Red Deer Polytechnic come through with huge results, finish in first place overall

Red Deer, February 18, 2023 – As the starters gun went off, the Running Room Grand Prix #2 was back on the track in the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre in Red Deer for the second consecutive year.

Starting things off was the women's 3000-metre run which saw Rebecca Ross of Medicine Hat College blow away the competition with a time of 11:17.20. 23 seconds later, Taylor Chamberlin crossed the finished line and following her was Medicine Hat's Madison Scrimger in third. In the men's long-distance event, Lethbridge College Kodiaks Cooper Williams led the way with a time of 8:48.50 followed by Leonard Chesoo of Concordia and SAIT Trojan's Yahye Jama. 

The women's 1000m saw Red Deer's Jenica Swartz finish in first with a time of 3:07.20 as she was able to defend her top spot from the last Grand Prix. Trojans Jasmin Salmon crossed the finish line 10 seconds in front of the third-place runner who was Justine Larson of the Queens Indoor Track Team. On the men's side, Red Deer Polytechnic's Ethan Duret just edged out second place Keiran Marchand of SAIT by one second. Trojans Moktar Said would round out the top three with a time of 2:39.20 which was just 10 milliseconds ahead of Lethbridge College's Brock Jensen and Red Deer's Daniel Szucs, who tied for fourth. 

The 4x200m women's relay saw the SAIT Trojans edge out the Red Deer Polytechnic Queens, who were the defending champions, by three seconds. Rounding out the top three was the St. Mary's University Lightning with a time of 1:59.70. It was a very close relay on the men's side. The Kodiaks took first place beating out their previous ACAC record of 1:37.84 with a time of 1:37.20. 40 milliseconds later, the Rattlers crossed the finish line followed by the Kings to round out the podium.

Following the lunch break, the Grand Prix got back on track with the women's 600m. Swartz (1:42) would win her second event of the afternoon followed by Salmon (1:43) in second and Maria Boix-Frias (1:48.70) of Lethbridge College in third. Red Deer Polytechnic picked up their fourth top finish with Duret coming in first with a time of 1:26.30. Following the Kings athlete was Sam Nawrot (1:27.70) of University of Alberta-Augustana and coming in third was Jonah Hennig (1:28.40) of Lethbridge College.

In the 1500m event, Chamberlin finished exactly five seconds ahead of Ross who placed second with a time of 5:17.30 which was 15 seconds ahead of Chloe Funnell of Augustana who finished in third. On the men's side, it was a close battle as first through third was spread out by just two seconds. Chesoo finished first (4:12.50), Marchand (4:13.70) got second and Szucs (4:14.50) placed third.

The event concluded with the thrilling 4x400m relay events.  The SAIT Trojans defended their title with an impressive run of 4:28 followed by the Queens (4:32.30) and the Rattlers (4:40.10). On the men's side, the Kings went from a bronze at the first Grand Prix to a gold medal at today's race with a time of 3:43.40 followed by Medicine Hat College (3:48) and Lethbridge College (3:49.60). 

Red Deer Polytechnic finished atop the standings in both the male and female categories. On the women's side, the Queens had a total of 56 points followed by SAIT with 46 and Medicine Hat College with 38 on the women's side. On the men's side, the Kings finished with 64.50 points followed by the Kodiaks with 43.50 and the Trojans with 39.

This would conclude the Running Room Grand Prix series with the next event being the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference Indoor Track Championships from March 18-19 which will be co-hosted by Concordia University, Northwestern Polytechnic, The Kings University and University of Alberta-Augustana. The event will take place at the University of Alberta Pavilion, otherwise known as the Butterdome.