The largest contingent of runners in the last few years from Olds High School will compete at the provincial cross-country championships in Drayton Valley on Oct. 19.
Eight runners from the school qualified for the provincial meet following the south central zone competition in Canmore on Oct. 9.
A ninth runner, Emma McLaren, finished two spots out of qualifying for provincials, but may attend if the runners ahead of her cannot compete.
She finished 20th in her category.
Ben Godwin, Victoria Wagstaff, Alex Roemmele, Jayna Templeton, Mitch Ormann, Matt Gaudette, Anushree Patel and Janelle Graham all qualified for the provincial meet.
Patel and Graham each finished third in their respective categories, the four-kilometre intermediate girls run and the three-kilometre junior girls category.
“They far exceeded my expectations (in Canmore). It's just amazing that the whole group of them (are going),” said Sherry Leppa, a co-coach of the team. “Both Maggie (Robblee, the other co-coach) and I are very happy for them.”
Leppa said the course was a lot more difficult than the runners have had at previous meets.
“The course was quite a bit more uphill than what they're used to, because we don't really have much to compare it to. All the kids said it was way harder than counties, but what was amazing was that more than half of them beat their time (from the county meet) by up to two minutes, so they really pushed themselves,” she said.
Five other runners competed in various categories in the Grade 9 event and did well, Leppa said.
Laura Klinck placed fifth in her category, while Leif Aitken, Jonah Godwin, Terrance Kelly and Jordan Funk-Schaber also had excellent results.
Grade 9 students do not have a provincial meet.
