The St. Timothy's Thunder cross country team proved two things at the Athletics Alberta Club Provincial Cross Country Championships last weekend in Wetaskiwin.

First, the eleven athletes from the school competing on the day showed they can run with the best in Alberta.  And second, they can do it running in extremely wintery conditions.

Snow was on the ground and the temperature was hovering somewhere around minus 15 when the athletes took to the course.  Head Coach Travis Cummings and Assistant Jessica Kaiser were not only there to coach the St. Tim's team but they also competed in the championships.

Cummings says not only did he battle the weather, but he was under it for the Senior Men's race.  "I've been sick and worn down and I toughed it out just to set an example but it didn't go well.  I got beat by quite a few people that I usually don't get beat by, but that's okay."

Coach Kaiser, on the other hand, did very well running in the Senior Women's race.  Cummings says, "She finished with bronze so that set a good tone for the kids and the girls."

Kaiser was also a scorer for the Running Room Athletic Club's women's team who took home the gold medal in the Senior Women's Age Division,

Cummings says, "They were motivated by her."

That motivation propelled the St. Tim's Midget Girls Team to win the team silver for their division.   Led by Holly Moores who took home a bronze medal with Darci Petersen right behind her in fourth place, the silver medal was a repeat of last year's silver medal the team captured in the bantam age group.

The other midget girls, Grace Boston, Emily Carvalho, Makenna Myatt and Miranda Hobbs all finished in the top 20 in the race.  Cummings believes the team's training regimen helped them out since they had been training in snowy conditions for the past week.

The Thunder are the only school that competed against club teams at provincials, making their silver medal even more impressive.  The only club team to beat the midget girls were the Edmonton Harriers.

In the midget boys race, Liam McCullough placed a very strong 17th place overall.  Alex Aguillar finished close behind.  Both McCullough and Aguillar are first-year midgets so they had some stiff competition to negotiate on the snowy course.

Fresh off his eighth-place finish at the ASAA High School Cross Country Provincials, Josh Novak placed ninth in the Youth Men's Division.  Novak was running with the University of Calgary Athletic Club who have allowed him to run with their youth men's team for the Club Provincials and for the National Cross Country Championships, set for November 25th in Kingston, Ontario.  

Novak was a scorer with UCAC and helped the Youth Men's Team take home gold from the provincials.  He'll race at nationals along with his two coaches, Cummings and Kaiser.  

Cummings says the performance at provincials was a great way for the cross country season to end for the Thunder.   He and his fellow coaches, Kaiser, Pamela Moores and Tony Moores congratulate the team on a fine season.  

Pictured - Top Left:  Emily Carvalho and Makenna Myatt  -  Top Right: Holly Moores  -  Bottom: Coach Jessica Kaiser