Runners from Nechako Valley Secondary’s cross-country team turned in some impressive results at the zone championships over the weekend.
The 41st annual North Central District High School Cross Country Zone Championships took place at the Otway Nordic Centre in Prince George on Oct. 22, with 129 teenagers competing to see who were the fastest male and female individual runners, and which school teams could outrun the others for the team championships.
In their 24th season coaching the NVSS XC team, Wanda and Brian Nemethy took the team of 17 runners to a new level of competition as their team of 11 junior boys placed first, winning their ninth title in 11 years.
And for the first time at NVSS, two runners won the individual foot race: Ailis McCleary was first overall in the senior girls’ 5.3km race, a first for a senior girl at NVSS. On the boys’ side, Jimmy Reed was first overall in the junior boys’ 3.8km race. Both were named zone champions.
Other individual medal winners included Anya Dillon who won gold for bantam girls; Cameron Johnson, who won silver for bantam boys; Brody Black who won bronze for bantam boys and Elli Carpenter who won bronze for the junior girls.
With impressive results, 11 of the 17 students earned a trip to the provincial championships on Nov. 5 in Victoria at Royal Roads University.