Matthew Smith finished in second place in the boys’ three-km race at the 28th-annual Mid-Canada Legion Elementary School cross-country showdown Saturday at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay.
Smith, who attends Our Lady of the Way School in Stratton, crossed the finish line in a time of 12:53–just 11 seconds behind winner Shawn Woodrow of Manitouwadge Public School.
“He ran very hard all the way,” said Dave Sharp, a teacher at OLW. “Matthew runs all of his races hard right from the start.”
Sharp said Smith made great strides about the midway point of the race when he elected to run up the middle portion of a hill.
Finishing just behind the leaders in sixth place was Tyler Barker of Crossroad School in Devlin, last year’s boys’ champ, while David Fagerdahl of Robert Moore was 10th.
Rounding out the top local runners in the boys’ division were Mike Spencer of Mine Centre (14th), Craig McTavish of Crossroads (27th), David Pierce of Robert Moore (30th), and Ryan Lawres of Robert Moore (52nd).
Meanwhile, Mine Centre was the top area school at the regional meet for the boys’ division–tying for fifth place overall with 349 points–while the Crossroads girls were the top local team in third with 164 points.
Bishop Gallagher (Thunder Bay) topped both the boys’ and girls’ fields.
Individually, Katie McTavish of Crossroads finished third in the girls’ three-km run, with Brandy Hyatt eighth and Darcy Smith 12th despite cold, windy conditions that played havoc with the 569 runners.
Ashley Potson (Mine Centre) was sixth while Heather Dutton was seventh.
“It was better than she [Dutton] did last year against runners from Northwestern Ontario,” said Robert Moore teacher Bill Daley, who trained his school’s athletes for the meet.
“She trained very hard, she’s dedicated, and a very good runner,” he enthused.
Huffman’s Sandi Elliott was 52nd, followed by classmates Brittany Shine (137th) and Melissa Calder (150th).
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
