For the eighth year in a row, the Mallaig Stingers are the ASAA Provincial 1A champions in cross country running. Coach Brad Tillapaugh knew from the start of the season that he had a strong stable of athletes for the 2014 cross country campaign.
For the eighth year in a row, the Mallaig Stingers are the ASAA Provincial 1A champions in cross country running.
Coach Brad Tillapaugh knew from the start of the season that he had a strong stable of athletes for the 2014 cross country campaign.
“All the kids are really hard working,&” he said. “Since we've won provincials for so long, no one wants to lose it, so they keep working harder and harder.&”
The championship season began with a strong showing at the SPAA finals, where the little school from Mallaig was able to bring home the senior girls banner. They were also able to accumulate three golds, a silver, and a bronze while competing against some of the larger schools in the area.
From there, the team travelled to the zone finals, which were held at the M étis Crossing near Smokey Lake on Oct. 8.
“At zones we ran really hard,&” Tillapaugh said. “The course wasn't in our favour. It was a fairly flat course, and we're a strong hill team, but we still performed well. Everyone ran their hardest, so that's all I can ask for.&”
Last weekend, 14 runners left Mallaig on the morning of Oct. 17 in order to head down to the provincial finals in Okotoks.
“We left first thing Friday morning,&” Tillapaugh said. “We got there, and then we went and walked the course so the kids could see it the night before and kind of get their minds ready.&”
Both Tillapaugh and his runners were impressed by what they saw, and confident that they would be able to put on a good showing during Saturday's races.
“It was a really nice course. There were some flat areas, but there were quite a few inclines,&” Tillapaugh said. “I was fairly confident. I knew we had quite a bit more runners than a lot of the other 1A schools, and our quality was quite a bit higher . . . but at that point it really came down to the runners.&”
Though the conditions on race day were a little warmer than the Mallaig team would have liked, Tillapaugh was happy with his team's championship performance.
“My athletes all ran hard. They all really wanted that win,&” he said. “All those 1A schools are kind of gunning for us. We've won it a lot, and they kind of want to take it out of our hands, and our athletes really want to keep it. I'm really happy with all of them.&”
The team's top finisher was Bryan Guilbault, a Grade 12 senior who ran his race in 25:58, good enough for 40th place. Guilbault has been to the provincial finals during all three seasons of his high school career, and helped his team bring home the provincial banner each time.
Though it is a full year away, Tillapaugh is already feeling good about his team's chances next season.
“We have a lot of strong Grade 9s coming up, so I think we'll have another strong showing at provincials next year,&” he said. “I'm hoping for a ninth in a row, but we'll see what happens.&”
The team from St. Paul Regional High School sent nine runners down to provincials, and finished in sixth place among the 3A schools. They also had the best male and female finishers from the local district, with Nick Lupul finishing in 28th place among the senior boys, and Marissa Muench finishing in 34th place in the intermediate girls' race.
“We are very happy with the performances of our students,&” said Hank Smid, the Regional's athletic director.
Glendon finished in third place among 1A schools, Two Hills finished 18th, and New Myrnam finished in 31st place.
