Big Grassy students have good cross country season

Ann Patten
Contributor

Three’s a crowd, a crowd of runners that is, in the third season of cross-country at Pegamigaabo School on Big Grassy First Nation. Coach Roy Tom put together his most ambitious schedule yet for his team of ten boys and two girls who represented Big Grassy in meets at Devlin, Duluth, International Falls, Thunder Bay, and a well-attended home meet. They practiced after school three times a week running on the hills, trails, and beach areas near the school.
Darrell Tuesday, eighth grader and a consistent top finisher for Big Grassy, improved dramatically this season as highlighted by his 40th place finish out of a field of 150 in the Jr. High boys race at The Swain Invitational in Duluth on October 7. The boys team as a whole placed in the top half of the race over the hilly 2.6K course, showing that everyone this year is benefiting from added strength and experience. Tuesday said his favorite meet this year was in International Falls on October 12 where he finished 21st out of 56 runners despite near blizzard conditions. He said cross-country was fun and liked traveling for races. When asked what led to his improvements in running he said, “I take bigger steps”.
The wind, rain, and snow that were part of the season didn’t bother teammate Adam Derouin at all. “I don’t mind it very much. My favorite meet is the one in Devlin because we run through the bush.”
A pair of three-year veterans of the program, Travis Tom and Rylan Copenace, showed an especially strong effort at the very rainy home meet held at Big Grassy on October 17. They finished second and third in a field of 28 boys from five schools including Riverview Elementary, Onigaming, McCrosson-Tovell, Our Lady of the Way, and Big Grassy schools. Leading the boys race was Lewis Linklater from McCrosson-Tovell. Regarding why he likes cross-country, Copenace said, “I like running, stretching, and representing Big Grassy.” The team will look to Copenace to lead the pack next season as Tuesday and Tom move on to Rainy River High School.
Other runners for the Big Grassy boys team were Brandon Derouin, Randall Jack, Nicolas Archie, Glen Tuesday, and Matthew Comegan.
The Big Grassy girls team this year fielded two runners, sisters Janelle Andy (grade 8) and Karma Andy (grade 4). Karma led the field of 22 girls in the home race, finishing almost a minute ahead of second place Ericka Tymkin from Our Lady of the Way over the challenging 4K course. She also made a strong showing in the Northwest Ontario Championships held October 12 in Thunder Bay where she was 37th out of 250 runners. Janelle Andy was one of the few runners on the team to compete in every race this year, always as an individual because there were not enough girls for the five needed for team scoring.
Thunder Bay was the last race of the season, and afterward coach Roy Tom reflected on the team’s highlights. He noted how the kids benefit from the program by getting stronger and improving their confidence.

“I like to see them happy at the finish. When we started the program three years ago that wasn’t always the case.”
He also mentioned that the team has more kids who are older now and have been running a few years noting, “Their uniforms are too small!” In addition to a few new uniforms, Tom would like to see a few more girls come out for the team.