Young athletes will be running in the footsteps of past champions, such as Olympians Cam Levins, Zach Whitmarsh and Debbie Scott, when the Island high school cross-country championships take place today at Beaver Lake Park.
The junior races will be 4.5 kilometres and the boys鈥� and the girls鈥� senior races just over 6K. The junior girls鈥� race is at 1 p.m., junior boys鈥� at 1:30, senior girls鈥� race at 2 p.m. and senior boys鈥� at 2:30.
The Oak Bay senior boys鈥� team will be the one to watch as it begins its journey to a hoped-for sa国际传媒 championship four-peat this fall. Senior boys鈥� teams from the Island occupied three of the top-four placings at the sa国际传媒 championships last year, with Oak Bay capturing gold, the Reynolds Roadrunners bronze and Dover Bay Dolphins placing fourth.
Oak Bay returns its entire senior boys team from last year and has added sa国际传媒 U-17 cross-country champion Jack Amos from Dawson Creek, who moved to the Island to grow as a runner. Amos sat out last year to satisfy transfer rules. Other runners to watch include Jack Boden of Oak Bay, Liam Dwyer of Mount Douglas, Cooper Langard from the Parkland Panthers, Keaton Heisterman from Brentwood College and Fraser Van Allen of Dover Bay.
The Oak Bay senior girls鈥� team, like the boys鈥�, is also the defending sa国际传媒 champion and returns four of its seven runners from last year鈥檚 squad. Challenging the Bays will be strong teams from Nanaimo District Secondary, Spectrum, St. Michaels University School and Dover Bay.
Top-ranked individual female runners include Alisa Lyesina and Delaney Chan from Oak Bay, Elise Coates from the Wellington Wildcats and Jessica Castle of the Cowichan Thunderbirds.
