Levins and Yungblut Lead Speed River Athletes At NACAC Cross Country Championshpis

Speed River Track and Field Club athletes were in action around the globe this weekend with runners competing in Jamaica, Kenya and the United States.  

Leading the way were five Speed River/University of Guelph athletes who competed at the North American Central American and Caribbean Cross Country Championships in Mandeville, Jamaica.  The group’s results were led by two individual silver medal performances: Madeline Yungblut in the junior women’s race and Cam Levins in the senior men’s.  Yungblut led the Canadian junior team to the team title, while Levins’ senior team finished in the runner-up position to the American squad.  Sarah Wismer, the youngest member of the Canadian team, finished a strong 16^th in the junior women’s race.  Christian Gravel was 10^th overall in the junior men’s race, helping the Canadian squad to the team title.  Chris Winter finished eighth in the senior men’s race.  All four Canadian teams qualified for the World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland March 24^th. 

Meanwhile in Eldoret, Kenya Reid Coolsaet finished 101^st place in the Discovery Eldoret XC race.   Widely regarded as one of the World’s most competitive cross- country races, Coolsaet was using the competition to break up his training as he builds towards his run at the Canadian marathon record this spring.

Rounding out a busy weekend of action were two track races in the United States.  Hilary Stellingwerff finished third in the 800 metres at the University of Washington Invitational in Seattle, Washington.  Stellingwerff’s time of 2 minutes 5.28 seconds, ranks her first in Canada.  Stellingwerff will be racing next week at the New Balance Boston Indoor Games.  Chantelle Groenewoud finished fourth in the mile steeplechase race at the New Balance Games in New York City.  Groenewoud, in her first ever indoor steeplechase, crossed the line in 5 minutes 1.07 seconds.