Nanaimo runners were some of the fastest to go up and down the hills and along the trails at provincials.
Dover Bay Secondary School, Nanaimo District Secondary School and Nanaimo Christian School all returned with bronze medals from the B.C. Secondary School Cross-Country and Track and Field Association’s cross-country championships Saturday in Kelowna.
Nanaimo Christian’s Joel DeSchiffart had the best individual result, finishing third on the 6.6-kilometre course in a time of 23 minutes, 49.35 seconds. He was 13 seconds behind the gold-medal pace.
In team results, the Dover Bay boys took bronze, led by Thomas Oxland’s seventh-place time of 24:15.37. Peter Oxland finished 14th. Other team members include Garrett Dunlop, Trent Arnott, Nic Ascui, Andrew de Groot and Kevin Choi.
The NDSS girls also came away with bronze led by Miryam Bassett who was fourth overall, completing the 4.4km distance in 16:58.01, 18 seconds off first place. NCS runner Marita DeSchiffart placed 12th in 17:14.24 and Dover’s Rachel Elliott and NCS’s Erica DeSchiffart were also in the top 25.
Joining Miryam Bassett on the NDSS team were Abigail Gilchrist, Carly O'Sullivan, Rebecca Bassett, Emma Rainboth and Rachel Baird.
There were 280 girls and 286 boys racing on Saturday.
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