One week before Estevan Comprehensive School Grade 12 student Carly Kreklewich came in second in the senior girls division at the Cross Country Districts run at Moose Creek Golf Course in Oxbow she was in critical condition with an immune system disorder.
Overcome with emotion after finishing the race with a time of 20 minutes and 26.78 seconds, Kreklewich said being able to run in Oxbow on Oct. 7, only days removed from a hospital stay, is wonderful. She said it’s a good thing she finished at all, but still seemed unhappy to come in one minute and 32.04 seconds behind Rocanville’s Maddi Reed.
“I’m kind of upset,” she said. “I won five years in a row before this. It is what it is. All positives.”
Kreklewich was joined at Oxbow with her ECS cross country team members Justin Hertes, Jasmine Ireland and Ethan Courteau. Hertes finished fourth in the midget boys race with a time of 16:12.62, Ireland came in sixth in the midget girls run thanks to a 14:41.69 time and Courteau placed ninth in the senior boys’ race with a time of 30:55.75.
“It went pretty well,” Courteau said of his six-kilometre run. “It was a good race. Everybody tried their best.”
Courteau said the distance hit him pretty hard on the last kilometre. He said the highest he’s run in his training is four and a half kilometres, so the last part was tiring.
“They did fabulous,” ECS cross country coach Kelly Phillipchuk said about his team’s determination to make it through the course. “They all ran hard.”
Phillipchuk said his runners train Mondays to Thursdays after school and then the kids usually run a couple extra days on their own. He said ECS usually does well in cross country and this year all four runners qualified for provincial competition this Saturday in Saskatoon with two accepting the invitation.
“Justin is going and Jasmine is going,” he said. “This year we’re looking at two students going off to provincials, which is great.”
Kreklewich said cross country running is a lot of work as an athlete has to run at the track, run at home, run at the gym and really basically wherever else they can. But getting the chance to spend an afternoon outside running the Moose Creek Golf Course made it worthwhile to her.
“It was beautiful,” she said. “All things considered I think it was fantastic.”
Competitors in the 2015 South East Cornerstone Cross Country Districts in order of finish are: Jackson Sinclair (McNaughton, 14:59.15), Owen Hiltz (Weyburn Junior High, 15:58.97), Tucker Sharp (GF Wells, 16:07.81), Justin Hertes (ECS, 16:12.62), Mason Eckersley (Rocanville, 16:14.91), Brandon Zieglgansberger (Midale, 16:34.12), Quincy Telus (McNaughton, 16:59.97), Mykel Biermann (Manor, 17:30.18), Christian Prawdzik (Midale, 18:02.88), Trent Reischke (Oxbow, 18:08.31), Ryan Aulie (Redvers, 18:12.12), David Koshy (Arcola, 18:24.22), Kai Fraser (Oxbow, 19:14.88) and Brett Stangeland (Rocanville, 20:14.66)--midget boys; Leah Macfarlane (CEC, 12:39.38), Alexis Vandermey (St. Michael, 14:04.53), Frankie Gawryluik (Weyburn Junior High, 14:07.34), Reece Redpath (CEC, 14:10.25), Erin LeNouail (Redvers, 14:11.34), Jasmine Ireland (ECS, 14:41.69), Madison McNeil (Alameda, 14:48.91), Claire Larson (CEC, 15:05.38), Madison Cuddington (Manor, 15:17.12), Jocelyn Jenson (CEC, 15:17.93), Anna McCarthy (15:19.24), Melissa Ellis (Arcola, 15:56.18), Lorynn Labbie (St. Michael, 16:09.06), Emily Wudrick (Radville, 16:49.94), McKenna Harkness (Arcola, 16:57.28) and Hayley Dechaine (Lampman, 18:56.22)--midget girls; Andrew Lonseth (Rocanville, 19:32.50), Braeden Junk (WCS, 20:02.25), Ethan Domes (WCS, 20:29.22), Spencer Anderson (WCS, 21:14.50), Alejandro Dominquez (GF Wells, 21:28.38), Jared Cunningham (Manor, 21:51.66) and Josh Deramas (Rocanville, 23:31.81)--junior boys; Morgan Sidloski (WCS, 19:04.25), Angela Albers (Manor, 22:21.59), Brooke Reed (Rocanville, 23:20.62), Sydney LaBelle (CEC, 24:13.84) and Paige Hutton (Redvers, 26:33.88)--junior girls; Kienen Piper (Stoughton, 23:44.03), Rhys Jones (Oxbow, 24:53.78), Deon Gagnon (McNaughton, 26:03.72), Jake McLeod (GF Wells, 26:16.28), Graham Schmidt (WCS, 26:21.59), Kirk Zacharias (GF Wells, 26:24.47), Copper Fox (Manor, 28:36.75), Lee Galarneau (Radville, 29:25.41), Ethan Courteau (ECS, 30:55.75), Michael Huenison (Redvers, 35:52.94), Reed Van Dresar (Wawota, 36:21.50) and Jory Dyck (GF Wells, 36:32.72)--senior boys; Maddi Reed (Rocanville, 18:54.34), Carly Kreklewich (ECS, 20:26.78), Shayla Fisher (Radville, 20:32.25), Brooke Petreny (McNaughton, 21:14.75), Becky Aulie (Redvers, 21:39.50) and Litesha Spittal (CEC, 24:17.69).
