Byrne Creek runner leads district at B.C.s for third straight year

Jemal Reta led the Burnaby/New Westminster district to its best finish in senior boys’ cross-country for a third straight year at the B.C. high school championships.

The Byrne Creek Secondary student placed 10^th overall in the boys’ 6.3-kilometre race at Aldergrove Lake Park in Langley on Saturday.

Reta’s time of 21:26.24 was less than a minute behind this year’s winner, Nathan Wadhwani of Terry Fox, the fifth-place finisher in 2012. Reta placed eighth at last-year’s B.C. high school championship.

Burnaby Central’s Alex Maloney led his school team, including point-getters Santiago Ward, Josh Lim, Charles Yu and Ashneel Varma, to a 17^th-place aggregate finish.

Burnaby Mountain’s Liban Farah led his team of Stephano Fadi, Abel Chen, Tim Laramee and Aaron Hird to a 25^th overall placing.

Emmanuel Garrovillas of Notre Dame, New Westminster Secondary’s Colin Donahoe and Lawrence Ma of Moscrop also finished in the top 200.

In the senior girls’ 4.3km final, Sarah Stewart and Emily Chilton of New Westminster both finished just over 18 minutes to lead the Hyack team of Zoe Loewen, Raquel Tjernagel and Amanda Zacharuk to 17^th-place overall.

Jennifer Shannon of Burnaby South and St. Thomas More student Taylor McIntosh both finished among the top 100 senior runners.

Glynis Sim of Salmon Arm won the women’s individual title with a winning time of 16:13.05.

In the junior finals, Glenbrook Middle School student Grace Fetherstonhaugh placed 10^th in the girls’ 4.3km race.

Featherstonhaugh’s time of 17:26.06 was less than a minute behind race winner Taryn O’Neill of George Elliot Secondary.

Sara Eng of Burnaby South also had a crisp time of 18:41.18 to place four spots ahead of teammate Celine Loriot in 52^nd place overall.

The Burnaby Central team of Reese Wright, Natasha Louie, Laura Choo and Sara Brinkac combined to place 16^th in team aggregate standings.

In the junior boys’ race, Nick Sanchez of Moscrop was the fastest district runner, placing 36^th overall in a time of 16:31.93 in the 4.3km final.

Brendan Hoff of Carihi High was the boys’ junior title with a fast time of 14:47.65.

Andrew Juni of STM and Dawson Franks of South placed 42^nd and 49^th, respectively.

Matthew Pomponio led Burnaby Central’s team to 26^th place overall with a 59^th individual placing.

Francesco Scaglione of STM and Aidan Guld of Alpha rounded out the top 110 boys.

For complete race results go to www.bcxc.ca/results2013.html