Staff
In a race named after turkeys, Jenny Hammond and her Muskie teammates’ performance was the farthest thing from resembling the traditional Thanksgiving bird.
Hammond’s first-place finish in the high school girls’ open division propelled the Muskies’ all-female cross-country running team to top spot in the division at the Dryden High School “Turkey Trot” and Northwestern Ontario U14 cross-country championships yesterday in Dryden.
Hammond shook loose of Corrin Kuzemchuk in the final metres to cross the line first in 21:17, four seconds ahead of Kuzemchuk (21:21).
It was the second-fastest time in the history of the five-km race at the “Turkey Trot,” behind only Dryden’s Andie Wood mark set last year (19:59).
“That was a personal best for her [Hammond] and far faster than she ran last year,” lauded Muskie coach John Dutton, who had four of his runners crack the top 10.
Sydney Beck was seventh (26:10), followed by Sydney Radigan in eighth (26:16) and Gabi Peters grabbing 10th (26:48).
Those results, combined with those of Tory Beaudry (16th, 29:28) and Kennedi Handberg (17th, 30:28), were enough to give the Muskies 19 points and a total team time of 1:40.31 to beat the usually unstoppable Eagles, who were second (1:44.14).
In the girls’ Grade 7-8 race, Ashlyn Beck of Donald Young School in Emo dashed to second place in the three-km event in 13:31, trailing only Maddie Lambert from Open Roads School in Dryden (13:21).
Greta Fedoruk of Robert Moore School, who is part of the Muskie team, came in ninth (14:44).
Jaida Norris of J.W. Walker also cracked the top 15, taking 13th place (15:23).
Sturgeon Creek Alternative Program from Emo had a fantastic day, as well.
Isaac Dykstra was second in the Grade 7-8 boys’ division, covering the three-km course in 12:22—losing a homestretch sprint by a stride to Shaymus Stevenson of Open Roads (12:21).
Andrew Cunningham, meanwhile, took sixth place in the same race (13:08).
Blake Ferris was 16th (14:09) and Ben Winnik 34th (16:20).
Mika Kooistra of SCAP placed fourth behind Hammond in the high school girls’ event (23:35) while teammate Maddysan Redford was 11th (27:03).
The next race for local runners is the annual Hial Pike Invitational this Tuesday at 4 p.m. at the Falls Country Club.
