DANVILLE – Former Hazen Union standout Jessica Royer was the highest finishing female runner for the second consecutive year last week at the Danville Bear Crawl 5k.
Royer finished seventh overall and was the fastest female runner in the field with a time of 23:13.
The 20-year-old ran both cross-country and track for Hazen and finished up her sophomore season for the University of Vermont’s indoor track and field team this past spring.
Danville’s multi-sport standout Lauren Joncas was the fifth female runner to cross the finish line with a time of 28:28, good enough for sixteenth overall.
Danville teacher and Barton native Hayden Bunnell was crowned the 2024 Bear Crawl 5k overall champion, besting the field with a time of 18:48.
Danville’s star hooper Andrew Joncas was second to cross the finish line with a time of 20:36, winning the Male 14-19 division. The talented guard had a junior campaign for the ages this past winter, leading a top seeded Bears squad to the Division IV state title game where they were worn down by a 21-3 Grace Christian team 52-41. Joncas also led Danville in scoring for a second straight season and joined the 1,000-career points club.
Molly McAlenney (18) of Danville won the Female 14-19 division with a time of 25:32.
St. Pierre’s Olympic Journey Ends with Eighth Place Finish
PARIS – Richford High School alum Elle St. Pierre capped off her historic summer by qualifying for the 1,500m Finals last week in Paris, where she finished eighth overall.
St. Pierre broke a 25-year-old U.S. Olympic Trial 5,000m record in the finals last month in Eugene, Oregon and qualified for Paris in the 1,500m with a third-place finish.The former UNH All-American opted to concentrate on the 1,500m in her second Summer Olympic appearance last week. After surviving a fast and furious semifinal heat with a third-place finish earlier in the week, St. Pierre improved upon her tenth-place finish in the Tokyo Olympics by two spots. The Franklin County dairy farmer has amazingly become a mother in between her Olympic experiences, while winning a silver medal in the 3,000m at the 2022 World Indoor Championships in Belgrade and a gold medal in the same event in Glasgow at Worlds this past March.
Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon won the gold medal in the 1,500m and set a new Olympic record in Paris with a time of 3:51.29. She also captured gold in the 1,500m in Tokyo and Rio.
