Nominated by Coach Travis Cummings, “Eli recently just came off the race of his life, winning the Intermediate Boys Division for the Cochrane Cobras at ASAA High School Provincial Cross Country Championships in Grande Prairie on the weekend. He is a member of the Cochrane Endurance Project.
Eli, like most of his teammates, is very coachable, kind, and respectful of everyone in our organization. Eli has a unique story leading up to and during the HS XC Provincial Championships on Oct 19th. Eli had a stress fracture diagnosed in the early stages of the 2024 Outdoor Track Season campaign. He lost his season for the most part as a result. He was in a boot for several weeks and then underwent extensive rehab over the summer to recover from his injury. Eli was on a competition and weekly training minutes restriction throughout the first few weeks of this ’24 XC campaign to ensure he didn’t experience any setbacks in his comeback to a full running load. He exhibited considerable resiliency and character to come through this injury experience in a better fitness position than when he was first diagnosed with a stress fracture. After restrictions were lifted, he showed considerable progress, having a great race at Stewart Cup in the varsity men’s competition, winning his division at the Peace Hills XC Classic in Wetaskiwin, and placing 2nd in his South Central Zone competition to his club mate and friend Raimo Sollitt. After a hot start in the Intermediate Boys race at HS XC Provincials, Eli worked his way up methodically into medal position, at 4km he was in 2nd place, and with 500m to go he took the lead. The course was wet and muddy, Eli slipped and bailed hard around the last corner going into the finish straight…losing the lead; he picked himself up, covered in sweat, mud, and bloody scrapes…with about 150m to go he kicked down the leader and passed him in the final steps, winning his first ASAA Gold medal in dramatic fashion. The crowd lining the finish line went absolutely bonkers, and he improved on his Bronze Medal finish in Junior Boys last year with one that was 2 better. It was one of the craziest finishes I have ever seen, and he did it out of sheer determination, grit, and an unflappable belief that he could win. He followed up a historic day for Cochrane High, and for the Endurance Project, as his twin sister Kayley won the Intermediate Girls race as well prior to Eli’s victory in Intermediate Boys…twins winning both divisions doesn’t happen very often, if ever. Congrats to Eli on one of the gutsiest performances I have ever witnessed as a coach and a fan of endurance athletics in general.”
Congratulations, Eli!
