Another banner day for athletes of the Cochrane Endurance Project (CEP), this time at the Athletics Alberta club cross-country provincials.

Twenty club athletes recorded some strong performances in Wetaskiwin on Nov. 7 and many are now preparing for the nationals in Ottawa, Nov. 27.

Their four athletes in U16 boys returned with a silver team medal, led by the bronze medal performance of Caden Jones.

Jones, 15, is emerging as one of the top runners in the province and says his focus has changed as he steps into the older age groups.

"It's kind of changed more to placement, and overall performance in medals instead of times, but that's because I've moved up in age groups and I've been getting better over the years."

He finished the 4k course with a time of 14:44, 30 seconds behind winner Brady Keller of the Leduc Track and Field Club.

"The course was pretty tough with lots of hills and stuff, and it was a bit long, but I thought I raced well. It was a pretty decent course."

Teammates Isaac Thibodeau was seventh, Branson Cole 14th, and Brady Nalley 16th.

Together they finished two points behind the gold medal team from Caltaf Track and Field.

To compete for team medals, you need four athletes in a given category. The Endurance Club didn't have four in any other event, but there were some strong individual performances.

In the women's open, Courtney Brohart came first, Sophia Nowicki 5th, and Jessica Kaiser 7th.

Elke Nowicki was fourth in Master's Women.

In men's open, Eric Swedlo returned to the field to finish 16th, and Jacob White was 7th in U20.

The club's U18 Boys crossed the finish line within seconds of each other. Brendan Maguire was 18th, Nick Hooper 19th, and Clay Grattidge 20th.

In U18 Girls, Holly Moores was 9th and Makenna Myatt 10th.

In U16 Girls, Csenia Irvin was 6th, Nico Knoll 12th, and Ellie Barlow 16th 

In U14 girls, Julia Hooper finished 18th and Zoe Bushrod 19th.

Unfortunately, there isn't a U14 age category at nationals this year. Despite that, Hooper says she enjoys the progress she has made during both the track and cross-country seasons.

"I've gotten in a better mental state especially, and I just feel like that's a big thing in running," says Hooper. "It's been going pretty well, and the practices have been fun. They've definitely been pushing me, but that's a good thing."

Now she'll focus on wresting with the Cochrane Cowboys.

So far, the Cochrane club is sending 13 athletes to nationals.

Head coach Travis Cummings says they'll have both full U18 boys and U18 girls teams. Jones is bumping up an age group to join fellow club athletes Maguire, Hooper, and Grattidge in U18 boys. In U18 girls, Moores and Myatt will be joined by Barlow and Irvin.

Cummings says they're trying to get a fourth open women's athlete to fill out that team.

Brohart, Nowicki, and Kaiser will all be competing.

"That's a really strong women's team, so we're trying to get a fourth, but it's been difficult."

White will be competing in the U20 men's event and Ed Nowicki in masters.