Submitted by RSS cross-country coach Jeff Wilson
After a great race here in Revelstoke, the Revelstoke Secondary Cross-Country Team hit the road for several meets in our region.
The first race was in Vernon at Kalamalka Lake Park. This race featured similar distances to the Revelstoke race and offered the same course lengths to boys and girls of the same age: four kilometres for the Juniors and 5.8km for the Seniors. In the Junior Boys, RSS had three boys in the top ten: Pierric Pasteur (4th), Francesco Morrone (7th), and Elliot Wilson placed 10th. The RSS Junior Girls also did well with Jaclyn Elliott and Kolibri Drobish placing 5th and 11th respectively. With strong finishes from Zoe Larson, Charlotte Paton, and Eden Thomas, the Junior Girls won 3rd place in the team category.
The Seniors were also able to find the podium in Vernon. In the Senior Boys, Erik Brosch placed 3rd, and the Senior Girls also did well with a second place finish from Kate Granstrom with Elizabeth Elliott finishing right behind her in third place.
Moving on the North Zone Championships, all runners were tested by a 5.5 km course. Junior racers were also allowed to ‘run-up’ to help form teams and so three Grade 8 boys –Pierric Pasteur, Francesco Morrone, and Elliot Wilson– joined Erik Brosch in the Senior category and these boys won the North Zone Championships.
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It was a similar story on for our Senior girls. Jaclyn Elliott and Kolibri Drobish “ran-up” with Alana Brittin and Kate Granstrom and they won the North Zone Championship in the Senior Girls category.
The Valley Championships were held the following week at Summerland Rodeo Grounds. The start lines were much bigger as 304 high school students from around our region raced raced through trails spotted with cacti and ponderosa pines. Hayden Mallett qualified for the Provincials with his 18th place finish and Kolibri Drobish ran to a 12th place finish in her category.
The story of the Valleys, however, was watching the RSS Senior Girls earn 4 spots in the top ten: Elizabeth Elliott was 4th, Alana Brittin 5th, Kate Granstrom was 9th, and Jaclyn Elliott placed 10th. As a team of four, this crew was unbeatable and when the scores were tallied, they had won the Okanagan Valley Championships for RSS. This fast group of girls will be heading off to Vancouver in November to test their mettle against the best runners in BC as individuals and regional champions in the team category.
Photos submitted.
