Larson and House lead the Polytechnic to another first-place finish
Calgary, September 17, 2023 – The Kings and Queens Cross Country continued their dominant start to their 2023/2024 season as they ran away from Calgary still in first place in the Alberta College's Athletic Conference (ACAC) after the first two Grand Prix's of the campaign.
The Queens started things off with their 6 km race at noon at the Running Room Grand Prix #2 - Jordan Fish Memorial. The first Polytechnic runner to cross the finish line for the second week in a row was Justine Larson (Bachelor of Education) who placed sixth with a time of 26:55. Larson just beat out her teammate, Georgia Sawchuk (Bachelor of Science in Psychology), by four seconds who came in seventh. It wouldn't take long for the next Queens runner to complete the 6 km race with Emily Barritt (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) coming in 11th with a time of 27:35.
The Kings were led by Benjamin House (Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences) for the second race in a row as he rounded out the top three in the men's category with a time of 27:59. Open Studies student-athlete Jordan Coen would be the next Polytechnic runner to finish the race in fifth place with an average pace of 3:38 per kilometre. Benjamin Higham (University Sciences) was just eight seconds behind Coen as he placed sixth among the 42 ACAC runners.
With a combined score of 36 from the men's and women's best three finishes, they finished in first place.
They will have a couple of weeks off from ACAC cross-country meets before heading off to Lethbridge on September 30 for the third Grand Prix. This will be the same course they will run on October 28 at the ACAC Men's and Women's Championship.