Cross-country three-peat for Bennison

Vernon runner wins B.C. high school title for third straight year at provincials in West Kelowna.

Vernon's Hannah Bennison was the senior girls winner at the B.C. high school cross-country championships Saturday in West Kelowna.

Vernon's Hannah Bennison was the senior girls winner at the B.C. high school cross-country championships Saturday in West Kelowna.

Hannah Bennison was pushed to the limit but found a way to hang on for her third consecutive B.C. high school cross-country title.

The Grade 12 student from Vernon Secondary claimed the 4.5 km senior girls race Saturday at the Telemark ski area in West Kelowna in a time of 17:50, holding off Christina Sevsek of Surrey’s Clayton Heights to win by four seconds.

Bennison, who also trains with the Kelowna-based Okanagan Athletics Club, is the first female athlete since Oak Bay’s Justine Johnson (2006-08) to win three straight provincial cross-country titles.

George Elliot Secondary’s Taryn O’Neill was the top senior girl from the Central Okanagan, finishing fourth in 18:22.

In the senior boys division, Tyler Dozzi from Victoria’s Oak Bay won the 6.7 km race in 24:23.

Okanagan Mission’s Turner Woodruff was the top senior boy from Kelowna in a field of 222 runners, finishing 20th in 26:27.

In junior boys’ competition, West Kelowna’s Brock Hoel won the bronze medal in a time of 17:10. A Grade 10 Heritage Christian student, Hoel won four gold medals in triathlon-related events at this year’s B.C. Summer Games in Abbotsford.

Jasper Stone of Aberdeen Hall was fifth in the junior boys race in 17:35.

Vernon’s Mia Bennison won the junior girls race with a time of 19:04.

 

Kelowna Capital News