The RDP indoor track team is once again being led by a strong women’s squad.
That was obvious in the first meet of the 2024-25 ACAC season, where the Queens ran away with the team title, accumulating 67 points, with SAIT second with 46.
On the other side, the Kings finished fourth.
A year ago, the Queens were just as dominant. They finished the season with 152 points, 63 ahead of Lethbridge. The Kings were second behind Lethbridge.
Loami Rautenbach, Justin Larson and Zoey Longman led last year’s women’s team. Rautenbach was named the ACAC Female Runner of the Year, finishing just one half a point ahead of Larson. Both were named to the All-Conference team, along with Longman, who was the Rookie of the Year.
All three are returning this season and are part of a group of 12 that has talent in both their sprint and middle-distance teams.
“It looks like we have a really strong team with a number of athletes returning from last year and some new additions that will help us, especially in some of the sprints,” said Michael Schnare, who along with his wife, Jenna, have stepped into the head coaching ranks this season, taking over from Doug Spicer.
Michael has worked with Kari Elliott and Spicer for the past six years as an assistant coach. Jenna is officially in her second year in the coaching ranks. She previously ran for the team and helped with the training for several years as well.
The RDP team gets an opportunity to show their talent to the local fans Saturday when they host the second ACAC meet at 9 a.m,. at the Gary W Harris Canada Games Centre.
“It’s a great opportunity to host, although we’re kind of limited in that we can’t run 60 or 300m events because of the track design. Still we’ll have our sprinters in the relays, which we’re strong in.”
With Rautenbach returning, the Queens will be strong once again in the 50 or 60-metre events. But she will be pushed by newcomer Eiley Morrison of Lacombe, who tied for first in the 50m in the opening competition, setting an ACAC record at 6.88 seconds.
Longman, who is also a member of the basketball Queens, was eight with Rautenbach, who is just returning from an injury ninth and Hadley Guenther, a first-year runner out of Hunting Hills, 10th. Kammy Park also competed in the 50 and 300m events.
“Eiley had a great start and it would have been interesting if both (Eiley and Loami) were in the same heat,” said Schnare. “We’ll get to see that at the provincials (March 15-16 at the University of Alberta Paviollion).
Rautenbach did show she’s not far from last year’s form, placing third in the 300m final.
Larson, along with third-year Georgia Sawchuk, anchors the middle distance portion of the team along with returnees Myah Cota and Melissa Ray, Longman also runs the 1500m along with Lily Dodd, a rookie out of Innisfail.
Sawchuk, who is in her third year with the team, had a great start to the year with third-place finishes in both the 1500 and 3000m.
“Justine is a big part of our team as she’s in her fourth and final year with us,” said Schnare. “Georgia is just hitting her stride. She set a personal best in the 3,000 by 15 seconds … she’s really stepping up, as is Melissa.”
Other members on the women’s side are Emily Baritt, who competed in the 600m, and Alissa Berwick, who was in the 50 and 300m events.
Schnare indicated the women have an advantage over the men in that they have 12 women on the team while the men have seven.
“We have a number of women who specialize in sprints or middle distance while the men, because of their smaller size, don’t have that luxury,” said Schnare. “The men spread themselves around.
Still the men had several strong showing at the initial meet, led by third-year Jordan Coen, who placed second in the 1500m.
Fourth-year veteran Andrew Warwick leads the way in the sprints along with Mbagara Gacheru from Nairobi.
Japhet Kipkosgei of Kenya was also strong in the middle-distance events, finishing fourth in the 3000.
Owen House out of Lindsay Thurber, also ran in the 1500, while Taelum Henfrey, from Hunting Hills, and Leland Lusk of Leduc ran the 600m
All seven members of the team competed in either the 4x200m or 4x400m relay.
The majority of the indoor track team also ran for the RDP cross-country team.
“It’s not surprising as we have diverse athletes capable of doing both sprints and long distances,” said Schnare, who admitted they will look to recruit athletes for both events.
“We have a lot of recuiting done for next year and look strong. We feel we’ll have an improvement on the men’s side.
Schnare indicated they have “around six” recruits already and will continue to see “who else is available.
“The majority of the recruiting has to be done in the fall,” said Schnare, who admits it’s different recruiting as a head coach compared to an assistant.
“Now that we’re head coaches, we get to see what it takes to be competitive in both cross-country and track.
“Not all athletes compete in both.”
Schnare indicated they’re already spending time recruiting Grade 11 students.
“You have to look ahead,” he said.
“And we’re excited about who we see coming in.”
Danny Rode is a retired Advocate reporter and member of the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame who can be reached at danrodr@shaw.ca
