Kings and Queens finish their season with top 10 finishes at the CCAA National Championships
Truro, Nova Scotia, November 11, 2023 – The Red Deer Polytechnic Kings and Queens Cross-Country teams have concluded their season both finishing in the top 10 at the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) National Championships hosted by Dalhousie Agricultural Campus in Truro, NS on Saturday, November 11.
The Queens finished tied for ninth place in points with a total of 138 but since their top four runners combined finished 10 seconds behind the Mohawk College team, RDP finished in 10th. The Queens top finisher was Justine Larson (Bachelor of Education) who came in 32nd with a time of 24:35. Larson has been consistently the Polytechnic's top finisher in the 6 km race all season long and shaved almost three minutes off her first race of the season. Myah Cota (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) was the next Queen who crossed the finish line with a time of 25:35 which was good enough for 46th. The 54th racer to cross the finish line was Loami Rautenbach (Bachelor of Science in Nursing). She finished the 6 km race with a time of 26:07 which rounded out the top three runners for the Polytechnic's women's team. The top team finished with 29 points and the fastest runner was Makenna Fitzgerald from the SAIT Trojans who finished with a time of 20:59 and claimed her third national championship title.
The biggest news of the day came from the Kings Cross-Country team with Daniel Szucs (Bachelor of Business Administration) being the top finisher across all RDP racers at the CCAA Championships earlier today. Szucs finished in 12th place with a time of 25:52 which was just over a minute slower than Leonard Chesoo of the Concordia University Thunder, who claimed the CCAA Championship title. The next Kings runner to cross the line was Benjamin House (Bachelor of Science in Biological Science) who ran the 8 km race in 26:50 which was good enough for 29th. Rounding out the top three runners from the Kings was Jordan Coen (Open Studies) who was 14 seconds behind house but came in 38th. The Polytechnic's men's team finished with a total of 96 points which put them in fifth place. The top team finished with 53 points.
Congratulations to the Kings and Queens on a very successful season. We look forward to the indoor track season, specifically the Queens who will be looking to defend their ACAC title.