White Rock Christian Academy's cross-country 1A athletes ran to podium finishes 2024 cross country provincials recently at Jericho Park in Vancouver.
Despite a muddy course, both the boys and girls cross-country squads were in it to win it, said head coach Davey Gin, a family doctor who has a family practice with his son Luke Gin, also a doctor, in Surrey; both are volunteer coaches at WRCA.
And they did. Both the senior girls 1A squad and the seniors boys 1A team took the B.C. Championship Cross Country banners after a hard-gought season.
Gin noted B.C. School Sports created 1A, double AA and triple AAA division in cross country last year, and WRCA's senior boys won the B.C. single A Cross-country Championships at Crescent Park, while the senior girls came in second.
"This year, we wanted to improve on that, and our preseason goal was to win both the girls and boys B.C. single A banners. Most of the kids trained in August in preparation for the cross country season," Gin said in an email, giving credit to WRCA teacher Mitch Skjeveland for being a big reason for the successful program, as he does twice-a-week morning strength and conditioning training with the athletes.
He is also an excellent cross country recruiter, Gin added.
"Our athletes were laser-focused on trying to win two B.C. Championship banners," he continued.
The Senior girls went the whole season undefeated, winning the Surrey Championships and South Fraser Championships against bigger, double AA and triple AAA schools. Then they capped it off with winning the BC Championships; the championship team included Vanessa Pinto (Grade 12, who also won a silver individual medal at provincials), Averie Watson (Grade 10, provincial bronze medal), Jordyn Liao (Grade 10, eighth), Kate Atenbring (Grade 9, 10th), and Ana Methner (Grade 9, 11th).
Despite struggling all year because of injuries, the senior boys squad still came in second overall in South Fraser Championships behind Fleetwood Park, then "grinded it out" at provincials, even without their No. 1 runner, to win the B.C. 1A championship.
The boys team was comprised of all different grades of athletes: Caleb Isac (Grade 10, fourth in provincials), Ashton Berghammer (Grade 10, seventh in B.C.s), Will Zhang (Grade 11, 10th provincials), Shotaro Nikane (Grade 12, 12th overall) and Joshua Gordon (Grade 12, 21st overall).
"Our strategy (at provincial championships) for both teams was for everyone to run their own race at their normal race pace and to leave it all out on the muddy course, and it worked," Gin said.
"We are looking forward to next year!"
Other Surrey athletes also fated well at provincials, including two juniors who ran B.C.-best times.
