Medicine Hat College Rattlers ready to host first cross-country meet in four years

The meet is expected to feature strong competition despite being smaller than a typical ACAC event.

The Rattlers are entering the season with one of their larger groups in recent years, with 24 members on the cross-country roster. Several additional athletes are also preparing for indoor track that starts in January.

Corcoran said the roster size gives the Rattlers optimism heading into the season.

“There’s talent in numbers,” Corcoran said.

The roster is almost half rookies with 11 listed on the teams site.

Corcoran expects Rattlers runner Reyna Woodruff to lead the women’s squad after she was named the ACAC indoor track Rookie of the Year last season.

On the men’s side, rookies Alejandro Ayala Aguilar, a graduate of Crescent Heights High School and Ethan Mellish, who graduated from Medicine Hat High School, are expected to be among the team’s leading runners, according to Corcoran.

The Rattlers will be without last year’s ACAC cross-country rookie of the year, Logan Pancoast, who has moved on to the University of Lethbridge after being unable to get the courses he needed at Medicine Hat College.

Corcoran said losing athletes is part of the challenge of coaching at the college level, where runners can spend anywhere from one to several years with a program.

Saturday’s meet is the first cross-country event hosted by Medicine Hat College since 2022, when it hosted the national championships.

Corcoran said the course is about two-thirds the same as the one used for the 2022 event, although organizers have changed the layout to create a three-kilometre loop instead of the two-kilometre loop used previously.

The women’s race starts at 10:30 a.m., followed by the men’s race at 11:30 a.m.

The event will also include high school and open categories, allowing community runners and high school athletes to compete alongside the college athletes.

Corcoran said the return of a home meet is especially exciting for some members of the Rattlers roster who have spent multiple years with the program.

“We’ve got some three- and fourth-year athletes who’ve never had a home meet,” Corcoran said.

“They’re really excited about the chance to run in front of the home fans.”

The cross-country meet is also part of a larger weekend, with other athletics taking place at Medicine Hat College.

Corcoran said the combination makes for an opportunity to showcase the college’s athletics programs.

“We’re kicking off a really big weekend of college sports,” he said.

The Rattlers will have exhibition basketball games against the Briercrest College Clippers in the Snake Pit with the women at 1 p.m. and the men at 3 p.m.

Rattlers Soccer action on the College’s soccer field takes place against the SAIT Trojans at 2:15 p.m. for the women and 4:30 p.m. for the men.

On Friday, the Rattlers men’s volleyball team will have an intrasquad game open to the public at 5:30 p.m.

The Rattlers cross-country team will continue competing throughout the fall, with Grand Prix events scheduled in Calgary, Red Deer and Edmonton before the ACAC championships.

This year’s ACAC cross-country championships will be held in Red Deer at the end of October.

The national championships are scheduled for November in Edmonton at Kinsmen Park.

Corcoran said the Rattlers hope to perform well enough at the conference championships to qualify a team for nationals.

Once the cross-country season concludes, the program will transition toward indoor track.

The indoor season will provide athletes with a wider range of events, including sprinting and middle-distance races.

Corcoran said a group of Rattlers sprinters has already begun training, and the cross-country runners will transition to middle-distance events following the national championships.

For now, the focus is on Saturday and the opportunity to race at home.

by Jesse Gill

Medicine Hat College Rattlers ready to host first cross-country meet in four years

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