Alexander Nemethy will have another chance to beat his Nechako Valley Secondary teammate Riley Wallace at the B.C. High Schools provincial cross-country running championship Saturday in Kelowna.
Brian Nemethy, coach of the NVSS runners, said the two boys battled it out two weeks ago at the 31st annual Central Interior northern zone championship, placing first and second.
"My two boys had a definite plan to do something," said Nemethy. "They attacked right away and got ahead of the others and then they just had to duke it out with each other. Riley's got a good sprint finish and Alexander's got a good 400-metre kick finish.
Wallace, 17, beat his Grade 9 teammate by three seconds, finishing the 6.4 kilometre distance in 22 minutes and 40 seconds.
Nemethy said the competition in the boys races this season was tight with several runners from Prince George and Vanderhoof coming up big on different weekends. Wallace was the only one to win multiple races.
NVSS also placed first in the boys and girls team events. The girls edged out College Heights for the second straight year, while the Vikings' boys beat out Dawson Creek after losing to them in 2010.
The only banner NVSS didn't win was the 4.5-kilometre girls one, which had a surprise outcome when Correlieu's Ines Zimmerman, an exchange student from Norway, beat out last year's top female, Emma Balzas from the Kelly Road Roadrunners.
"She runs really well," said Nemethy. "A lot of us were really rooting for Emma because she's been number one around here and she's faster than my girls. Even my girls are rooting for her, even though we're trying to chase her down."
Zimmerman finished the race in 17 minutes and 16 seconds ahead of 73 other girls. There were 48 boys in the race. NVSS had 36 runners competing in Quesnel at the zone championship.
The top 25 runners in the boys and girls events, in addition to the top three teams, will compete Saturday in Kelowna.
Balzas finished ninth at the provincial championship two years ago.
Nemethy said there's a really good chance for several runners, boys and girls, to crack the top 25 in the province.
"When the south sees five girls from the Prince George area in the top 25 they're going to be going, 'Wow, that is amazing,'" he said. "They wonder what were doing because they know it's cold up here."
Next year, the runners from the warmer climates will need to pack their mittens and parkas because NVSS is hosting the 2012 provincial cross-country championship along with Prince George's D.P. Todd.
"I can't host it in Vanderhoof because we don't have hotel rooms for 600 runners," laughed Nemethy.
WOMEN DOMINATE RUNNING CLASS
For a school with 600 students, Nechako Valley in Vanderhoof had 44 join the cross-country team in September, 36 of them - 24 girls - taking part in the zone championship in Quesnel two weeks ago.
Brian Nemethy, an avid runner and marathoner, said he works hard at school to interest the kids in taking part.
"I just really push it in school," he said. "We have a goodie run Fridays. I'm the only teacher or coach that has practice on a Friday. I know I can get all my runners together because they don't have any volleyball or football, plus we have a goodie. I won't tell them what it is until after practice. Sometimes it's pizza. Sometimes it's chocolate milk. Sometimes it's ice cream."
The popularity among the girls at NVSS translates from the masters runs Nemethy and his wife host Tuesdays in Vanderhoof, where between 50 and 70 adults - most of them women - take part.
-Lamb
