PULLMAN, Wash. -- Washington State's Lisa Egami was selected to compete as an at-large qualifier at the NCAA Cross Country Championships at Terre Haute, Ind., Monday, Nov. 23. The Cougar senior earned the first cross country championship berth for a WSU woman since Haley Paul in 2005.

WSU cross country coach Pete Julian described Egami's 11th-place finish (21-minutes, 18.2 seconds) at the West Regional Championship Nov. 14, as a break-through race for her.

"It was the best race of her collegiate career," Julian said post-race Saturday. "It would be wonderful to have a representative from the university at the NCAA championships."

Egami, from Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada, returns to the course where she placed 55th with a time of 21:40.8 at the Pre-National meet October 17. She holds the school record in the indoor mile (4:44.92i), was a member of the school-record distance medley relay team, and competed at the NCAA Outdoor Championships last June in the 1500m and her personal-best time of 4:21.25 is the third-fastest in WSU women's history. She is the women's cross country team captain.

During her days as a Valley Royal athlete, Egami was a two time BC High School 800-meter champion.

Alexandra Siemens of WJ Mouat Secondary capped off a fine cross country season by winning the gold medal amongst the field of 350 runners at the BC High School Cross Country Championships held Saturday morning at Crescent Beach Park.

Fourteen-year old Siemens covered the 4.4-k rain soaked course in 17:07 to place four seconds in front of Taya Humeniuk, another 14-year old from Killarney Secondary of Vancouver (17:11.3). It was the first time in the long history of the meet that a grade nine athlete has finished first at the Championships.

Siemen’s followed a race plan that suggested she stay with the leaders until the last three hundred meters and then put on a determined drive. The plan worked to perfection as she stayed in a pack of five runners through most of the race. Then over the final stretch drive to the finish Siemens powered away from the field over the slightly downhill but mud packed surface. “I was told not to look back during that final drive and just go as hard as I could - my initial spurt gave me the lead I needed and it was just a matter of not letting up after that,” stated the winner.

It’s been a season in which Siemens has learned how important it is to be very determined and able to fight through a lot of discomfort in order to succeed in the demanding sport of cross country running. Experiences such as running the prestigious Sunfair meet in Yakima prepared Siemens for the mental and physical demands of the sport and it paid off on the last meet of the hugh school year.

Sarya Ross of Chief Dan George came up with a determined effort to place fourth in the junior high school girls’ race. Ross, who’s season got off to a late start and then had to miss the Fraser Valley meet due to illness, came up with an excellent performance. In the same race Janelle Hay (Abbotsford Christian) placed seventh.

I hope all of you are enjoying a little down time after all your prodigious efforts during the recently completed Cross-Country season. For those of you who competed at the B.C. Athletics Cross-Country Championships, Congratulations! The weather was fantastic, the Royals had some tremendous results, and everyone who competed made all of the coaches proud. I hope all of you are as pleased with your final results as we were. If I have any misgivings about Saturday's festivities, it's that I personally couldn't spend more time with each of you before and after your races. But....as I'm sure all of you could see, it was a busy and sometimes confusing place to be, and we as coaches seem to have to be several places at once, tending to this, dealing with that, and sorting out any problems that arose as they took place. I have, however, gone over the results very carefully, and I have seen that each and every one of you did wonderfully well, most of you exceeding expectations, none of you failing to find success in your own way. I am well satisfied with what took place.... :-)

As for those who didn't have a chance to run the B.C.'s , congratulations go out to you as well! Our entire training group showed incredible improvements through the season. We got to see many of you excel in the Lafarge races, and heard of many other fine results from participants in other races. But even without those statistical benchmarks, the coaches could see the advancements you all were making, how much stronger and easier you all were running, how your technique was improving, and how much more relaxed you all were by the end of our months of training together. Racing is great, and I encourage all of you to do it as often as your circumstances allow, but it is not the only reason we do what we do. Fitness, confidence, camaraderie, and self-improvement are also benefits from what we've done, and you should all be proud of what you've done to make yourselves that much better than when we started .

Some of you got sick, some of you broke limbs, some of you had scheduling conflicts, some of you were away.....such is life. If you didn't get a chance to run the Championships this year.....We'll do it all again in 2010, and you can join us then. You are all still seriously young, so you'll have countless opportunities to test yourselves in our sport, so please don't fret over one missed event.

Running is a lifelong pursuit. If one can find ways to enjoy it, and genuinely have fun while doing so, the good results will follow.

So, now what? For the immediate future ( ie. the next week ) it's time to rest and reflect.Look back on what you've accomplished this season, and assess what you liked and didn't like about your training. Save those thoughts for the next time we're all together, so you can tell your coaches what worked best for you, and we'll try to incorporate some of that into the Spring programme. Then....Take a bit of time for yourselves, eat crazy food, hang out with your friends, be a kid. After some time has passed,and you feel the desire begin to rise within you, get out and do some easy running. During the winter, we want to build a base for the upcoming Track season.So... 15 minutes for the younger athletes ( 9-12) and 20-25 for the more senior (13-14). As this becomes easy, add some time or increase your speed. 2-3 times a week minimum. After all, we are runners, so we have to run. At some points in the Fall and Winter I will see if we can get some Group Runs together on a Sunday. Nothing mandatory, just a get together to see how everyone is doing. A nice relaxing easy run...:-)

Some of you will also be invited to work with Ziggy's Power & Speed Group, and still more of you will be asked to join us in the weight room over the winter months. This will almost exclusively be limited to the older athletes, though some exceptions may be made at the coach's discretion. Many factors are involved in these decisions, some(such as safety) are obvious, some( such as a physical readiness) are more subtle, but the coaches will be the ones setting the parameters. Please trust that these choices are made with everyone's best interests at heart. If you don't get asked to attend either of these sessions, remember that push-up, sit-ups, and stretching remain your responsibility nonetheless! The fitter you all are when track season begins, the easier my job will be, so do your share of the work as well....

Finally, our Banquet will be in January this year, and of course you're all invited to attend. Fine food, great speeches, the special awards, and a review of the previous year are all highlights of this wonderful evening. Every athlete who attends receives an award, so let us know early if you will be attending ( and with how many) . Check the Valley Royals website for details, and clear your calenders accordingly.

Ok, I think I've rambled on for far too long here. If despite my long-windedness you still have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to send me an email. I will get back to you with an answer as soon as I can. And if I don't know, I'll ask Larry, and if he doesn't know, we'll check with Mr. Swan. No question will remain unanswered. So ASK!!

Thanks to everyone for your hard work and co-operation over this and previous seasons. I'm grateful for all the Parents and Athletes have done for us, and look forward to working with all of you again throughout the winter and into Track Season in the spring.

See you all soon!!

Coach James

Alexandra Siemens was a silver medalist at the BC Athletics Cross Country Championships held Saturday at Jericho Beach Park. Siemens who competed in the 14-year old division held the lead over the early part of the race but at the half waypoint of the 4,000-meter course the eventual winner, Tanya Humeniuk who represented Killarney Secondary School, passed her.

Humeniuk completed the race with a time of 14:30 with Siemens 12-seconds back (14:42). The two girls were well ahead of the field in a race that comprised 13, 14, and 15-year olds and saw no one else go under 15-minutes. It has been a busy week for Siemens who on Wednesday won the Fraser Valley Senior Girls division at a meet in Hope.

Kiya Posthumus won her first provincial medal by placing third in the juvenile girls division. The race was won by Alyci Butterworth (Oceanside--18:40) with Vernon’s Sasha Scoch second (19:05). Posthumus finishing time was 19:21.

Kimberly Doerksen ran her first cross country meet as a club athlete and put in an excellent performance to place fourth in the junior women’s 5,000 meter race. Doerksen finished with a time of 18:54 in a race that was won by UBC’s Maggie Woodward (18:09). Doerksen’s accomplishment would have qualified her for the BC team that will take part in the Canadian Championships to be held in Guelph, ON but a prior commitment will probably force her to miss the trip east.

Other Valley Royals that finished in the top five at the meet included Gabe MacGregor, 5th in the 10 year old girls 2,000 meter run (8:30), Alicia Unruh, fourth in the 12-year old girls 2-k race (7:51) and Sarya Ross who ran a strong race to finish fourth in the 14-year old girls 4,000 meter run (16:56).

This coming Saturday the BC High School Championships take place at Crescent Beach Park. A number of Royals will compete in the meet.

Results of Valley Royal athletes at the BC Athletics Championships follow:
Event 3 Girls 10 2000 Meter Run
5 MacGregor, Gabe 8:30.17
22 Bako, Jensen 9:13.95
25 Takhar, Mehroop 9:53.40

Event 4 Girls 11 2000 Meter Run
8 Konrad, Hannah 8:29.85
19 Silverman, Sofia 9:11.18
29 Blair, Kaitllyn 11:01.89

Event 4 Boys 11 2000 Meter Run
10 Spenst, Levi 8:18.23

Event 5 Girls 12 2000 Meter Run
4 Unruh, Alicia 7:51.44
13 Chapman, Delaney 8:45.03
17 Motion, Catherine 8:56.12

Event 5 Boys 12 2000 Meter Run
8 Spenst, Spencer 7:52.22
15 Grewal, Jeewan 10:45.47

Event 6 Girls 13 4000 Meter Run
4 Ross, Sarya 16:56.79

Event 6 Girls 14 4000 Meter Run
2 Siemens, Alexandra 14:42.69
12 Motion, Nicole 18:33.52
17 Grewal, Manpret 24:52.64

Event 6 Girls 15 4000 Meter Run
7 Jackman, Francesca 17:58.41

Event 7 Boys 13 4000 Meter Run
8 579 Konrad, jamie 16:38.84
11 588 Schmidt, jayden 20:10.41

Event 7 Boys 14 4000 Meter Run
8 Stuyt, Morgan 16:20.53

Event 8 Women 5000 Meter Run Juvenile
3 23 Posthumus, Kiya 19:21.56

Event 8 Women 5000 Meter Run Junior
4 Doerksen, Kimberle 18:54.00

Event 10 Men 7000 Meter Run Juvenile
19 Teer, Anthony 27:18.20

Event 12 Women 6000 Meter Run Senior
8 Howard, Julia 21:36.32
9 MacGregor, Meredith 21:42.47

Mouat’s Alexandra Siemens won the gold medal and Hansen’s Kiya Posthumus the bronze in the senior girl’s division of the Fraser Valley Cross Country Championships held Wednesday in Hope.

Siemen’s took the lead from the beginning and was never seriously challenged as she covered the 4,400-meter course held at the Hope Golf Club in 18:16. The course was wet and muddy and the footing unsure but it did not seem to hinder the Hawk runner as she finished some 28 seconds in front of second place Allison Williams of Semiahmoo.

Third place went to Hansen’s Kiya Posthumus who came up with one of her best runs of the season. Posthumus started strongly and held on to second place until late in the contest when Williams passed her. Posthumus covered the course with a time of 18:47 thirteen seconds back of Williams (18:44).

Travis Vugteveen unfortunately contracted the flu a week ago and although he is now recovering the illness and loss of training time hindered his performance in the senior boys’ race that covered 6,400 meters. However, Vugteveen made the best of a bad situation and placed 16th in the race easily qualifying for the provincial Championships.

Both Siemens and Posthumus easily qualified for the BC High School Championships that take place on November 7 at White Rock’s Crescent Beach Park. This Saturday both girls will be among a large contingent of Valley Royal athletes that will take part in the BC Athletic Championships that take place at Vancouver’s Jericho Beach.

Other top 50 finishes by Valley Royal athletes included:
Junior Girls 4,400 meters
Catherine Taekema Abby Christian 19
Nicole Motion St. John Brebeuf 21

Junior Boys 4,400 meters
Mike Rogers MEI Middle School 13

Senior Girls 4,400 meters
Francesca Jackman Mouat 31

Senior Boys 6,600 meters
Anthony Teer Mouat 50

Due to weather and damage concerns, the site for the BCA Cross Country Championships has been changed from Brockton Oval to Jericho Beach Park, 4100 West 4th Ave, Vancouver.

Django Lovett has been named as one of the four finalists in the Youth Category of the Athletics Canada Athlete-of-the-Year awards ceremony that will take place at a gala banquet to be held in Richmond on the evening of November 15.

Lovett earned his nomination by winning the bronze medal in the high jump at the World Youth Games held last summer in Italy. At that meet, Lovett cleared 2.17 meters to secure his medal and establish a new Canadian Youth record.

The other finalists in the Youth category are: Aaron Brown (Toronto, ON) Silver medalist in the 100 meters at the World Youth Championships
Issah Christophe (Brampton, ON) 4-time World Youth Champion Para Sports
Gregory MacNeill (London, ON) World Youth bronze medalist 110m hurdles

The Fraser Valley High School Cross Country Championships will take place on Wednesday (October 28) at the Hope Golf and Country Club.

Alexandra Siemens, although only in grade 9, will take part in the senior girls race. Siemens, who represents Mouat Secondary school, has won every league race that she has attended and last Wednesday easily captured the gold medal at the Pre Fraser Valley meet in Hope. Alex, as she is better known as, is expected to do very well at Wednesday’s championships.

Another contender for Fraser Valley Honors is Hansen Secondary runner Kiya Posthumus. In the league races that Posthumus has attended, Posthumus as accumulated a number of top place finishes and it is thought that she should be in good form at the Fraser Valley meet.

Unfortunately, Travis Vugteveen the World Youth semi finalist in 800-meters, has been ill for the past two weeks with the flu. Vugteveen has been running quite well during this cross country season but as of now his status for the Fraser Valley meet is uncertain.

It will be a busy two weeks for the cross country runners as following Wednesday’s meet they will participate again at the BC Athletics Championships in Stanley Park and a week later in White Rock at the BC High School Championships.

A number of Valley Royal athletes took part in the Lafarge Elementary/Middle School Grand Prix that took place over four Wednesdays. Most of the club’s athletes showed definite improvement over the series and all them enjoyed the experience. Gabriel MacGregor was in contention to capture the Grade 5 girls aggregate but, unfortunately, she was sick for one on the meets and that caused her to have to settle for second place.

GR. 4 GIRLS
Emily Motion 4th overall best place 7th 7.58 best time
GR. 4 BOYS
Matthew Konrad 5th overall best place 4th 7.13 best time
Trevor Toews best place 12th 7.48 best time
GR. 5 GIRLS
Gabriel MacGregor 2nd place overall best place 1st 7.20 best time
Sydnee Piers 4th place overall best place 2nd 7.11 best time
Selah Pankratz 6th place overall best place 4th 6.20 best time
Melissa Wiebe 10th place overall 6th best place 7.55 best time
Abresia Foote 21st best place 8.35 best time
Shanelle Siemens 15th best place 8.26 best time 1.34min improvement
GR. 5 BOYS
Vikramjit Gondara 13th best place 7.32 best time 53sec improvement
GR. 6 GIRLS
Hannah Konrad 1st place overall 6.58 best time best place 1st
Sophia Silverman 7.33 best time 9th best place
GR. 6 BOYS
Matthew Ritter 1st place overall best place 1st 6.33 best time
Levi Spenst 2nd place overall best place 2nd 6.33 best time
GR. 7 GIRLS
Alicia Unruh 3rd place overall best place 2nd 6.39 best time
Jennifer Wiebe 4th place overall best place 4th 7.07 best time
Delaney Chapman best place 10th 7.28 best time
Shahnee Piers best place 13th 7.43 best time
Catherine Motion best place 18th 7.48 best time
GR. 7 BOYS
Spencer Spenst 2nd place overall best place 1st 6.12 best time
Jayden Schmidt best place 10th 7.05 best time
Jeewan Grewal best place 41st 10.11 best time 33sec improvement
GR. 8 GIRLS
Sophia DeGianni 2nd place overall best place 1st 6.47 best time
Catherine Taekema 3rd place overall best place 2nd 6.44 best time
Sarya Ross 8th place overall best place 1st 6.31 best time
Hailey Gibson best place 9th 7.52 best time
Manpreet Grewal best place 22 9.19 best time 49secd improvement
GR. 8 BOYS
Jamie Konrad 6th place overall best place 4th 6.15 best time
Clayton Toews best place 13th 7.00 best time
Arshdeep Ganda best place 15th 7.26 best time

on the Series page

Please visit the Grand Prix page here to access the results and scores for the 3rd week of the Grand Prix.

are up on the Lafarge Grand Prix page. Jane Swan Fitness Award standings will be posted shortly.

Just 14 years of age and a grade 9 student, Alexandra Siemens had an outstanding performance Saturday at Yakima’s Sunfair High School Cross Country meet.

There were more than 2,700 runners on hand for the affair that drew high school contestants from Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana and British Columbia. The race took place on a very hilly 3 mile course at Yakima’s Franklin Park and drew the strongest field of high school runners in the Pacific Northwest.

Siemens was entered in the second best of the 12 races offered at the all day meet and she definitely earned her ranking. Over the first half of the race Siemens was in the lead but then she was overtaken by Oregon’s Payton Schutte, a grade 11 athlete representing Jesuit High School. Schuttle went on to win the three mile race with a time of 18:16 with Siemens finishing second in 18:33.

“It was an exciting race but boy I was so tired at the finish that the judges had to lift me to my feet—those hills were the toughest I have ever encountered and you had to go up them three times,” stated Siemens.

Sue Northey, who coaches Siemens, was very pleased with her young athlete’s run. “Alex brought out the best in herself and demonstrated that she is a very good competitor. The meet had five girls that were state high school champions and when you consider that as a grade 9 athlete Alex would have had the seventh fastest time of the day, you know that she has the ability to be a fine runner,” stated Northey.

Two other Valley Royal athletes competed in the Varsity division of the meet. Travis Vugteveen who was competing seriously for the first time in cross-country had a pretty good race. Better known as an 800-meter runner (1:53.40) who last year was a semi-finalist in the World Youth Championships and placed first in his specialty at the BC High School meet, Travis had a quite good performance at the meet. Vugteveen placd 28th in section five and finished with a time of 17:09. With another month to go before the BC High School meet, Vugteveen’s coach believes that during that time he will gather enough background to have a solid finish at the provincial meet.

Kiya Posthumus had some difficult during the middle section of her race but with the urging of Coach Northey she recovered over the last part of the race and finished 21st in her competition.

Most Valley Royal high school competitors will be in action again on Thursday when they travel to Chilliwack for a cross-country meet. In three week’s time the Fraser Valley Championships take place at Hope and that meet will be followed by the BC High School Championships on November 7 at Crescent Beach Park. Club athletes will also take part in the BC Athletics Championships that are scheduled for Brocton Point in Stanley Park on Saturday October 31.

Please visit the Grand Prix page here to access the results and team scores for the first week of the Grand Prix.

This Wednesday the first of the four meets that comprise the Lafarge Elementary Schools Grand Prix Cross Country series takes place at Clearbrook Park. The meets that are conducted over four consecutive Wednesday afternoon’s award points for each race. At the conclusion of the series, accumulated points are finalized and award winners for both teams and individuals are presented with ribbons or trophies. In addition, the Jane Swan Fitness Trophy will be awarded. Results of each race will be published on this web page by the Monday following each race.

Over 35 young Valley Royals have been training for this series under the guidance of Valley Royal coaches James Meehan and Larry Nielsen. The two coaches are pleased with the progress of the group and feel that they will perform well during the series of meets.

Alexandra Siemens and Kiya Posthumus came first and second respectively in the women’s division and seventh and ninth in the combined men and women’s race at the Abbotsford Police Run that took place Saturday morning. More then 500 runners finished the race.

Siemens covered the 5-k course in the excellent time of 18:46 and Posthumus had a personal best clocking of 19:23. It was an excellent way to get the upcoming high school cross-country season underway for the two girls. Siemens, although only a high school freshman, is expected to be the leader on the W.J. Mouat team while Posthumus will undoubtedly be the top runner on Rick Hansen’s team. Both girls are expected to do very well at the Fraser Valley and BC High School Championships.

Anthony Teer also took part in the Police Run and finished 12th overall with a time of 20:13.

Two weeks from this coming Saturday Siemens and Posthumus will travel with their other Valley Royal teammates to Yakima, Washington to compete at the Sunfair High School cross-country meet. The largest of it’s type in the Pacific Northwest, the Sunfair attracts more than 2,500 runners that represent schools from several states and plus the province of BC.

Sue Northey’s secondary school aged group of runners are training hard in preparation for the upcoming cross country season. The first meet on the schedule is the giant Sunfair High School meet in Yakima, Washington that takes place on Saturday, October 3. The Sunfair attracts more than 2,500 runners from at least four different states and British Columbia. There are some 12 races offered that cater to the various talents of the competitors. Valley Royals have attended this meet for the past dozen years and it is always a highlight of the cross country season.

This year’s Fraser Valley Secondary School CC Championships will be held for the first time in many years in Hope. Apparently, the meet will take place on a golf course so it should be a nice surface on which to run. Looking especially fit in early season practices are grade 12 athletes Kiya Posthumus and Travis Vugteveen and grade 9 runner Alexandra Siemens. Other major competitions include the BC Athletics Championships and the BC High School meet that will be held once again at Crescent Beach Park.

Club manager, Jason Swan, was involved in a mountain bike accident some 10 days ago in Kamloops. Jason sustained a number of injuries including broken ribs, 2 broken vertebrae, chipped teeth and a fracture of the sternum. He was released from hospital a few days ago and is now recuperating at his sister’s home in Kamloops. The very best to Jason and we hope to see him back in Abbotsford in the not too distant future.

In Jason’s absence, Cindy Miller (a director of the club) has taken on the huge responsibility of registering and processing entries for the Grand Prix meets. Thank you Cindy for taking on this added chore—we all appreciate it very much.

Approximately 40 junior development aged runners are training under the guidance of Larry Neilson & James Meehan in preparation for the upcoming Lafarge Grand Prix Cross Country Series. The competitions begin next Wednesday afternoon and continue for the following three Wednesdays (September 23, 30, October 7, 14).

This will be the 23rd year that this series has taken place. In it’s first year the Grand Prix attracted 120 athletes from 6 or 7 elementary schools and mow has grown to its present size that sees some 35 schools and over 1,100 runners take part. There are individual races for grades 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 with each run taking place over the 1.8km course.

At the conclusion of the four meets, awards will be presented to the first 10 individual finishers in each grade division and team awards will be given to each grade based on the scoring of the top finishers from each school.

The Jane Swan Fitness Award will be presented to the school that demonstrates the best overall fitness from their team. This is always an exciting way to begin the sports season for athletes attending elementary or middle schools and we look forward to another tremendous series.

Please view and download the package HERE.