Zoe Flaman led the Yorkton Regional High School cross-country team at provincials last weekend, beating 62 other runners to earn a gold medal in her junior girls race.
The provincial competition took place in Turtleford, SK.
The tenth grader started cross-country running when she was in the third grade. Flaman said she didn鈥檛 expect to win the four-kilometre race last weekend.聽
鈥淭he whole time I was running I was thinking, 鈥榶ou know, someone鈥檚 going to pass me. I鈥檓 not going to stay in the lead the whole way. When is this girl going to pass me,鈥欌�� Flaman said. 鈥淏ut, she didn鈥檛 pass me, which is nice.鈥�
鈥淢y last race at districts wasn鈥檛 the best, so my idea was to run fast the whole time,鈥� she said.聽
She said the weather conditions acted as a benefit, since it warm by the time the junior girls hit the track.
Winning a provincial medal is always exciting, but Flaman joked that her coach, Mike Haczkewicz, was probably more excited than she was.
Haczkewicz gave Flaman all the credit for her win, and said that running talent ran deep in the family.
鈥淶oe comes from a long line of distance runners. Her aunt, Sandra Flaman, has three banners up in the gym because she was a cross-country provincial champion,鈥� said Haczkewicz. 鈥淗er dad ran at University of Saskatchewan, her mom was a runner here.鈥�
Haczkewicz said the young athlete has a ton on her plate 鈥� she鈥檚 part of the band, she plays piano, and she maintains an exceptionally high grade average.聽
鈥淪he鈥檚 just a great kid,鈥� he explained. 鈥淪he has always been on the cusp of doing great things.鈥澛�
The coach explained that this was the first time ever that Flaman has stolen a 鈥渂igger piece of pie鈥� from all of her other activities to train for cross-country 鈥� and it undoubtedly paid off.聽
鈥淪he won by six seconds. Six seconds is huge in distance racing,鈥� he said.
He also added that Flaman makes light of the difficult, grueling course that she competed on.聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 the toughest course I鈥檝e seen in 28 years of coaching. The hill was like climbing out of Fort Qu鈥橝ppelle,鈥� he said.聽
The coach added that he was, indeed, extremely proud of the young athlete.
The rest of the YRHS cross-country team also had great finishes that day. 聽
LeeAnne Toma finished seventh in the junior girls race. Josh Haczkewicz finished ninth in the midget boys race. Sean Easton was ninth in the junior boys race. Sarah Novakowski was eighth in the senior girls race.
As a team, they finished with 25 points, which was three points away from a team bronze. Teams from Saskatoon finished in the first, second and third place spots.
鈥淲e were close, which is a huge accomplishment from a tiny little school like us,鈥� added Haczkewicz.
There鈥檚 one race remaining in the cross-country season which will take place this weekend at Deer Park Regional Golf Course in Yorkton, as runners compete for their age class title.聽
