Kings and Queens take top spot in the first Grand Prix of the season

Edmonton, September 9, 2023 – It was a very successful weekend for the Kings and Queens Cross Country team as they both finished in the top spot in their respective categories after the first Running Room Grand Prix of the 2023/2024 Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) season.

Starting off the afternoon was the women's 6km race. Justine Larson (Bachelor of Education) would be the top finisher for the Queens as she crossed the finish line with a time of 27:20 which was good enough for fifth place. Just over a minute later, the next two Queens, Loami Rautenbach and Myah Cota (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) would cross the finish line in seventh and eighth. Rautenbach finished her first Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference race with a time of 28:12 which was ten seconds in front of Cota. This would round out the top three finishers from the Queens this afternoon.

On to the men's race, the first Kings runner to cross the finish line of the 8km race was Ben House (Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences) with a time of 29:23 which placed him in fourth place. Jordan Coen (Open Studies) would follow his teammate and finish in fifth place with a time of 29:49. To round out the top three from the Kings team, rookie Dylan Leadlay (Bachelor of Education) would finish in seventh after completing the race with a time of 30:23.

Head Coach Douglas Spicer was quite happy with the team's performance, especially the newcomers.

"I want to highlight the three rookies who competed in their first Grand Prix meet today. Congrats go out to Dylan Leadlay, Zoey Longman and Loami Rautenbach who ran well, helping the Kings and Queens to finish first overall in the ACAC today."

The Running Room Grand Prix series will head down to Calgary with the SAIT Trojans hosting the second meet of the season next Saturday, September 16. The women will run at noon with the men to follow.