Staff
Hailey Beaudry was denied her third-straight trip to the OFSAA cross-country running championships by less time than it took to read this opening sentence.
The Muskie veteran placed sixth out of 37 runners in the senior girls’ category at the NWOSSAA championships yesterday in Thunder Bay—covering the five-km course in a time of 23:34.15.
But take out members of the Dryden Eagles and Hammarskjold Vikings, who finished 1-2 in the team category to qualify for the OFSAA meet Nov. 1 in Waterloo, and Beaudry finished fourth—one spot short of qualifying for the provincials as one of the top three non-affiliated team finishers.
Beaudry wound up only 2.23 seconds behind Red Lake Rams’ runner Ericka Krummenacher, whose clocking of 23:31.92 nabbed the final individual berth up for grabs.
Dryden’s Andie Wood continued her season-long domination by earning the victory with a mark of 21:06.28.
In the senior boys’ seven-km event, Muskie Arthur Van Ael placed 13th out of 35 runners with a time of 32:11, leaving him sixth among non-affiliated team qualifiers.
Derek Patterson of the Hammarskjold Vikings (Thunder Bay) took first place in 27:52, with Hammarskjold and Dryden also qualifying their teams.
Meanwhile, the Grade 9 girls’ race saw Muskie Sydney Beck dash to a ninth-place finish in the three-km distance with a time of 16:03.
Keegan Gaunt (St. Ignatius Falcons) crossed the finish line first (14:24).
And two Muskies took a run at the junior girls’ crown, with rookie Gabi Peters being the top Fort High finisher—coming in 15th place out of 26 entrants with a clocking of 21:49.
Veteran Tory Beaudry was 18th (22:44).
Hanna Johnston (Hammarskjold) left the field far behind, winning by more than two-and-a-half minutes (16:22).
The Muskies wound up 10th out of the 17 schools in the team standings with 21 total points.
Hammarskjold carried the day with a winning total of 201.
