In cold and windy conditions, 378 students participated in the 2.3 kilometre Naramata Cross Country Championship race on Oct. 26.
Brandon Patton of Uplands Elementary School set a record for Grade 5 boys completing the event in 9:25. Meanwhile, Wiltse’s Grade 4 boys and girls finished first. In the Grade 4 girls, Giant’s Head and Columbia School rounded out the top three. For the boys, it was Naramata and Holy Cross. For Grade 5 girls, Uplands, Kaleden and Holy Cross finished first, second and third respectively. On the boy’s side, it was Wiltse, Naramata and Holy Cross.
In individual placings for Grade 4 boys, it was a sweep of the top three placings for Uplands Elementary School with Linden Sproule first followed by Tommy Wilson and Eli Grant. Kiera Haymen of Uplands was followed by Naramata’s Maria Iannone and West Bench’s Sophie Brydon.
In Grade 5 individual placing, Patton won with his record-setting performance and was followed by Nolan Walton of Wiltse Elementary and Chase Davies of Naramata. On the girl’s side, Anabella Nordlund of Uplands won by three seconds over Emmy Caruso of Wiltse Elementary and McKenna Clark of Wiltse was third.
Participating schools included Carmi, Columbia, Giant’s Head, Kaleden, Naramata, Parkway, Queen’s Park, Uplands, West Bench, Wiltse, Entre Lacs, Holy Cross, and the Penticton Christian School.