Red Deer College cross-country running coach Jodi Nesbitt took top honours in the women’s division of an ACAC Grand Prix event Saturday at Lethbridge.
Nesbitt finished the five kilometre run in 19 minutes, seven seconds. Runner-up Emily Lucas of Lethbridge College crossed the line in 19:51.
Andrew Jacobs was the top RDC men’s competitor, posting a 15th-place (11th among ACAC runners) time of 32:36.
“For six of our runners, this was their first Grand Prix race,” said RDC head coach Brian Stackhouse. “We were missing two of our top runners today due to illness and other commitments.
“We expect to be a little stronger in future meets and we expect our competitors will also be stronger. We’re looking forward to a great season.”
The RDC women’s team placed second to Lethbridge, while the men’s team finished third.
Other RDC individual results:
Women — Jordanna Cota, seventh in 21:09; Haley Kitt, 12th in 22:45; Samantha Debree, 13th in 23:19; Melissa Ray, 16th in 24:14; Laura Szymanek, 17th in 24:32; Amber Koster, 19th in 24:43; Tara McDonald, 20th in 25:12; Lauren Mearns, 21st in 25:19; Mataya Dixon, 22nd in 27:14; Alexandria Pederson, 28th in 33:03; Ani Dingamtar, 29th in 33:03.
Men — Nolan Dyck, 16th in 32:49; Jonathan Lam, 19th in 35:21; Jonathan Allan, 24th in 37:29; Keelan Ellerby, 28th in 41:30.
• The RDC men’s hockey Kings evened their record at 1-1 with an 8-1 spanking of the Concordia Thunder Saturday in Edmonton.
Mike Marianchuk paced the Kings — 5-4 losers to the Thunder Friday at Penhold — with two goals, while Logan Sceviour, Dylan Baer, Ben Williams, Riley Simpson, Pat Martens and Tyler Berkholtz also tallied for the visitors.
Devin Fordyce made 29 saves for the Kings, who directed 46 shots at the Concordia net.
In women’s hockey preseason play, the RDC Queens gave up a pair of late goals in a 3-0 loss to the SAIT Trojans Saturday at the Collicutt Centre.
• The RDC soccer Queens recorded a win and a tie during their southern Alberta weekend road trip, thumping Medicine Hat 6-2 Saturday and battling Lethbridge to a 1-1 draw Sunday.
Kaitlin D’Arcy and Sydney Daines each netted two goals at Medicine Hat, with singles contributed by Olivia Orman and Kelsie Caine. Krystan Strand was named RDC player of the game.
Details from Sunday’s match were unavailable.
In men’s play, the Kings were blanked 2-0 at Medicine Hat and fell 4-0 at Lethbridge.
The Kings dominated the second half of the match at Medicine Hat, but Julius Abegar hit the post with a header and missed a penalty kick with 10 minutes remaining.
On Sunday at Lethbridge, RDC keeper Luke Owen was dismissed for a foul, and yet the RDC squad played better in the second half but couldn’t penetrate a strong Kodiaks defence.
Haydn McLean, in relief of Owen, stopped a penalty shot.
• In basketball preseason action, the RDC Kings fell 98-89 to the host University of Lethbridge and the Queens posted a 2-1 record in a tournament at Kelowna.
The Queens opened with a 72-60 loss to Capilano, then recorded 82-37 and 73-56 wins over the Kings University of Edmonton and Ambrose College of Calgary.