Winning a silver medal for Paul Kane High School was pure gold for Adeline Maunder at the provincial cross-country championships.
“It’s a great feeling,” said the Grade 12 athlete. “It really shows that I’m really doing the best that I can for Paul Kane. It’s a little success for them, and I guess for me too.”
Maunder, 16, was the runner-up in the intermediate female 4,000 metres at the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association meet with a time of 15 minutes and 56 seconds Saturday in Red Deer.
“I was actually quite surprised when I came second,” she said. “Last year I came fifth (in the junior 3,000m at 13:08 in Elkwater) and one of my competitors was unable to show because she had shin splints so I was thinking I would come in fourth this time.”
The winner was Gillian Ceyhan of the Strathcona-Tweedsmuir Spartans at 15:26.
“I was always kind of chasing her,” Maunder said. “Right off the start I think I was sixth or seventh. From there on because of the hills, which were to my advantage, I ended up passing people and then there were two leaders and I ended up passing one of them and then I had a huge gap between the third person and myself.”
Maunder wore spikes to tackle the challenging course after slipping and sliding in the Edmonton zone championship the previous week.
“It gave me more power going up those hills than some of the other girls that might not have had spikes,” she said. “The course was to my advantage because there was a lot of hills but they were so steep that some of it involved crawling up the hills using our hands.”
At zones Maunder was the intermediate winner by at least 20 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor on a Goldbar Park course modified due to the inclement weather.
“It wasn’t the nicest day because it was snowing that morning and during the first race it was really coming down. During my race it was very slippery because the course had been worn out from the other runners running on it,” she said. “It didn’t really matter to me. It was a course and you do what you can do.”
The 10th place junior female finisher at the 2010 provincials in Vermilion at 14:18 is also a national-ranked speed skater and triathlete.
The Edmonton Speed Skating Club member is eighth in Canada in the women’s U19 three kilometre event.
The junior elite U19 triathlete is also on the verge of making Team Alberta for the 2013 Canada Summer Games.
“My second last performance I did was in Magog, Que. (in July) and I did quite well. I think I came 10th and that is very good for me, so the better I do the more chance I have of going to the Canada Summer Games next summer. So far I’m second and I only need to do only one more triathlon to guarantee my second place, and I think the top three get to go,” said the third-place junior elite U19 finisher at the St. Albert Kids of Steel Triathlon in June.
At the 2012 St. Albert 10-Mile Road Race, Maunder placed second in the U19 female division at 1:10:03 in Grade 11. She finished 13th among females and 65th overall in the race. Last year she was the fastest St. Albert female at 1:11:12 as the U19 runner-up.
Maunder thrives on pushing herself to become the best she can be.
“The thing that motivates me is the feeling that I can do better, which gives me the chance of becoming better and bigger at certain things,” said the student of the advanced endurance class at Paul Kane taught by Marc Meunier, two-time reigning RunWild Leading Edge Marathon champion.
FAST TIMES: The following St. Albert and Morinville athletes also competed at provincials.
Hayley Francois, St. Albert Skyhawks: 4th, senior female 4,000m (15:53).
Monica McDowell, Skyhawks: 12th, intermediate female (16:58).
Ben Sperling, Paul Kane Blues: 23rd, senior male 6,000m (23:03).
Lindsay Riege, Paul Kane: 29th, junior female 3,000m (13:24).
Alexander Dielemann, Paul Kane: 70th, senior male (25:11).
Grace VanDerVelden, Bellerose Bulldogs: 73rd, intermediate female (19:43).
Colby McIntyre, Ecole Secondaire Saint Marguerite d'Youville: 95th, junior female (15:14).
Sarah Mathias, Morinville Wolves: 98th, junior female (15:19).
Chantel Schoenberger, Ecole Secondaire Saint Marguerite d'Youville: 99th, junior female (15:20).
Amanda Mathias, Morinville: 101st, intermediate female (20:57).
Cynthia Vansevenandt, Morinville: 105th, senior female (23:39).
Jasmine Rewnick, Morinville: 107th, senior female (23:54).
Sabina Ogrodiuk, Ecole Secondaire Saint Marguerite d'Youville: 117th, intermediate female (22:12).
Kayla Schultz, Morinville: 121st, junior female (17:55).
Visit www.asaa.ca for complete results.
