Burnaby/New Westminster runners took three of the top-four placements at the BNW/Richmond high school zone cross-country championships last week.
New Westminster’s Grace Fetherstonhaugh won easily in the junior girls’ run over runner-up schoolmate Emily Chilton.
Mountain’s Saira Purhar beat out Michelle Li of New West for fourth place by a single second.
Alpha’s Tea Cecic finished eighth, Megan Lai of North was ninth and Ellery Handy put her 10th-place finish towards the Hyacks’ winning team.
Robyn Lee of Mountain placed first in the senior girls’ race, less than three seconds ahead of runner-up Reesa Wright of Central. South’s Jennifer Shannon was third overall.
New Westminster’s championship sprinter Raquel Tjernagel was fifth, well ahead of a trio of Central runners Natasha Louie, Sara Brinkac and Laura Choo.
Sarah Hardjowasito of Mountain finished ninth, while another Central runner, Amber Chan, placed in 10th spot.
Jemal Reta of Byrne Creek topped the senior boys’ race, winning by almost one minute over runner-up Hamish Clinton of Alpha.
The Burnaby Mountain Lions finished first in the senior boys’ team standings, placing its top-four finishers among the top nine runners, including Andrew Woinoski, Liban Farah and Tyler Ikeda, who came fourth through sixth, respectively.
Julian Hart of Moscrop finished in seventh spot, while Shawn Hunt rounded out Mountain’s 34-point team score with a ninth overall placing. Stefano Fadi of Mountain came 10th overall.
Mountain’s Victor Floriano placed 11th, Ashneel Varma of Burnaby Central finished 12th, Dylan Schaeffer of Mountain was 15th. Alex Hatch was the top New Westminster Secondary runner, finishing in 16th place. Brian Fung of Mountain was 17th, Byrne Creek’s Abdi Bulle was 18th and Andrew Martinello of Central rounded out the top 20.
In the junior boys’ race, Grade 9 Charles Yu of Central was runner-up to champion Nathan Loewen of McMatch.
Matthew Pomponio of Central finished fourth, while Grade 8 runners, Ryan Roberts of Mountain and Shea Janke of Burnaby South, finished fifth and sixth, respectively.
Aidan Gould of Alpha was eighth and Burnaby North’s Kyle Lai finished ninth ahead of Mountain’s Alex Woinoski in 10th place.
