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Swimmer Bouchard wins on dry land

WILLY PALOV THE CHRONICLE HERALD wpalov@herald.ca @Willypalov

Alexander Bouchard is certainly a quick study as a runner.

The 14-year-old from Halifax's Gorsebrook Junior High School won this year's intermediate boys' race at the School Sport Nova Scotia cross-country provincials in Bridgewater on Monday, just two weeks after taking up the sport.

“I swim, I don't run,” said the Grade 9 student. “I have good cardio and I feel like running, if you have the form down, you can just kind of stick to your cardio and you don't really need to have that experience.”

Bouchard swims for the Halifax Trojans and his favourite race is the 200-metre butterfly. His intense schedule in the pool doesn't allow him much time to train for running and his first-ever race was in Capital region competition earlier this month.

"With swimming comes the competitiveness so I just felt at home ready to compete with people and it turned out to be a good race for me,” Bouchard said.

Fellow Gorsebrook student Oliver Neeve captured the junior boys' title in a decisive showing at his first provincials.

“I stayed in the top three in the beginning, then the second lap I started pacing it up and got in first and let it go the rest of the way,” said the 13-yearold Grade 7 student.

“The last stretch I felt like I was going to throw up," he added with a laugh. "I'm really tired right now but I'm happy with my result.”

Anna Carruthers of Harold T. Barrett Junior High School used the terrain at the Osprey Ridge Golf Course layout to her advantage on her way to a victory in the junior girls' event.

“I was happy with how it turned out," said the Grade 8 student, whose goal is to run the Bluenose Marathon. “I really took advantage of the downhills. I went faster on the downhills than I usually would.”

Abby Lewis and Brett King retained their provincial crowns for a fourth straight year. Lockview's Lewis built a big lead on the field and cruised to the win in intermediate girls and Horton's King fought off a stiff mid-race challenge from Pictou Academy's Luke Macdonald to take the senior boys' gold.

“I've heard that going three in a row is the hardest thing in sports but I beg to differ," said Hantsport's King. "That was the hardest race of my life. Luke Macdonald ran out of his head … and this just feels awesome. I'm almost speechless right now.”

Rounding out a cold but lively day in front of several hundred parents, teachers and fellow students was Anna Robinson's victory in the senior girls' run. It was the first provincial title for the Grade 11 Dr. J.H. Gillis student.

“It was good," Robinson said. "It was a really nice course to run. It was fun. We went out and started out pretty fast but I think that helped push me hard.”

SPORTS

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2021-10-26T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-10-26T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://saltwire.pressreader.com/article/281973200862056

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