Dozens of high school athletes from the Northwest laced up their runners and hit the dusty trail in Regina for the provincial cross-country meet Saturday.
One Battle West athlete captured a goal medal while several others placed in the top 10.
Jarett Biondo of Cut Knife improved on his regional time from a week before by 34 seconds and took first place in the midget boys' division. His gold medal time was 14:01.
One of the top North West District midget boys' runners was Triston McDonald of Turtleford with a time of 16:12, good enough for 30th. Seconds behind and in 37th was Tristun Derenoski also of Turtleford with a 16:23 mark. Jace Poundmaker of Chief Poundmaker was 48th with a 16:42 time. Jeff Toews of St. Walburg was 61st at 17:15.
In total 83 runners competed at the midget boys' level with the North West District, which spans north to Meadow Lake, Goodsoil and Pierceland, finished seventh of the 11 divisions with enough runners who qualified for the overall standings.
Two midget girls from Battle West finished 46th and 47th at the provincial run of 92 athletes. Jessica Karstens of McLurg finished in 13:36 and Brianna Hill of Medstead finished in 13:43. In 66th was Hollie Jones of Lashburn at 14:28 and Robyn Salzl of Paradise Hill was 80th with a 15:58 time.
Mekwan Morin of Medstead improved his regional time by nearly a minute and finished in 31st place of 77 runners in the junior boys' 5km race. Mekwan's time was 20:10. Jeremy Stone, who won the Battle West regional meet, finished in 22:12. The Chief Poundmaker runner was 57th.
Brent Osecap of Cando was 63rd with a 23:14 mark and Swade Starr of Turtleford was 65th with a 23:38 time.
Battle West was fifth overall in the district standings and North West was sixth at the junior boys' level.
John Paul II runner Mikaela York improved her regional time by 32 seconds at the junior girls' level, but for the first time this season Mikaela didn't finish first in the 4km run. Mikaela's time of 16:28 was good enough for fourth place at provincials.
Kennedy Glassford of McLurg improved her time from regionals by 1:24 and was 11th. He provincial time was 17:01 and two seconds out of the top 10.
Justynne Zweifel of Paradise Hill was 31st with a time of 18:01, Taylor Hettinger of John Paul II was 48th at 18:55, Kayla Hartley of Turtleford was 54th at 19:14, Mikayla Minnish of Lashburn was 66th crossing the line at 20:56, Jillian Hemmelgarn of St. Walburg was 72nd at 21:31, Mellissa Wallace of McLurg was next with a time of 22 minutes, Taylor Johnson of Lashburn was 75th with a 22:10 time and Joelle Hemmelgarn of St. Walburg was in with a time of 25:42.
In total 85 girls ran in the junior division and Battle West finished second overall with North West in 11th.
The top senior boys' runner from the North West District was Jackson Graham of Turtleford. He finished 39th of 116 with a time of 24:11 in the 6km run.
Matthew Hudek of John Paul II was 45th with a 24:35 mark, Devon Sylvester of John Paul II was 79th finishing in 26:15, Morgan Penner of Lashburn was 99th at 27:51 and Jamie Wahobin of Cando also qualified for provincials, but didn't finish.
The North West was ninth overall and Battle West 14th.
In the final category, one of the top runners from the area, didn't run as a representative of either the Battle West of North West, but instead the South West District. Kayla Hawkins of Wilkie moved to play AAA hockey in Swift Current and finished in 62nd.
Kristen McFayden of Lashburn was 82nd with a 20:24 time and Shyanne St. Denis of Turtleford was 92nd finishing in 21:28.
The senior girls' race had 102 runners enter.
