Pitt Meadows secondary runner Liam Foster won the senior boys’ Fraser Valley cross-country championship last Wednesday, then on the weekend took third at the B.C. club championships.
That qualified him for the youth nationals on Nov. 26 in Kingston, Ont..
Next up, the provincial championships on Saturday in Peachland, and Foster will be part of a sizable contingent of local athletes running.
Ivor Day, his coach with the Marauders track club, said Foster was a running phenom in Grade 8, and this year has found his love for the sport. He joined the Coastal Track Club of Surrey, and is now running 90 kilometres a week.
“He has really found a passion for the sport,” said Day, and added that Foster is considered a favourite to medal this weekend in the Okanagan.
“He works hard at it. He’s always had the confidence, and now he’s got a commitment to it, and a love for the sport.”
Foster won the Fraser Valleys at Coquitlam’s Mundy Park by covering the 6.3 km course in a time of 22:10.27, which was not quite half a second ahead of Dawson Ribeiro of Earl Marriott, who ran 22:10.68. They were 30 seconds ahead of the rest of the pack.
Day’s Marauders had a successful senior boyss team as Sam LaChance finished 15th (23:28.34), Alfonso Cepeda 24th (24:25.50) and Evan Querengesser was 47th (26:05.58). As a team, they finished fourth out of 19 schools, and will run at provincials.
Grame Roberts of Westview had a good showing with a ninth-place finish out of 142 runners.
Coach Ken Elphic said his Maple Ridge Ramblers junior girls’ team has a shot at winning a team title after winning the Fraser Valleys, and brought home a banner for the school gymnasium.
That team is made up of Cassidy MacPherson, Jade Lenton, Ilse Rafter and Marquesis Haintz. Other Ridge qualifiers for the provincials include Carter Stevenson, Nico Aron, Liam Selle, Marshall Shupe, Bronte Elphick-Miner, Jamie Hennessey, Emily Morley, Jorrin Lenton and Alex Ross.
Thomas Haney’s Madelyn Huston finished a solid seventh out of 147 runners in the senior girls’ race.