Athletes from Cowichan Valley schools won both junior events at the Island cross-country championships held at Beaver Lake Park in Victoria last Wednesday.
Cowichan Secondary’s Jessica Castle won the junior women’s race, while Brentwood’s Keaton Heisterman finished first in the junior men’s event.
Castle beat out 90 other runners with her time of 17 minutes and 31 seconds, 10 seconds ahead of the runner-up, Glenlyon Norfolk’s Maddy Perry. Heisterman’s time of 15:08 topped a 125-athlete field, including second-place finisher Ethan Hart of Barsby, who was five seconds back. Brentwood’s Hugh Rimmer was also near the front of the pack, placing fifth with a time of 15:36.
Also running for Brentwood, Madison Heisterman placed second of 98 runners in the senior women’s race, her time of 17:17 just behind the 16:41 of Oak Bay’s Justine Stecko. The top finisher from a Valley school in the senior men’s competition of 81 runners was 16th by Brentwood’s Carter Krasny, one spot ahead of teammate Ori Blake-Currier.
Brentwood had a massive delegation at the Island meet, including both Heistermans, Rimmer, Krasny, Ori Blake-Currier, Bianca Grobbelaar, Morgan Woodbridge, Sydney Cristall, Anna Moreira, Megan Adams, Virginia Waddell, Jack Napier-Ganley, Callum Blake-Currier, Thomas Willemyns, Derek Harrison, Andrew Burkinshaw, Isaac Keen, Jamal Hassan, Sunil Cotterill, Ian Grabher, Sam Prokopchuk, Nathan Pasloske, Grant Dillard, Will Hardy, Finn Bailey and Kieran Nelson.
Cowichan Secondary’s contingent included Castle, Margo Blumel, Maeve Carlin, Emma Dewit, Julia Cutt, Matt Day, Kallum Jackson, Dawson Jory, William Nelson, Cristian Garcia, Daemien Blaney, Joshua Davidson, Nick Tom, Tristan Seibel and Brendan Alphonse.
Frances Kelsey’s team was made up of Caitlin Burdett, Tori Raymond, Kaia Martin, Erin McNutt, Robyn Zinkan, Cas Onyejikwe, Frazer Willmott, Joshua Wong, Mowat De Valk Zaiss, Nicklaus Badyal, Justin McCallum and Akil Alaa.
Queen Margaret’s School was represented by Kiana Siyuan Chang, Julienne Chipesia and Daniela Garcia.
The provincial championships will take place this Saturday at Jericho Beach Park in Vancouver.
kevin.rothbauer@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
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