Teams off to provincials

Congratulations to the SD83 students who will be taking part in the B.C. High School Cross Country Running Championships in Vancouver on Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021. Two teams from Sullivan, two teams from Jackson, and two students from Shuswap Middle School all qualified to take part!

At the Valley finals in Summerland on Monday, with approximately 150 runners from Kamloops to Osoyoos, the Sullivan teams captured first in the senior girls and the senior boys. Helping the team results along included a first place individual finish by Sam Calkins in the senior boys, with teammate Frankie Ayotte close behind with a third place overall finish. Individually for the senior girls Samantha Vukadinovic was third overall. The Sullivan team is coached by Dave Van Bergyk.

The Jackson junior boys team also finished first at the Valleys, with the junior girls team finishing third overall, with both teams qualifying (seven runners each) for the provincial championships. Two of the junior boys finished in the top five (Nathan King and Jonathan Breugem), which launched them into first place in the team event. For the girls, Emma Muddiman placing 18th, which her coach describes as a great result because of the very competitive field of runners. This team is coached by Dave Hollatz.

Two Shuswap Middle School students, Kian Smith and Ronan Wiens, also ran strong races and have qualified for the upcoming provincials.