Jordanna Cota would like nothing more than to follow in Canadian College cross-country champion Jodi Sanguin’s footsteps.
“She is amazing and I look up to her,” said the 16-year-old Grade 11 Hunting Hills star, who plans on following Sanguin to RDC when she graduates.
And just like Sanguin, who finished her college career last season, Cota will be around for a possible five years as she plans to get into nursing.
Cota is already one of the bright young distance runners in the province.
Last year she finished third in the 3,000-metres and fourth in the 1,500m in the high school provincials and added a fourth-place finish in the high school cross-country championships last fall. It was a step up from her first ever provincial cross-country meet in 2010 when she was 10th.
The fact is Cota didn’t start competing until Grade 10.
“I started running in Grade 10 as a conditioning thing for basketball,” she explained. “But I loved it and it continued from there. I stopped playing basketball and softball as it’s what I want to do.”
She loves the fact it’s an individual sport.
“It’s all on me and I have no one to blame but myself if things go wrong,” she said.
“But the main thing is I enjoy it and I love to have fun.”
Cota not only trains with her high school team, but with the Elite Speed club, a group of cross-country runners, which RDC coach Brian Stackhouse is one of the coaches.
“Brian has really helped me and one of the things he preaches is to have fun,” added Cot, who got an opportunity to train with Sanguin last year prior to attending the Canadian cross-country age group championships.
“That (the championships) was a great learning experience,” she said.
“We travelled as Red Deer College and it was interesting to see all the girls and the fact I wasn’t in the lead pack for once was good. There was no expectations.”
Cota showed her skills at the Central area high school track and field meet at Lindsay Thurber Tuesday, winning the 800, 1,500 and 3,000m titles in intermediate girls division.
She won the 800-metres in two minutes 40.49 seconds, which was close to six seconds ahead of Rachael Sherban of Hunting Hills.
Her 1,500m time was 5:15.00, 14.25 seconds ahead of teammate Alex Johnson and she won the 3,000 in 11:27.0, 22 seconds up on Johnson.
Both her 800 and 1.500 times were the fastest among the girls. Alana Skocdopole of Notre Dame was the only one to better Cota’s time in the 3,000, finishing at 11:19.0.
“It was an amazing day, so much fun,” said Cota, who will now advance to the Central Alberta zone championships next Wednesday in Camrose.
The top two finishers in each event there will attend the provincials.
Cota will eventually get mainly into cross-country running, more so than on the track, but as of now she’s not sure which one she likes the best.
“It depends on which season we’re in,” she said with a smile. “I do struggle on the hills, so right now I may like track a bit more.
“But in the long term I’ll be at Red Deer College, which is good as I’ll be at home with family and friends.”
Kendra Sorensen of Notre Dame won the intermediate girls’ aggregate title with 33 points, one ahead of Erin Seater of LTCHS. Sydney Daines of Innisfail took top spot in the junior ranks with 29 points while Bryna Cline of LTCHS had 28.
Teammates Teighan Ponto and Brittani Blake were one-two in the senior girls with 34 and 25 points respectively.
Parker Fox of Delburne led the junior boys with 31 points with Scott Irvine of LTCHS with 27 while Matt van Mulligen of Hunting Hills had 31 points in the intermediate boys’ category while Spencer Yeats of LTCHS had 27.
Nathanael Berg of Hunting Hills had 29 points and Jordan Volker of Delburne 27 in the senior boys.
LTCHS led the team competition with 719.5 points with Hunting Hills at 543 and Notre Dame at 369.5. LTCHS topped the boys’ division with 424 points with Hunting Hills at 236 and Delburne at 181. Hunting Hills was on top in the girls’ category with 307 points while LTCHS at 295.5 and Notre Dame 215.
drode@www.reddeeradvocate.com