INNISFAIL – Christian Damgaard is the new athletic director at St. Marguerite Bourgeoys Catholic School who recently noticed a banner in the gym that recognized a former student for finishing seventh nine years ago at a zone championship cross-country race.
In fact, no St. Marguerite student prior to this athletic season has ever won to claim a gold medal in an individual sport, like cross-country.
That changed big time on Oct. 12 by an 11-year-old Grade 6 student named Lily Glazebrook.
She qualified for her first-ever competitive cross-country race at the Central Western Alberta Junior High Athletic Association (CWAJHAA) Cross-country Championships at Red Deer’s École Secondaire Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School.
This zone race is the highest level of competition in the province for junior high athletes in Lily’s age group as there are no provincial tourneys. It is open to about 90 schools from a zone that goes east to Consort and west to Rocky Mountain House, and then north to Ponoka and south to Bowden.
According to Damgaard, Lily’s only previous cross-country experience was a fun run in Innisfail earlier in the month.
But on Oct. 12 in Red Deer, Lily would be up against tough, experienced and well-trained competition. She would be competing in a two-kilometre cross-country race that would field 61 cross-country runners; the best of the best.
And the young girl beat them all, shocking many other athletes and race officials. Lily is today and forever more a gold medal champion; the first athlete from St. Marguerite Bourgeoys Catholic School to win an individual sport championship.
"My initial plan was to sprint as fast as I could to take the lead early and not slow down at all. As I noticed that I was in the lead, I simply focused on not letting anyone get close to me,” said Lily, who competed with St. Marguerite teammates Aubrey Cruickshank, Audrey Coates and Chayse Lucas. “When I was done, I was both tired and excited, and I felt so proud that our school, which is very small and sent a small team to the CWAJHAA meet, had a gold medallist.
“This has made me very passionate about cross-country running and I am so excited for next year's race.”
Back at St. Marguerite there was both shock and sheer joy for the school’s newest athletic hero and stunning accomplishment.
“Her winning is a big shock here. We were so taken aback. I can't believe this happened,” said Damgaard. “Just to give some context; we have, like all the Innisfail schools, very good athletes here. But in our time here we've never had a CWAJHAA winner ever in an individual sport like cross-country. We've never had a gold medalist.
“When speaking with her cross-country coach Cheyenne Klassen about the CWAJHAA run, she said that it was awesome because everyone was saying, ‘wow, who is that girl who is so far ahead!? What school is she from?
Klassen, who was at the CWAJHAA meet with co-coach Simone Hoffer and the team, said Lily started the race well and quickly built up a huge lead, which in the end was about 50 metres ahead of the second-place finisher.
“I just felt incredibly proud. It was so cool to hear, like even at the beginning of the race when people were saying, ‘oh, who's that girl? Look at that lead that she has. She's so far out in front,” said Klassen. “I was so proud of how hard she had worked because she has worked her butt off at practice this cross-country season. I'm just I'm incredibly happy that it paid off and she came out with the win that she got.”
