NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
Zaynna Willoughby leads a group of bantam runners off the starting line during a race at the Medicine Hat Panthers Track and Field Club cross country meet on Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018 at Kin Coulee Park.
Medicine Hat News
The school cross country season may have ended, but runners young and old got out for one more competitive run Saturday at Kin Coulee Park.
The Panthers Track Club hosted its first-ever cross country meet, the culmination of a 10-week program before the indoor season takes precedence the rest of the fall and winter. The local Bulldogs and Madhatters clubs also participated, as did some athletes who don’t run with a club.
Jacob Krueger won the under-18 boys race over six kilometres in 25:28. Krueger, who finished 49th in the senior division at high school provincials a week-and-a-half ago for Crescent Heights, beat out Hat High’s Eli Smith (who was 45th in intermediate boys at provincials).
Bassano’s Morgan Hale won the 4 km under-18 girls race in 18:11, beating out Bethany Regier by a couple minutes. Hale was 27th in the senior girls race at provincials, while Regier of Crescent Heights was 37th.
Ayla Wikjord took the 3 km midget girls crown, crossing the line in 12:54. Wikjord was 19th in junior girls at provincials, racing for Medicine Hat’s Ecole les Cypres. Rachel Regier was a minute back of Wikjord after placing 52nd in the junior girls race at provincials with Crescent Heights.
Brannon Sumner won the midget boys’ 4 km race by 12 seconds over Elijah Lavoie-Pierzchala.
In the 2 km bantam races, Hannah Kozakewich won the girls and Gerhard Knauer Bravo the boys. The 1,200 metre peewee runs were won by Micah Klein (boys) and Madison Pullman (girls). And the one-kilometre tyke titles went to Sydney Burgevitz (girls) and Cedar Trottier (boys).
And yes, there were older categories too. Robbie Meshen beat out Darryl Smith in the 8 km masters men’s race, Deidre Giesbrecht nipped Farrah Shipley by less than a second in the masters women’s 8 km contest, while Landon Swartz was the only entrant in the under-20 8 km run, finishing a couple minutes quicker than his masters counterparts.
