Siemens & Jorgensen Score For Their Teams

Alex Siemens, a freshman at the University of Idaho and Oliver Jorgensen, a first year student at SFU, have both been impressive at their respective universities.

Siemens has gained strength over the past three weeks and at the present she holds down a scoring position on the Vandal women’s cross country team. It took awhile for Siemens to accustom herself to the added distance of the collegiate competitions and the additional miles she is expected to complete during practices. But after the initial shock of the change from being a high school runner to a collegian, Siemens is making good progress. Two weeks ago at the Sundodger meet held in Seattle, Siemens placed 25th and was the third ranked finisher on the Idaho team.

This coming weekend, Siemens will be in action again when the Vandals travel to Eugene,
Oregon (Oct. 5) where they will compete at the Dellinger Invitational. “I am getting accustomed and gaining confidence with each meet,” stated Siemens.

If Siemens had a challenge in moving up from 4-k competitions to 6-k runs,
then Oliver Jorgensen had even a bigger adjustment to make. University men’s
competitions are held on 8 and 10-k courses that meant that Jorgensen was
competing over distances that are 40 per cent longer then what he was accustomed
to as a high school runner. But the SFU runner is making the adjustment and he is
now one of the leaders on the Clansman cross country team. Last week, Jorgensen
ran in the heat of Southern California and was the first SFU runner to cross the finish
line placing 76 overall. Jorgensen, who had trouble breaking five minutes for 1500
meters as a grade 9 runner, has used patience combined with an outstanding work
ethic and desire to become a very competent runner.

Cross Country Runners Head To Yakima This Weekend

Sue Northey’s group of secondary school aged runners make the annual trek to Yakima, WA this coming Saturday where they will compete at the giant Sunfair meet hosted by Eisenhower High School.

One of the largest and most prestigious cross country meets on the Pacific Coast, the Sunfair attracts between 2,500 and 2,800 secondary school runners from schools in Washington, Idaho, Oregon and BC. The racing begins at 9:00 a.m. and continues until 3:30 p.m. The Sunfair includes competitions designed for very talented runners but also includes races for beginners to the sport.

Held on a looped grass course that features a number of reasonably steep hills, the Sunfair is always a highlight for the athletes that train under the guidance of Coach Northey.

On A Sad Note: Graham Danzinger’s Father Passes Away

Some sad news was received Monday when it was learned that Richard Danziger, father of coach Graham Danziger, passed away while on vacation in Hawaii. During Graham’s competitive years with the Royals, Richard acted as the club’s secretary and served as a chief organizer at many high level competitions hosted by the Royals. Richard was a Town Planner with the City of Abbotsford but a number of years ago he left our city to take a similar position in Ontario. Our heartfelt feelings are extended to Graham and his family.

Richard’s funeral will be held Tuesday October 8th @ 6:30 pm.  There will be a short memorial service followed by a reception to share memories and stories of his life.  The service will take place at Woodlawn Funeral Home, 2310 Clearbrook Rd. Abbotsford.

If there is anyone who would like to speak and share a story about Richard at the service please let Graham know as soon as possible, via e-mail at [email protected]

Results for Week 1 of the Lafarge Grand Prix are now available.

Please see this page – Week 1 Individual Race Results – for individual race results,

and this page – Week 1 Team Results – for Team results.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to technical difficulties with the timing equipment on the first week, no times should be considered accurate. It was only possible to have approximate times for the first 15 finishers in each race and no times for any finishers beyond that. The missing times do not affect individual scoring, team scoring, or the scoring for the Jane Swan Award. We anticipate we have all our technical issues resolved for the upcoming races.

Jorgensen & Siemens Perform Well at Sundodger Meet…

Jorgensen and Alex Siemens had their inaugural runs as members of university teams on  Saturday (Sept. 14) at the University of Washington hosted Sundodger cross country  meet. Jorgensen, a first year student at Simon Fraser University, placed 34th in the 8-k men’s open race finishing with a time of 25:44. It was an excellent start for Jorgensen who was the second finisher on the Clan team that placed fourth in the competition.

The lead runner for SFU was Cameron Proceviat who was 30th (25:41). One hundred ninety seven runners completed the course.

Alex Siemens, a freshman at the University of Idaho, made her debut as a Vandal by placing 25th in the women’s invitational 6-k competition. Siemens started the run at a conservative pace but gathered strength as the as the race progressed to finish with a time of 22:00. Siemens was the third finisher for Idaho and helped her team to a third place finish behind first place University of Washington and second place Oregon State. “I was pleased with my run and look forward to my next race when our team travels to the University of Oregon on October 5,” said Siemens.