benefits from training for both sports.
“I’m good at long distance and this really helps with it,” he said. “I like the hills, it tires the other people out and it’s kind of my advantage over them.”
Fish started out in a battle for top spot with Central’s Nathan Avery, but then was able to pull away. Avery ended up in third place, while Peacock’s Kalen Roney came in second in the senior boys division.
“I just go as hard as I can, it doesn’t really matter,” said Fish. “If I show my best effort, that’s all I really like.”
At the high school level, Emma Schaeffer of Peacock won the midget girls division, while Katherine McDougall, also of Peacock, was second and Makinley Okraincee from Glentworth came in third.
Vanier’s Tannis Carle won the junior girls divison, edging out Peacock’s Emily Deoblad and teammate Gabrielle Sanson.
Hunter Bosch from Vanier won the midget boys division. He finished in front of Peacock’s Jackson Woloschuk and Vanier’s Braiden Ferguson.
Meko Cridland from Peacock won the junior boys division, beating out a pair of Central runners in Alex Fish and Alabagi Dukuly.
On the elementary side, Reece Newkirk of Sunningdale won the senior boys, Sunningdale also took the junior boys with Julian Steinke, Dylan Boughen also of Sunningdale won the midget boys, Westmount’s Dyalan Anderson and Caleb Newkirk of Sunningdale topped the peewee boys.
Manteya Dumelie took top spot in the senior girls, while Lindale’s Caitlyn Johnson won the junior girls, Serena Schlamp from Palliser Heights claimed the midget girls and Sunningdale’s Aria Swanson won the bantam girls.
Fri, Apr 19, 9:00 AM
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