Emma Balazs had a bout of stage fright and was unable to complete her race Saturday at the B.C. high school cross-country championship.
The 17-year-old Kelly Road student dropped out of the four-kilometre girls race after finishing about 1.5 kms of the course Saturday at D.P. Todd school field and Moore's Meadow trail, later saying she allowed herself to get too worked up about competing in front of family and friends.
"All week I was kind of nervous and I thought I had a handle on it but, I guess I was way too nervous," said Balazs. "We started [the race] and it was pretty fast but I was OK and then going down the hill I fell and then, I don't know."
Several bystanders said Balazs appeared disoriented and wandered off course towards the crowd, collapsing into the snow. Balazs confirmed she fell, adding she didn't need medical attention and just went inside to relax and warm up.
For the Grade 12 student it was a disappointment not to finish her final high school cross-country race, but Balazs' day was mirrored by some of the other favourites in the girls event.
Kayla Stone of South Kamloops was the favourite to win the girls race but wound up seventh in a time of 18 minutes, 08 seconds (18:08) while Hazelton's Regan Yee, ranked second before the race, finished 24th in 19:08.
"Nobody had a good race," said Balazs.
With the pre-race favourites stumbling, Nicole Hutchinson, a 15-year-old from Sentinel school in West Vancouver was the surprise winner, completing the two laps in 17:44.
The top Prince George runner was Julia Babicz of College Heights, finishing 32nd (19:33), while Erica Kreitz of the PGSS Polars was 88th in 20:39.
The temperatures on race day hovered near-zero creating slushy conditions for the racers.
"It was like an icy swamp but once you got past the start it was better," said Balazs.
Stone and Balazs finished one-two among 16-19 aged women the previous weekend in Abbotsford at the B.C. athletics cross-country club championship. Both qualified for the national championship in Vancouver, Nov. 24.
Balazs said she plans to start working with a sports psychologist so her nerves don't derail her again.
There were more than 250 girls competing while the boys six-kilometre race saw more than 260 racers at the start line.
