Kings and Queens XC take home the silver at the ACAC Championships, earn berth to represent RDP at nationals

Lethbridge, October 28, 2023 – The Red Deer Polytechnic Kings and Queens Cross-Country teams came up just short of their goals in Lethbridge at the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Championships as they were both up against a very strong SAIT Trojans team. However, the Kings and Queens still were able to come home with a silver medal and have now booked their ticket to the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) National Championships in Truro, Nova Scotia from November 10-11, 2023.

Justine Larson (Bachelor of Education) continued to lead the Queens as she was once again the top finisher for her team, placing sixth with a time of 25:33 which was 46 seconds faster than her time at the Grand Prix event that was hosted on the same course. The next Queens runners to cross the finish line to round out the top three on the team were Myah Cota (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) and Georgia Sawchuk (Bachelor of Arts in Psychology). Cota finished in eighth with a time of 26:11 and 19 seconds later Sawchuk crossed the line to finish in ninth.

On the men's side, Dan Szucs (Bachelor of Business Administration) ran his best race of the season after battling with a lingering foot injury as he finished in fourth overall which was almost two minutes faster than his time at the Lethbridge College Grand Prix. Ben House (Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences) was the next runner to cross the finish line with a time of 27:21 to finish in fifth. Rounding out the top three runners for the Kings was Jordan Coen (Bachelor of Kinesiology) in eighth, 24 seconds behind House.

Following the event, the ACAC All-Conference award winners were announced with Justine Larson, Ben House and Dan Szucs all being recipients of this prestigious honour.

But the awards for RDP were not finished there as Head Coach Douglas Spicer was named the ACAC Coach of the Year after a great season that saw the Kings and Queens take home first place overall on the Grand Prix circuit before finishing with two silver medals at the conference championships.

The season is not done there as the Polytechnic's Cross-Country team will now prepare to travel out east to compete at the CCAA National Championships in Nova Scotia in two weeks.