SUBMITTED PHOTO BILL CORCORAN
Medicine Hat College Rattlers' newest runners Gage Smith, Desirae Stuber, stand alongside MedHat Panthers/Eagle Butte coach Darryl Smith, and the Rattlers other new runners Madison Scrimger and Justin Jaeger Wednesday.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat College Rattlers running team added four local athletes to the roster Tuesday.
Grade 12 runners Desirae Stuber, Justin Jager, Madison Scrimger and Gage Smith put pen to paper and committed to attend Medicine Hat College in the fall and be a part of their running team, the Rattlers announced Tuesday via Instagram.
All four represented Medicine Hat and area at cross country provincials last fall with Stuber and Jager running for Eagle Butte high, Scrimger representing Crescent Heights and Smith donning Hat High green.
Rattlers running head coach Bill Corcoran said finding and signing local talent has always been a focus of his. He said it’s something he’s carried on from his time coaching in Prince George and winning with their local talent.
“Winning was pretty sweet to begin with but winning with local talent that we were able to develop was just doubly or triply sweet,” Corcoran said. “To get the four best, local runners this year, coming out of Medicine Hat to come in is huge for our program.”
Scrimger finished in 13th place at the provincial five-kilometre run in October with Stuber only 10 places behind her. Smith and Jager finished 25th and 26th in the senior boys six-kilometre provincial race.
The 2021-22 XC season marked the first year of competitive running for Stuber, but she still managed to qualify for provincials. In the post announcing her signing, she said she chose the Rattlers because she is looking forward to meeting a wide variety of people and forming new friendships with the students in cross country and track. Scrimger said she chose the local school because she wanted to stay close to home.
Stuber will be studying science and Scrimger will take nursing while running for the Rattlers, while Smith and Jager will both be taking a bachelor of science.
In the post announcing his signing, Smith said he chose MHC because it’s his local college and he’s trained with the Rattlers in the past. Jager said the college has an amazing atmosphere and he is excited to pursue his academic and athletic goals in his hometown.
Corcoran added the four new Rattlers will go through a track season with their respective high schools before hopefully attending a couple runs in the summer ahead of the fall Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference season starts up.
When asked what it means to him seeing how strong the running talent is in the MedIcine Hat area with his newest Rattlers, Corcoran said it reminded him of a quote from Arthur Lydiard, a New Zealand distance coach.
“Champions are born in every neighbourhood, it’s just a matter of identifying them and working with them,” Corcoran said. “There’s a lot of local talent here but to get these four kids who’ve been identified as some of the best in the program is huge for our program.”
Rattlers running competing in ACAC championship this weekend
The Rattlers running team will head to Edmonton this weekend for the ACAC indoor track championship meet.
They will take eight runners, four men and four women who will take part in five individual races and two relays, a 4x200m and a four by 400m.
Carson Schiller is running the 300 and 600m while Brandon Shintaro Awata is running the 1,500 and 3,000m races. Jaiden Romanuik is going in the 1,000 and 1,500 and Brandon Sumner is running in the 300, 600 and 1,000m run. All four men runners will compete in the relay competition.
On the women’s side, Piper Gil is running the 1,500 and 3,000m while Cheldynn Molnar is running the 300 and 600 metre. Raya Grover is running the 600 and 1,000m Angela Bunn will be taking part in only the relay events.
Corcoran said his team has a chance to finish in the top three and he is happy they were given the opportunity to compete in a championship event this season
