Senior girls volleyball is back at St. Anthony’s School and they jumped into the season at Spike-o-rama.
    The Sabres hosted their home tournament to open the season on Friday, September 22.  They invited teams from Airdrie, Cremona and Beiseker. Coach Darci Bertram was happy with her team’s performance.
    “Our girls played really well,” said Bertram. “St. Anthony’s hasn’t had a senior girls team in four years, so for pretty much everybody it is their first year, and they played well, I thought.”
    The teams lost their three matches in round robin play, putting them in the bronze medal match.     They were victorious over the team from Airdrie to win third place.
    “It was a good way to end on a high note for the team,” said Bertram.
 Bertram is leading a young team with only two Grade 12 players. The younger players are getting important on court experience and that could bode well for future teams.   
    “Playing at the senior level is a big jump but they have done awesome so far and we could have some good teams ahead of us,” said Bertram. ‘If they stick around we could have a competitive team here in the next couple years.”
    Their first league game is this Wednesday at home versus Delia.

After eight years, the Dinosaur Valley Half Marathon continues to buck the trend with strong attendance.

The annual road race, which features the Family 5K Walk and Run, the Encana 10K and the Half Marathon went Sunday morning, September 10. It was another great year and going into the race, event chair Morgan Syvertsen said their registration was the highest ever for the half marathon.

“We had 156 signed up,” Syvertsen told the “Mail”.

There were 109 signed up for the 10K and 166 signed up for the 5K Family Fun Run. Once again, McDonald’s in Drumheller offered free registration for the family run and 55 took advantage of the opportunity. Syvertsen said there was a healthy crowd of walk-ups that signed up for the race.

McDonald’s was also on site with its McCafe trailer and Freson Bros. had a barbecue for racers. There was also face painting and massages, making a festive atmosphere for the athletes.

The weather cooperated beautifully as smoke-free blue skies were abound with virtually no wind.

“That (smoke) was a real concern, there were some people who said they weren’t going to race,” said Syvertsen.

He is grateful for the strong volunteer support that did everything from manning aid stations to working as course marshalls and ribbon presenters.

He was very happy with the race. This year the proceeds from the races went towards the Canadian Badlands Aquatic Club and members of the swim team were on the course, manning an aid station.

The overall winner of the 21K race was Jeffrey Nicol of Lethbridge and Nick Sereda had the top local time. In the 10K, Jackson Frantz of Calgary was the top finisher, and Cam Morrison of Drumheller finished third. In the 5K, Erik Amwlinckx finished first, and the top Drumheller finisher was Braydon Berdahl. Kate Messom of Drumheller was the top placing female with a blistering 24:01 time.