Nathan Bucsis and Abby Gulka of the Canora Composite School were to have competed in the provincial cross-country meet in Saskatoon on Saturday.

Their coaches are Leona Kitchen and Thomas Lowes.

To qualify for the provincials, the midget, junior and senior runners who placed in the top 10 at their respective district meets earned the right to advance. For the Canora runners, the district meet was held October 8 at the Cherrydale Golf Course in Yorkton.

Bucsis placed first out of six runners in the junior boys division for the five-kilometre run. His time was 21:31 minutes.

Gulka competed in the four-kilometre run for senior girls. She finished seventh out of 11 runners with a time of 21:46 minutes.

In total, the CCS coaches took 13 runners to the districts in Yorkton on October 8.

“Our runners should be very proud of themselves for all of their dedication and accomplishments this season,” said Kitchen. “They have worked very hard and deserve the results that they finished with.

“It was very rewarding to hear a fellow cross-country coach from Yorkton say ‘that Canora team is a force to be reckoned with!’ (referring to our weepee boys group).”

            The other CCS cross-country runners placed as follows at the Districts: two-kilometre run for beginner boys (54 runners participating) Cole Marcinkoski, fourth with a time of 9:33, and Nickolas Medvid, 31st with a time of 11:37; two-kilometre run for sneaker boys (35 runners participating) Joey Palagian, 26th with a time of 11:57, and Daniel Howell, 28th with a time of 12:18; three-kilometre run for weepee boys (35 runners competing) Dawson Zuravloff, first with a time of 12:15, Clay Sleeva, second with a time of 12:19, Hudson Bailey, third with a time of 12:25, and Jake Statchuk, fourth with a time of 12:29; three-kilometre run for peewee girls (24 runners participating), Cassandra Danyluk, fifth with a time of 13:02, and Emily Owchar, 15^th with a time of 14:38; and three-kilometre run for bantam girls (16 participants), Kara High, first with a time of 12:48.

Saltcoats

            The final meet of the season before the Districts was in Saltcoats on September 25, said Kitchen.

“There was around 1,000 runners at this meet so our Canora runners did a great job!”

            The CCS runners finished as follows: two-kilometre run for beginner boys (130 participants), Cole Marcinkoski, sixth with a time of 9:34, and Nickolas Medvid, 96th with a time of 14:34; two kilometre run for beginner girls (105 participants), Robin Skurat, ninth with a time of 10:55; two-kilometre run for sneaker boys (99 participants), Joey Palagian, 54^th with a time of 11:52, and Daniel Howell, 60^th with a time of 12:17; two-kilometre run for sneaker girls (66 participants), Hannah Kieinick-Wallis, 56th with a time of 14:50; three-kilometre run for weepee boys (78 participants), Dawson Zuravloff, second with a time of 12:17, Clay Sleeva, fourth with a time of 12:31, Hudson Bailey, sixth with a time of 12:32, Jake Statchuk, 10th with a time of 12:40, and Lane Zurvaloff, 36^th in a time of 14:35; three-kilometre run for weepee girls (48 participants), Aaliyah Herceg, 38th with a time of 18:52; three-kilometre run for peewee girls (43 participants), Cassandra Danyluk, 10th with a time of 14:04, and Emily Owchar, 12th with a time of 14:16; three-kilometre bantam girls (20 participants), Kara High, second with a time of 13:12; five-kilometre run for junior boys (seven participants), Nathan Bucsis, third place (time unavailable); and four-kilometre run for senior girls, Abby Gulka, ninth with a time of 19:23.