Glenbrook Middle School student Grace Fetherstonhaugh had quite a week of running.
The Grade 8 New Westminster student dominated the senior and junior girls’ field at the BurWest/Richmond high school zone cross-country championships with a winning time of 16:46. Fetherstonhaugh took the lead on the first of two loops on the 4.3-kilometre course and never looked back.
"I tried to run close to the lead and when I felt I could take control going into the woods, I tried to put some space between me and the other runners," Fetherstonhaugh said.
New Westminster Secondary’s Sarah Stewart and fellow Royal City Track athlete Emily Chilton finished in third and fourth place, respectively.
Grade 9 runner Celine Loriot of Burnaby South placed sixth in the 78-girl field. South teammates Sara Eng and Jennifer Shannon also finished in the top 10.
Robyn Lee of Burnaby Mountain finished in seventh place.
The Burnaby North team of Morgan Lai, Kristyn Lee, Alyssa Sommer, Zoe Loewen, Sophia Govorcin and Alicia Kan all finished bunched between 10th and 23rd place to finish first among district schools.
In the boys’ 6.5km race, Byrne Creek’s Jemal Reta placed first overall in a winning time of 21:05, nearly half a minute ahead of the runner-up McMath student.
Junior Liban Farah of Mountain finished in third place in 22:05. Grade 11 runner Alec Maloney of Burnaby Central was fourth in 22:14.
Central topped the district aggregate, nipping Mountain by a descending point score of 51-54.
Central’s Ashneel Varma came seventh, while teammates Josh Lim, Grade 8 Charles Yu, Santiago Ward and Andrew Liu also finished in the top 21.
The Mountain team got points from fifth-place Andrew Woinoski, sixth-place Tim Woinoski, Stefano Fadi, Daniel Min and Lucas Ritter.
The B.C. high school championships will include a junior race and senior boys’ and girls’ race for the first time. All races will be held this Saturday at Aldergrove Lake Park in Langley, beginning with the junior girls’ at 10 a.m.
Fetherstonhaugh also placed third for the Royal City Track Club in the 13-year-old girls’ 3,000 metres at the B.C. cross-country championships in Clearbrook Park in Abbotsford on Saturday. The finish gave the New West runner second-place in the cross-country series.
Chilton also finished runner-up in her in the 14-year-old girls' age group in the cross-country series, following a fifth-place finish at the B.C.s.
