Peacock Dominates Cross Country

It was cold and damp down in Wakamow Valley on Monday, but that was just to the runners liking as 89 runners hit the course for the South Central District Cross Country Championship.

The Peacock Tornadoes squad had the best day, sweeping all but one of the gold medals in the high school races.

Peacock’s Kalen Roney won the senior boys title with a time of 22:26 during the six-kilometre race. He was just seven seconds ahead of teammate Meko Cridland, who was neck-and-neck with Roney for much of the race.

“It’s always good to have Meko right behind me,” said Roney. “I was able to pull away over the last kilometre and really just pushed hard.”

Roney came away happy with how he ran throughout the race, but there was one area that he was really proud of.

“I was happy with the hills, I ran hard in the hills and it ended up feeling good and paying off,” he said.

Libby Epoch captured the top spot for Peacock in senior girls, winning with a time of 15:52, which gave her a full minute cushion on second place finisher Emily Deobald.

Epoch was actually right with Roney and Cridland at the front of the pack during the first two-kilometre lap of the track.

“I was trying to keep up with them,” she said. “I slowed it down a bit after the first lap, but it was good to keep my pace up with them.

“My focus was on the hills and making sure to run down the hills and keeping up your pace on the straight away at the top.”

The junior titles went to Peacock’s Ashton Woodley in boys and Emma Schaeffer in girls, while Glentworth’s Mahteya Dumelie took top spot in midget girls, beating Peacock’s Camryn Gillies by 24 seconds.

Hunter Viczko from Peacock won the midget boys, topping Rouleau’s Brandon Rumford by 1:15.

In the elementary races, Kale Nichols from Lindale won the bantam boys title, while Sunningdale’s Alyssa Roney took top spot in bantam girls.

All the high school runners will now advance to provincials, which will be held next Friday in Saskatoon.

The course for provincials is a bit different than the one in Wakamow Valley.

“It’s a bit more flat course, so I’m going to make sure to get some speed work in and not focus as much on the hills now that it’s a flatter course,” said Epoch.

Story courtesy www.discovermoosejaw.com