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Zone run brings out best in Barwise

Whether it’s on the cross country running trails or on the soccer field, Robyn Barwise and Aleesha Bautista are never far apart from each other.
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Robyn Barwise, left, of the PGSS Polars and Aleesha Bautista of the Correlieu Clan get together after finishing 1-2 in the senor girls race Saturday at the North Central zone championships at Otway Nordic Centre.

Whether it’s on the cross country running trails or on the soccer field, Robyn Barwise and Aleesha Bautista are never far apart from each other.
Bautista had the finish line in sight Saturday morning at the Otway Nordic Centre at the north central zone championships but Barwise got their first, winning a battle they had waged for the length of the four-kilometre course.
“We’ve been neck-and-neck for a long time,” said Barwise, sporting her Prince George Polars crest on her shirt as she clocked 15:32.95, finishing 22 seconds ahead of the second-place Bautista (15:54.97).
“I think last season we had two wins each and she beat me by this much at zones,” said the 16-year-old Polar, holding her thumb and index finger up to reveal a sliver of space. “We’ve raced each other since we were really little. She does a lot of other sports (soccer and volleyball) and it makes a big difference because when she’s not there my times aren’t nearly what they are when she is here.”
Barwise excels in track and field as an 800-metre runner and has for many years been a competitve speed skater (short track and long track) and a wrestler, but has given up short track skating to focus more on soccer. She’s making rapid progress on the pitch as a midfielder and like Bautista has joined the junior Timberwolves academy program, which has become a funnel to feed local talent  into UNBC’s university soccer program. Barwise has been involved with soccer since she moved to Prince George from Mackenzie in September 2015.
“I started doing year-round soccer this summer with the Timberwolves and Aleesha’s on that team as well. I’m pretty new to competitive soccer because when I lived in Mackenzie there wasn’t really much soccer. Now I’m really into it and I’m getting a lot better.
“I think cross country and track is always going to be my No. 1, I just really love running. Cross country is such a gutsy sport – it’s just running but it’s what people were meant to do and it’s way better than track. You don’t feel like a hamster and the season is always so pretty.”
Bautista commutes to Prince George from Quesnel three times a week to train as a defender with the junior T-wolves. She won the junior girls zone cross country title last year on her home course in Quesnel and said Saturday it was Barwise’s turn to benefit from the home track advantage
“It’s really fun because I get to play with different people and in Prince George there are better opportunities,” said Bautista. “I do want to play for (UNBC), that’s the plan.”
Last year at the provincial finals in West Kelowna Barwise finished 24th out of more than 200 in the junior girls category, one place ahead of Bautista.
Both have qualified for the provincial championships Nov. 4 at Jericho Beach Park in Vancouver. Barwise is expecting a wet course but hopefully not the swampy conditions she had to endure there as a Grade 9 student at the 2015 provincials.
“It was raining so hard there were puddles up to our knees,” Barwise said.
Jordan Bax of D.P.Todd captured the senior boys zone title, covering the six-kilometre course in 20:31.98. Bax, a ski racer with the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club, knows the Otway trails well and said it was helpful that he rode out on his bike the day before to run the course a couple times.
“The first three-quarters is all flat, and the last quarter has some steep hills and some steep downs, so I knew I just had to push harder over every hill because you know there’s a downhill,” said Bax.
He passed Jack Wright of Dawson Creek as they headed into the third of three laps and won by just two seconds over Wright (20:34.28) and third-place Adam Wangler (20;38.64), aslo of Dawson Creek.
“I raced them last year at zones and they were faster than me so I paced off them for the first two laps and I didn’t want to go in front of them and the last lap I took it myself and every second I got a little farther ahead and it just worked out,” said the 16-year-old Bax. “I knew I could make up time on the flats. Some of these guys have shorter legs and are a bit faster in the uphills and I knew where to take it.”
Bax had decided he no longer wants to travel out of the province for ski races and will stick close to home to focus on his running training with D.P. Todd coach Reid Roberts. He missed the high school cross country provincial meet last year and instead attended a ski training camp but says he’ll be there wearing his spikes for the race in Vancouver on Nov. 4.
“I’m excited about that,” he said. “I went in Grade 9 and it was a great experience to race in a huge crowd where you have to be more aware of strategy to get around people and I can’t wait to do more of that.
“I like sports where it’s just you and how much effort you put out and  this is one of the best overall sports. I do wish we had more competition but I enjoy what we have. I got second in (each of the three previous races leading up the zone meet) so it’s really good to come out here and beat the guys who beat me before, when it really matters.”