Simon Nemethy didn't mind the heavy rain.
He was light on his feet in his run to the medal podium at the B.C. high school cross-country running championships Saturday at Jericho Beach in Vancouver.
Nemethy, a Grade 9 student at Nechako Valley secondary school in Vanderhoof, won bronze in the junior boys five-kilometre event. Despite ankle-deep puddles and a muddy course, Nemethy dug into the well-worn turf with his running spikes and finished the course in 18 minutes four seconds. He ended up 24 seconds off the 17:40 winning pace set by Grade 10 students Jaxon Mackie of Earl Marriot and Kalum Delanie of Reynolds, who finished 1-2 respectively in a field of 210 runners
In other North Central (Zone 8) results, Cole Dinsdale of Correlieu in Quesnel was 15th in the senior boys race and Brandon Balbirnie of Peter Skene Ogden (100 Mile House) was 24th.
Robin Barwise of Prince George secondary school was 46th among 200 entrants in the senior girls race, while Isaac Goodrich of College Heights was 55th among 218 in the senior boys race.
In the team standings, Correlieu placed ninth in senior girls and 16th in senior boys, Nechako Valley was 15th in junior girls and 16th in junior boys, Quesnel junior secondary was 21st in junior boys and Dawson Creek was 19th in junior girls.
See page 13 for complete Zone 8 results.
