Jenica Swartz is named a CCAA All-Canadian, Kings finish in 4th place
Medicine Hat, November 12- It was an impressive day for second-year Jenica Swartz (Bachelor of Science Pre-Med) to cap off an already incredible 2022 year. Swartz would finish in fourth place in the 6 km race with a time of 23:24 at the 2022 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) National Cross-Country Championships in Medicine Hat.
Before this race, she won an Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) bronze medal at the championships in Edmonton a couple weeks ago on her way to an All-Conference award as well.
Starting this past Monday, she was across the country in Saint-Lambert, QC with the Queens soccer team at their national championships and would score a goal before arriving in southern Alberta at two in the morning to compete at the National Cross-Country Championships. On top of all this, she was named to the All-Canadian Cross-Country team this evening.
With this finish from Swartz and the rest of the Queens runners having an incredible race, they would secure 10th place overall in Canada with a total of 148 points. The Elans de Garneau of the RSEQ out of Quebec were crowned CCAA National Champions with 40 points in the women's division.
The Kings were led by Daniel Szucs (Bachelor of Business Administration) yet again. He would cross the finish line in 17th place with a time of 26:50 leading the team to a fourth overall finish, just missing the podium with 86 points.
It was the SAIT Trojans who were crowned as national champions for the men with 45 points.
Other notable finishes from the Kings and Queens are Justine Larson (Bachelor of Education Elementary) coming in 54th place with a time of 26:07 and Ethan Duret (Bachelor of Commerce) finished in 21st place with a time of 27:20.
Head Coach Douglas Spicer says he is quite happy with both teams today.
"A lot of excitement and pride for the athletes today in snowy and minus 10 conditions. Compared to our race on the same course in September, they were, on average, one minute and 45 seconds faster today. Obviously, great improvement from the team as a whole and I could not be more impressed. I want to shout out Jenica Swartz for being able to make it work to participate in the nationals of Queens soccer as well as cross-country."
Both cross-country teams will have the rest of the semester off from competition before competing in the ACAC Indoor Track Grand Prix's. The first meet is hosted by Concordia University in Edmonton on Saturday, January 21.
