The Kings and Queens Cross-Country teams will be off to nationals after a very successful performance at the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference Championships (ACAC) in Edmonton hosted by Concordia University this afternoon.

The big news of the day is Jenica Swartz, who also plays soccer for the Queens, won an ACAC bronze medal in the 6 km race with a time of 23:49. This gave Swartz the first-place position in the Grand Prix total points competition.  Melissa Ray was the next runner from Red Deer to cross the finish line at 26:27 to give her 15^th place.

Mya Cota and Justine Larson finished one after another in 17^th and 18^thplace with Cota finishing the race six seconds before her teammate Larson did. This finish for Larson gave her 10^th place in the total season competition. With 53 points today, the Queens placed third overall in the team category punching their ticket to nationals hosted by Medicine Hat College.

For the Kings, they placed in second as a team with 37 points behind SAIT and Lethbridge College. Daniel Szucs was the first to cross the finish line for the polytechnic in fifth place with a time of 27:33 in the 8 km race. Just over a minute later, Kings’ runner’s Ethan Duret and Ben House would tie each other with a time of 28:49. This was good enough for ninth and 10^th place.

After this event, the Kings had three runners in the top 10 of the Grand Prix competition. Szucs placed fifth, Ethan Duret in ninth and Ben House finished in 10^th. These finishes today at the course in Edmonton gave the Kings a chance to compete at nationals in Medicine Hat alongside the Queens.

The Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Cross-Country Championships will take place in two weeks on November 11-12.