Tremendous start to cross-country season, Queens earn 1st while Kings claim 2nd

The Red Deer College Cross-Country Running team continued their excellence from last season into their 1st Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) competition of 2017-2018 on Saturday. At the Running Room Grand Prix #1 in Edmonton, the Queens were dominant on the course and earned 1st place out of the competing ACAC schools with an incredible 19 points while 2nd spot went to the host Concordia University of Edmonton with 47 points. The Kings had a solid showing and took 2nd spot with 37 points. SAIT male runners came in 1st with 16 points and the University of Alberta (Augustana) picked up 64 team points, which was good for 3rd spot. 

In the early stages of the season, Jordanna Cota and Jill Stewart ran especially well. Cota (25:20), from Red Deer, earned top spot among ACAC women after a tough 10 days of training with the team. Stewart (26:34), a Bachelor of Science (Biological Sciences) student-athlete, finished 3rd among ACAC female runners. Incredibly, the RDC Queens had 5 runners in the top 10. Shaelyn Moltzahn (27:35) finished 7th, Janaya Garbe (27:52) was in 8th and Sadie Borgfjord (28:24) crossed the finish line in 9th spot. 

RDC Cross-Country Running Head Coach Kari Elliott was encouraged by the effort and results. "The course was very tough and featured a 2 kilometre loop. Lethbridge College did not attend and I expect their men and women runners to be strong once again this season. This season, the ACAC women are running 6 kilometres instead of 5, and that final kilometre was tough today," said Elliott. "I was really excited to see our women perform well. In the early going, Jordanna and Jill look stronger than last season and Jordanna beat many open runners."

Adam Wass, (32:13) from Lacombe, was the top RDC male runner. The Bachelor of Science student-athlete finished 6th among ACAC men. Stephen Rowley (32:45) earned 8th and Cory DeRaadt (33:30) placed 9th. "The men's race featured a fast field with a very quick start. It was a learning race and it comes with experience not to start that quickly," said Elliott. "I am really proud of the student-athletes and I feel very optimistic after our first competition." 

The RDC team will look to continue their winning ways, Saturday, Sept. 16 at the Running Room Grand Prix #2 in Calgary. SAIT will host the event.