The trophy case at St. Timothy High School is getting awfully cramped.
After winning the Calgary Senior High School Athletic Association’s Intermediate (Grade 11) boy’s cross-country running championship Oct. 8, the Thunder kicked it up a level. St. Tim’s runners, including fifth-place girl’s finisher Sophia Nowicki, combined to win team silver at the provincial cross-country championships at Strathcona Tweedsmuir school Oct. 18 in Okotoks. Thunder running coach Travis Cummings was as surprised as any one that his five kids combined for enough points (499) to take second in the province for 2A schools. Host Strathcona Tweedsmuir won with 1,365 points from 15 runners entered.
“I wasn’t really expecting it,” Cummings admitted. “ I was shocked. We only had five kids. It wasn’t on the radar at all.”
The course (three-kilometres for the girls, five for the boys) opened with 1 km flat followed by 1 km of downhill. The start was fast. Coach Cummings advised his kids to hang back and save some gas for the finish. Midway through the race he was doubting that strategy as other schools bolted out front in the downhill section. But, sure enough, as the race continued over an undulating second half, rival runners started dropping as the Thunder rolled.
“The first 2K were really quick,” Cummings related. “I was a little bit nervous. We were really far back in that first 1,500 metres. At 2K and 3K they all starting moving and kids ahead of them started dropping like flies. Holding back at the start was a wise decision because the start was so fast.”
Howells, particularly, reeled in the field over the final 2 km. He was hanging around 50th at the outset of the race before pouring on the coals and claiming fourth at the finish line.
“It was really impressive. They were really the only intermediate boys moving up through the pack rather than maintaining or falling back.”
