Vernon Secondary School

With almost a thousand of BC’s best runners competing for four individual titles at the Provincial High School Cross Country Running Championships in West Kelowna last Saturday, VSS’s three athletes captured two of the championship titles. Sisters Hannah and Mia Bennison, having both won their categories a week earlier at the BC Running Club Championships in Nanaimo, followed up with huge wins in their High School Championship races.

Grade 10 Mia won her race, against the top 197 junior athletes in the province, to be crowned as the British Columbia Junior Girls’ Cross Country Running Champion for 2016!

In the Senior Girls’ Championship race Samantha Loewen had her best championship ever, cracking the top 100 for the first time, finishing 93rd in the field of 223.

For grade 12 Hannah Bennison it was her fifth, and final, trip to the Senior Girls’ High School Championship race, and third consecutive BC Senior Girls’ Championship win! To win a Provincial Championship is a massive achievement, to repeat as Champion is amazing, and to three-peat takes a true super-hero.

Next up for the senior Bennison will be the Canadian (Club) Championships, in Kingston Ontario November 26th, where she’ll run under the banner of the Okanagan Athletics and attempt to defend her Canadian Junior Cross Country title. A top six result will qualify her for the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, in Kampala, Uganda, in March.

November 07, 2016

BC XC 2016 Championship Pre‐Race Favorites

Bennison sisters pegged as favorites heading into Provincial Championships:

www.bcxc.ca/2016%20BCXC%20Championship%20PreRace%20Favorites.pdf

November 07, 2016

‘Best runner I’ve ever seen’

Local coverage of Hannah pre-Provincials:

http://www.castanet.net/news/Vernon/180124/Best-runner-I-ve-ever-seen

November 06, 2016

Vernon’s happy Hannah unmasked, Panther prowling for third straight cross-country crown

A great article featuring VSS’s superstar:

http://theprovince.com/sports/high-school/vernons-happy-hannah-unmasked-panther-prowling-for-third-straight-cross-country-crown

November 04, 2016

At BC Athletics Provincial Cross Country Championships

In Nanaimo this Saturday both Bennison sisters continued their winning ways, on progressively bigger stages, by winning their divisions at BC Athletics Provincial Cross Country Championships. Hannah Bennison, running up one age category in the Junior Women’s’ division, beat all 1st and 2nd year university athletes. Her time of 20:59, over the 6.0 km course, placed her 5th overall and qualifies her for the BC Team and competition at the National Cross Country Championships in Kingston, Ontario on November 26th. Fourteen year old sister Mia, competing in the Midget Girls division, completed in their 3.0 km course in 10:26 beating all 14 and 15 year old girls and matching her sister with three wins from three races over a ten day stretch. The next challenge for both girls will be the Provincial High School Championships this Saturday in West Kelowna.

November 04, 2016

Okanagan Zone Cross Country Running Championships

VSS sisters ruled the Okanagan Zone Cross Country Running Championships held at West Kelowna’s Telemark Ski Area this Tuesday. About 250 athletes from 31 schools, from Princeton to Revelstoke, gathered to compete for spots at the Provincial Championships. With Hannah Bennison winning the Senior Girls’ race by a massive margin she’s looking ready to compete for her third consecutive Provincial title. Younger sister Mia Bennison was the third finisher overall, and top junior, winning the Okanagan Zone Junior Girls title. Samantha Loewen’s 12th place finish in the senior category also qualified her to compete for the Panthers at the Provincial Championships on November 5th on the same Telemark course.

November 04, 2016

North Okanagan Zone Cross Country Running Championships

What a glorious day we had, between rainy ones, for our North Okanagan Zone Cross Country Running Championships yesterday. The track was damp and brutally hilly as always, but all 92 runners survived. Individual and team results are attached.

Some of the highlights were:

Shuswap Middle School sweeping the Grade 8 Girls’ category
Junior Boys’: SAS beat RSS by 5 points to take 2nd
Senior Boys’: SAS beat VSS by 7 points to take 2nd
Hannah Bennison breaking her own course record by 9 seconds, and beating her sister and second place finisher by more than a minute and a half. The pair lead the VSS Senior Girls’ team to a pennant win.
VSS’s Bennison and Seaton’s Braden Kersey earning the Fastest Gal and Fastest Guy running shirts donated by Vernon’s supportive running shop The Starting Block

November 04, 2016

Athletics

Athletics at VSS

​Athletics Package​

Cross Country Running

- - - - -> XC In the News

Close finishes highlight North Zone cross-country season-opening race

North Okanagan-Shuswap runners race through provincial park

VSS hosts Kal Park meet

Vernon juniors rock cross country

Panthers second in Valley run

VSS Hosts Meet 2 of the 2018 Season on Kal Park trails

VSS Junior Boys miss being Valley Champs by a single point!

VSS hosts Kal Park race

Senior Bennison awarded Tim Hortons Athlete Of The Year

Loewen ready to run with WolfPack: TRU signs Vernon Secondary cross country athlete

Bennison running in Uganda worlds

Bennison 24th in World Championship U20 race!

Bennison takes National U20 title

Hannah Bennison defends U20 title at Canadian Cross-Country Championships

Bennison three-peats in provincials

Vernon’s Bennison holds off rival Sevsek, wins third straight B.C. cross-country title

Race video and post race interviews on Athletics Illustrated

Bennison sisters are both BC running Champions!

BC XC 2016 Championship Pre‐Race Favorites

‘Best runner I’ve ever seen’

Vernon’s happy Hannah unmasked, Panther prowling for third straight cross-country crown

At BC Athletics Provincial Cross Country Championships

Okanagan Zone Cross Country Running Championships

North Okanagan Zone Cross Country Running Championships

Athletics Package