Eagle Butte takes home provincials

By Carlie Connolly

The cross country team attended Okotos for provincials on Oct. 18 with 23 runners performing to the best of their ability and winning provincials. Coach, Darryl Smith said he is very proud of the team, as this year they finally beat the team they have been trying to beat for 10 years, as they usually come second.

“Its quite an accomplishment by the kids and a standing effort all the way around,” said Smith.

They won against a team for Wetaskiwin, which proved to be difficult to beat. Eagle Butte however has quite the running track history. In 2005, they first came on the scene getting second and tried to catch the team from Wetaskiwin ever since.

“It was a bittersweet day in a sense because we finally caught them,” he said.

Eagle Butte’s team usually has around 14 to 16 runners, but this year is quite a lot more than usual. They practice around five times a week, Monday through Thursday, and have a race or practice on the weekends too.

The team is done for the year now as provincials is their end, but still have an important event to run in New York for their cross-country trip that they take every two years. From Nov. 6 to 11, the team will be in New York City and will run a race in Long Island on Nov. 9 for the wounded warriors that come back from the American army.

“We’re definitely above average as far as cross country teams in the province among the races we go to. We’ll actually run another race in March, so we don’t run all year, but we get to keep the kids involved all year,” Smith said.

This game of provincials was one for the runners to remember, as they are already planning for next year.

“The neat thing was that right after we won, the kids were like ‘okay, what do we need to do to win next year?’ so they’re already motivated to see if they could do it again.”

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