Tbirds excel at Canadian National Championships

Several Thunderbird runners turned in great peformances at the Canadian Cross Country Championships held Saturday in sloppy conditions at Jericho Beach. In the junior women's race, Kansas Mackenzie ran an outstanding race to place 16th. This puts her in to the selection pool for the Canadian team that will compete at the NACAC Cross Country Championships in Trinidad and Tobago. Kansas was followed closely by Katrina Allison in 27th place. In the junior men's race, Will Cliff placed 71st, Trevor Knechtel 87th, and Patrick Riddell 148th. These performances are all the more impressive given that all these athletes competed at the bottom of their age group and have one to three more years to move up in thier respective fields. In the final race of the day, Jordan Maynard placed 41st in the senior men's division.

Prior to the championship races, the final races in the BC JD Cross-Country series were held on the same course. Marie Louise Forsyth took gold in the 12 y/o Girls race, giving her the series win. This feat as well as the series win was duplicated by Kieran Lumb in the Boys 13 y/o race with training partner Thomas Broatch taking the silver medal and second place in the series. Shaunika Suriya finished 6th in the 9 y/o Girls race, and was rewarded for her consistency over the season with a third place in the series. Kirstie Merkt-Caprile had an eventful race falling twice after being directed the wrong way by an official, but finished gamely in 6th place. Willem Palaty, though not competing, had enough points to earn a 3rd place finish in the series.

Well done to all of our Thunderbird cross country runners for a great season! We now turn our attention to the outdoor track and field season.