The last time Central Cyclones distance runner Jadyn Palaschuk competed in the Saskatchewan High School Athletics Association cross-country championship, she spent a good portion of the race looking over her shoulder as teammate Akuol Riak attempted to chase her down.
While Palaschuk would go on to win that race by nine seconds in as close a finish as there could be, there was no such drama this past Saturday at the Wapiti Valley Ski Hill.
Palaschuk would cruise to a commanding win in the final cross country race of her high school career, crossing the line in 15 minutes and 40 seconds and a full 1:12 ahead of silver medalist Annie Beveridge-Warick of Saskatoon Aden Bowman.
The victory gave Palaschuk gold medals in all three of her cross country provincial appearances, including a first-place finish as an Intermediate back in 2019.
Palaschuk’s showing wasn’t the only medal for Moose Jaw and South Central athletes, either.
Peacock’s Nikolina Kapovic ran to a bronze medal in the junior girls division and didn’t finish that far off of moving even higher on the podium -- her time of 17:05 was nine seconds back of Eszter Nemeth from Saskatoon Walter Murray and 18 seconds behind gold medalist Vienna Selland of Regina Laval.
Katie Rogers from Central finished just behind Kapovic in fourth place, putting down a time of 17:16, while the Cyclones’ Megan DuSomme was 18th in 19:39.
Those performances, combined with Palaschuk’s gold and Brynn Kell’s 12th place showing in the senior girls race, helped anchor Central to their second-straight 4A school championship The Cyclones finished with 35 points, well ahead of second-place finisher Lumsden at 85.
Peacock’s Payton Kell was the top South Central runner in the senior boys division, as he finished in 19th place in 19:45.
The junior boys division saw Peacock’s Kaeleb Tabin put down an impressive showing, crossing the line in 15:05 to finish sixth overall.
The Cyclones’ Samuel Mendes was the top South Central runner in the intermediate boys class, running 12:26 and finishing in 24th place.
Central’s Kenzie Woods led the district’s intermediate girls team with a 14:08 to finish 26th overall.
Peacock finished in ninth place in the 5A school team competition, while the South Central district was 11th in intermediate boys, eighth in intermediate girls, seventh in junior boys, third in junior girls, seventh in senior boys and fifth in senior girls.
You can find all the results from the high school provincial cross country championship at www.shsaa.ca.
