Student athletes race for the finish line during the Senior Boys final. (Ian Gustafson/paNOW Staff)

By Ian Gustafson

Provincial Championships

P.A. hosts Provincial Cross Country Championships

Oct 13, 2019 | 6:28 PM

Prince Albert hosted the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association (SHSAA) Cross Country Championships on Saturday.

Nearly 600 high school athletes from all over the province representing 14 districts took part in the many competitions throughout the day at Prime Ministers’ Park.

Students competed in Midget, Junior, and Senior categories.

“It’s been going great. We haven’t hosted this type of event in 12 years and this is the first time we’ve hosted it here in Prime Ministers’ Park,” Tim Strom, commissioner of the event and athletic director at Carlton Comprehensive High School, told paNOW.

“It has gone phenomenal considering how new a lot of us are at running this kind of event.”

International Spotlight

P.A.'s Howe one of 4 Sask. born players named to Canada's World Junior roster

11h ago

National

Ottawa to remove 30% investment cap for Canadian pension funds

15h ago

Budget woes

Golf and curling centre faces grim season without financial boost

19h ago

Two student athletes race for a tight finish during the Senior Girls final. (Ian Gustafson/paNOW Staff)

Strom said being able to host an event like this in Prince Albert is good news for the city.

“You think of the number of people coming in and staying at our hotels and using our services, it’s a great event for P.A.,” he said. “Show off our community and how great of a place we live in.”

He figured a provincial event of this magnitude could potentially bring out more students.

“I hope that it would encourage more kids to come out and take part,” Strom said. “We do have a pretty strong cross-country program in our younger grades and hopefully it encourages them to stick with it seeing that they can be a part of an event like this every year.”

Around 30 students from P.A. and around 60 from the district competed in the Provincial Championships.

“This is the first time we’ve had really good weather in our hosting of many track and field championships; we’ve never had weather this good,” he said. “It’s a unique sport and it’s a very individual thing/ There’s a small niche of people that it really fits well, but it’s great seeing it happen like this.”

Jadyn Palaschuk from Moose Jaw Central took home the gold medal in the Midget Girls final. Gilbert Chan from Walter Murray collegiate won the Midget Boys Final and local athlete Daniel McCaffery placed sixth in the same competition. Alexis Lewans from Holy Cross won the Junior Girls final. In the Junior Boys final, Abraham Makaby from Holy Cross took home top prize. Avery Pearson from Carpenter High won the Senior Girls and Moktar Abdou Said from Walter Murray won the Senior Boys final.

–

Ian.Gustafson@jpbg.ca

@IanGustafson12