Staff
With the Dryden Eagles nesting elsewhere for the day, Hailey Beaudry flew to the front of the pack.
The Muskie cross-country runner took advantage of a smaller field to blaze her way to victory in the senior girls’ 5.4-km event at the Mount Evergreen race in Kenora yesterday.
Dryden and its deep squad of runners surprisingly took a pass on the event after doing so well at the Muskies’ home meet last week, including ace runner Andie Wood capturing the senior girls’ race here.
With Wood out of the equation yesterday, Beaudry improved on her third-place showing from a week ago in crossing the finish line in 24:23.
Only 19 seconds back was Muskie teammate Jenny Hammond, who recorded a solid second-place finish with a mark of 24:42 in only her second NorWOSSA cross-country race.
Fellow rookie Emily Bird made it a clean sweep of the medals for the black-and-gold after landing in third place (34:03).
In the junior girls’ 3.6-km event, Muskie Sydney Beck dashed to second place with a time of 17:23.
Fellow Muskie Janelle Ball, who was unable to finish last week’s race due to an asthma flare-up, rebounded brilliantly for a third-place showing yesterday (18:25).
Gabi Peters (18:39) and Kennedi Handberg (29:25) also participated for the Muskies (their placings were not available as of press time).
Senior girls’ runner Sydney Radigan (shin splints) and junior girl Jessica Steele (ankle), who both were injured in last week’s race here, were unable to compete for the Muskies yesterday in Kenora.
That also was the case for senior boys’ runner Arthur Van Ael (hip), who did not take part in last week’s event.
The Muskie contingent will be in Winnipeg next Friday (Oct. 3) for the Milk Cross-Country Challenge being organized by Athletics Manitoba.
