The Yorkton Regional Raider Cross Country Team was crowned as 2013 Provincial Championships at the SHSAA Cross Country Championships held at Loon Lake Regional Park last weekend. Coaches Mike Haczkewicz and Shelly Westberg noted that this was the second time in four years that their team has won the honour. Westberg added, "We thought we might be able to pull it off again, but we were really nervous, there are some strong teams out there."
The team championship is decided by awarding points to each runner on your team that finishes their race. If a runner finishes first the team gets one point, if they finish seventh the team gets seven points. At the end of the competition the team with the fewest points with the Provincial Champion-ship. The Raiders finished first with 15 points, Moose Jaw Peacock captured second with 17 points, and Regina LeBoldus finished third with 23 points. There were 11 teams in the 4A competition, the competition between the largest schools in the province, in total there were 45 teams in the competition, all of them finishing behind the Raiders who showed their quality as a complete team of accomplished runners.
Leading the way for the Raiders were Derek Campbell who finished second in the Midget Boys Category. "Campbell had the race of his life," says Haczkewicz, "he took off with the leaders right from the start and was part of a lead pack of five runners that broke away from the rest of the field." At the end of the 4km race the three medalists had distanced themselves from the field. Sam Seshadri from Saskatoon Centennial was third in 14.58, Derek Campbell was second in 14.56, and Regina LeBodus' Kaden Nilsen won in an identical time of 14.56.
"This race was huge for Derek, he's been second in every race this year, and a provincial silver is one that will not soon be forgotten." "He has set himself up for a fantastic indoor track season." We are all extremely proud of Derek, says Haczkewicz. The three other scoring members for the Raider team were Cole Burkeholder, who finished 4th in the Junior Boys 5km Category. "It was great to see Cole crack the top 5," said Coach Westberg, "he's battled through some injuries this season, so coming up with such a great performance at provincials is huge for him." Alex Frumen finished 4th in the Senior Boys 6km event. Jaden Porte was 5th in the Senior Boys race.
The YRHS had fifteen runners qualify for the provincial meet. Top 20 performances were turned in by Kelsey Haczkewicz who finished 11th in the Midget Girls 3km event. Jaret Porte finished 11th in the Midget Boys 4km race along with Spencer Steele who finished an impressive 12th in the same race. Haylen Langelier finished the Junior Boys 5k race in 10th spot and was joined by TJ McBride who finished 12th. Coach Haczkewicz was more than pleased to see the cross country team finish with another successful season. "Both Coach Westberg and myself are really excited about the future of the sport at our school." He also pointed out that the future looks very promising for the high school going into the next running season.
"The team will graduate only one runner, Alex Frumen who committed to both Cross-Country and Track and Field at the YRHS this year by moving into the city from Esterhazy to focus on his running." After another team title showing the depth of committed runners at the high school the future looks bright for the sport of long distance running in the land of orange.
