Nathan Tadesse has won the gold medal in the Senior Boys category at the B.C. high School Cross Country Championships Saturday at the West Shore Parks and Recreation Complex in Victoria.
The Grade 12 North Surrey Secondary student finished the 6.4-kilometre course in 20:35, 13 seconds better than runner-up Sean Bergman of Kelowna Secondary.
“I’ve been training hard for this,” said Tadesse, 17. “We had Canadian Legions pretty late for track, I was done in mid-August. After that, I took a week off then I started building my mileage. I peaked at the right time for this.”
Five local athletes placed in the top 10 in a field of 235. Michael Milic of Seaquam placed seventh, Connor Jackson of White Rock Christian high school was eighth and Sterling Ginther of Earl Marriott was ninth.
Chelsea Ribeiro of Semiahmoo Secondary was the top local athlete among the 225 racers in the Senior Girls group, placing 12th in 16:04, 64 seconds behind the winner, Hannah Bennison of Vernon. The girls race covered 4.3 kilometers.