Thunder Cross Country Head South for 2nd Grand Prix
Posted on: Sep 23, 2013
The Thunder Cross Country team got off to a much smoother start this past Saturday as they headed down to Calgary for the ACAC Grand Prix #2: The SAIT Open.
The ladies went off first and it was again Marriya Jenkins who led the way for the Thunder Women, picking up her 2nd win in as many races amongst her ACAC competitors. Jenkins was 5th overall in the race, mixing it up with some of the top senior lady competitors in the province. Shelby Edgar had her best race to date, finishing 31st out of the ACAC runners and moving herself into 5th spot all time for Thunder Women runners. Right behind her was Stephanie Mahar in 34th place who was making her debut for the Thunder (and now 6th fastest CUCA female runner of all time). Rounding out the scoring for the women was Barbara Jackson in 56th spot. Overall, the Thunder Women finished in 6th place on the day. "The girls were missing Bev Kaine today and with her I think they would have been top 5," stated Coach Norminton. "Steph and Shelby are only (going) to get faster from here so I still feel like we have an outside shot at top 3."
The men were led by 2nd year runner Kevin Chambers, who had a solid run finishing in 16th position out of the ACAC runners. Ben Thomas was the 2nd Thunder man across the line in 34th while Chris Gaertner was the #3 Thunder man on the day, running a big personal best and moving himself up the Thunder all time rankings. Grande Prairie transfer Cody Krantz was the next CUCA runner across the line in 42nd spot while rookie David Breker managed 53rd position on the day. "The guys had a tough day out there today, they definitely missed their team captain but on the bright side, Kev ran his 3rd fastest 8k ever, Chris PB'd and Ben also ran one of his fastest times ever. The competition is deep this year but we're not that far out of the top 5, we'll continue to get faster and as we always do, we'll run our best when it counts in October," said Norminton. The Thunder men finished 8th on the day.
The XC teams get a weekend off before hosting the ACAC Grand Prix #3 at Goldbar Park on October 5th. Come out and support your Thunder runners as they get set to host the ACAC Championships in late October.
