Moose Jaw distance running specialist Jadyn Palaschuk will have a chance to pull off a rare feat when she takes the course in the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association provincial cross country championship this weekend.
The Central Cyclones standout will have the honour of taking the trail at the Wapiti Valley Ski Hill as the defending champion in the senior girls division and will be going for her third provincial title in as many tries when things kick off on Saturday morning.
Palaschuk took top spot at the meet in 2021, finishing ahead of Cyclones teammate Akuol Riak and fifth-place finisher Brooklyn Roney of Peacock as Central went on to win the overall team championship.
While the provincial meet wasn’t held in 2020 due to the pandemic, Palaschuk also took top spot in the midget girls division during the meet in 2019 in Prince Albert.
That will all make Palaschuk the defacto favourite for a podium finish Saturday -- and she won’t be the only one from the South Central team in the hunt for hardware.
Peacock’s Nikolina Kapovic won bronze in the intermediate girls division last season and will look to move up the podium in her first season in junior, while Central’s Katie Rogers finished in seventh place in the same age group and was only 18 seconds back of Kapovic for third.
Peacock’s Kaeleb Tabin also moves into the junior age division after finishing 10th as an intermediate boys competitor in 2021, finishing a mere 21 seconds out of third place.
Also representing South Central in senior girls at provincials are Brynn Kell (Central), Rian Chow (Peacock) and Ava Sayers (Kincaid).
Competing in senior boys are Payton Kell (Peacock), Ben King (Central), Joseph Hodgson-Koch (Peacock), Justin Arandia (Central), Paul Girard (Central), Giovanni Tatullo (Central), Josh Chamberlain (Peacock), Cole Hansen (Peacock) and Dawson Thibodeau (Peacock).
Kapovic and Rogers are joined on the junior girls team by Megan DuSomme (Central), Josie Rogers (Central), Callista McQueen (Peacock) and Elizabeth Ratzlaff (Gravelbourg).
Joining Tabin in junior boys are Mohamed Abdi Farah (Peacock), Magnus Pagan (Gravelbourg), Hudson Heistad (Avonlea), Rayne Leclaire (Gravelbourg), Micky Peebles (Peacock), Carter Zacharias (Peacock) and Wayne Bauluck (Vanier).
Representing South Central in intermediate girls are Juliana King (Vanier), Kenzie Woods (Central), Ophelia Bourdages (Central), Grace King (Central), Emily Osmachenko (Central), Kelsey McQueen (Peacock), Alice Timmons (Mortlach), Piper Faris (Rouleau) and Hadley Soeder (Rouleau).
The intermediate boys team includes Samuel Mendes (Central), Gabriel Calub (Vanier), Brady Therrien (Central), Chase Callaghan (Avonlea) and Gabe Gibson (Central).
You can check out all the particulars for Saturday’s races, including full entry lists and a course map, at www.shsaa.ca.
