Sports

It was a clean sweep for the UBC Okanagan track teams last weekend as both the men's and women's cross country teams out duelled the Thompson Rivers University Wolfpack.

Photo: Contributed - UBCO

The UBCO Heat men's and women's track team swept the opening race of the season.

Competing on the Eagle Trail, just off UBC’s Okanagan campus, the Heat came up with a pair of victories.

The Heat women ran an especially quick race, taking the first four spots Saturday to achieve the lowest possible team score of 10 points.

First year Human Kinetics student Michelle Blackburne of West Kelowna led all women, winning the four kilometre race with a time of 16:17 on the challenging course, beating out teammate Ashley Yip by 21 seconds. 

Alea Stockton was third with a time of 16:44 and Trisha Metro placed 4th, finishing one second back.

Despite a one-two finish by the Wolfpack in the men's race, the Heat men won the team title with 18 points.

TRU runners Chris Curl won the race in a time of 21:31 followed by Evan Hall at 21:40.

The top Heat runner was Orillia, Ontario's David Harbocian who led his team with a 3rd place finish in 21:44 on the six kilometre course.

Rounding out the scorers for UBC Okanagan were Roger Sherwood (4th, 21:47), Garrett Anstett (5th, 21:56), and Carlos Capela (6th, 22:02).

Coaches Nikki and Nathan Reiter were very pleased with the teams’ performances.

“Our men’s and women’s teams ran tightly packed today, exhibiting only an 18-second spread from first to fourth on the men’s side and a 28-second spread on the women’s side, indicating that they recognize the importance of all four runners finishing as quickly as possible” says Nikki Reiter.

Next up for the heat is a trip to the Pacific Lutheran University Invitational in Tacoma, Washington on Saturday, September 29 to compete in the PLU invitational.