Sadie Frantz looked every bit as impressive as she did one year ago while Julian Luoma made a major leap up the standings at the Rainbow Elementary Cross-Country Championships earlier this month.

After capturing the senior girls (grades 7/8) race in 2022 as a newcomer to that division, Frantz doubled down this October, covering the 3.8km course in a time of 13:07 and truthfully only really challenged Lo-Ellen Park teammate Lia Paille.

"I felt confident but also nervous; everyone else here is also really good," said Frantz, also an accomplished hockey talent who is prospering with the Sudbury U15 AA Lady Wolves.

"I was nervous, but also excited because I love running."

Like most younger runners, Frantz does not allow for a whole lot of "easing into the race setting".

"I always start really fast at the start of the race," said the soon-to-be 14 year old. "My strategy hasn't really changed at all since I started running. I usually go almost as fast as I can at the start and then when I feel that there is a gap, I slow down a little."

Still, for as much as she is a very talented harrier, the trails and the track are not necessarily with her heart lies, at the moment.

"I think I have maybe toned down my running a little bit and focused more on hockey," said Frantz. "At school, I still practice running but I don't practice as much at home as I used to. I am also doing soccer and hockey and I don't want to burn myself out."

For his part, Julian Luoma was doing a little "burning" of his own, blitzing his way to a 48 second win in the boys race thanks to an impressive clocking of 11:37 for 3.8 km.

Ironically, his proficiency at covering great distances with speed stems as much from his multi-sport interests (notably nordic ski and swimming), as well as the training he did for a crack at his first triathlon this past summer.

"Running is to kind of keep my fitness through the summer," said Luoma, a 13 year-old grade 8 student at Algonquin Public School whol left second place finisher Sam Lazare of Lo-Ellen in the dust over the final third of the race or so.

"Since track season (May/June), I have been training on and off for this."

A competitive swimmer with Nickel City Aquatics (NCA), Luoma noted that his triathlon is now about two-thirds covered. "I am not a super technical biker," he said with a smile.

As for his approach once the athletes are given the green light, the young man who finished 9th a year ago at the same event differs a fair bit from Frantz. "My normal strategy is to stay relaxed in the first half and then in the second half, slowly build up and pass people," stated Luoma.

"For this race, I stayed in second about five metres behind the second place finisher (Lazare) and passed him with about a kilometre left."

Joining Frantz and Luoma in topping the podium on this day were the R.L. Beattie Public School tandem of Davey Dale and Chidube Elendu, junior girls and boys champions respectively.

Following is a breakdown of the top ten finishers in each category in a meet that drew a minimum of 115 participants in each bracket, and nearly 300 youngsters in some:

Senior Girls Division
1st - Sadie Frantz (LOE) - 13:07
2nd - Lia Paille (LOE) - 13:29
3rd - Violet Sutherland (AB Ellis) - 14:18
4th - Mila Beljo (MacLeod) - 14:36
5th - Ellie Sauve (LOE) - 14:46
6th - Ewa Breckon (LOE) - 14:47
7th - McLaren Gieselman (LOE) - 14:52
8th - Sofia Kalviainen (LOE) - 14:55
9th - Sophie Gauld (LOE) - 15:04
10th - Mattia Mullen (LOE) - 15:07

Senior Boys Division
1st - Julian Luoma (ALG) - 11:37
2nd - Sam Lazare (LOE) - 12:25
3rd - Connor Vainio (V View) - 12:45
4th - Dax Hester (ALG) - 12:45
5th - Jack O'Connell (LOE) - 12:52
6th - Yasir Arije (LAS) - 12:53
7th - James Ford (LOE) - 12:56
8th - Sebastien Rancourt (Alexander) - 12:58
9th - Jake Crawford (LAS) - 13:14
10th - Jax Perry (MacLeod) - 13:31

Junior Girls Division
1st - Davey Dale (Beattie) - 9:31
2nd - Lauren Westby (Northeastern) - 10:29
3rd - Blake Lyle (LAS) - 10:35
4th - Mara Saaramets (Beattie) - 10:46
5th - Simone Thompson (MacLeod) - 10:58
6th - Iara Diab Ouevedo (MacLeod) - 10:58
7th - Ciara Hanley (Beattie) - 10:59
8th - Georgia McShane (Beattie) - 11:16
9th - Jill Ferguson (Beattie) - 11:20
10th - Jordyn White (V View) - 11:21

Junior Boys Division
1st - Chidube Elendu (Beattie) - 9:18
2nd - Ryan Pineau (Beattie) - 9:24
3rd - Oliver Frantz (Beattie) - 9:38
4th - Ben Case (MacLeod) - 9:47
5th - Fathiu Arije (Churchill) - 9:56
6th - Andrew Polack (Beattie) - 9:57
7th - Isaac Whalen (V View) - 9:58
8th - Wesley Lavigne (MacLeod) - 9:59
9th - Henry MacDonald (V View) - 10:01
10th - Ben Babij (Lasalle) - 10:05