They trained, they ran, they conquered.

Two Niagara-on-the-Lake teens helped lead their track club to a first-place finish at the prestigious U.S. cross-country running national championships last Saturday.

As well, Ben Bayne and Luke Simpson, both 13, captured individual all-American honours with their stellar race performances.

The pair were among more than 250 runners who competed in the 13-14 age group’s four-kilometre run at the Amateur Athletic Union’s Cross-country Nationals in Knoxville, Tenn.

Battling muddy conditions on the race course, Bayne, a student at Crossroads Public School, led all his teammates and finished third overall, in a time of 13:44.3.

He was just 16 seconds behind the overall winner, a 14-year-old from Texas.

Simpson, who attends St. Michael Catholic School, was 13th in a time of 14:07.3.

However, among the 13-year-old runners, Bayne was second and Simpson was eighth.

Those results earned the two NOTL boys all-American honours, a prized recognition bestowed upon the top eight finishers in each age group, coach Steve Fife told The Lake Report.

Bayne and Simpson train with Fife at the Thorold Elite Track & Field Club.

Their teammate Colby Craig, 14, of Niagara Falls was sixth in the race and also was named an all-American.

Together the Niagara team, which also included Evan Riou of Fort Erie, Max Woods and Max MacNeil of Niagara Falls, and Riley Isherwood and Ryder Savage of Thorold, finished well ahead of the other more than 50 track clubs that competed.

The Canadians earned a combined team score of 42 points to handily beat the Without Limits team from North Carolina (score of 95 for silver) and the Kern County Cross Country All-Stars from Bakersfield, Calif., (score of 151 for bronze).

Each team’s score is determined by the placement of its top five finishers and the lowest score wins, like in golf.

“We won gold at the provincial level for this age group,” Fife said.

“But in Canada there is no national championship for 13-year-olds and they aren’t allowed to compete up in the higher category, so the AAU Nationals in the States is really the only option for them to compete at that level,” he said.

“Our team is a true representation of the region,” he noted.

“I know our club says Thorold in the name but that’s based on where we were founded and where we are based at Canada Games Park, but we welcome athletes from all across Niagara.”

Team members come from all over and “we have several other outstanding athletes from Niagara-on-the-Lake,” Fife added.

In November, runners from the Thorold club also competed in the All-Ontario Cross-country Championships in Whitby.

Bayne won bronze in the under-14 boys two-kilometre race, Woods was fourth and Simpson was right behind in fifth spot.

The NOTL boys’ performances this year — including wins at their regional school finals — have made their families and coach proud.

But more than just the results, Simpson’s dad Sean said, “I’m most impressed by their commitment and dedication to their training.”

“They are both great kids who work extremely hard and help to push each other” to succeed.

Besides running, Bayne and Simpson play rep hockey — Bayne with the U14 Niagara Falls Canucks A team and Simpson on the AA St. Catharines Falcons.

Bayne started running about a year ago but “in the last six months he’s had this rapid improvement and done very, very well,” his dad Kevin said in an interview.

And after a week off he’ll be back training six days a week. It’s a well-deserved rest after a strong performance to cap the cross-country season.

Bayne noted the Canadian families didn’t know what to expect going into the U.S. nationals and “we were very surprised,” pleasantly so, by the results because the Thorold team was up against some elite American clubs.

The individual and team performances were an “amazing” result, he said. And the fact some of the kids earned all-American status was a bit of icing on the cake.

“As Canadians, we got a bit of a chuckle out of that,” he said.

He thinks a lot of Ben’s inspiration comes from his two older brothers, who are both accomplished runners.

“He works really hard and he’s really focused,” Bayne said. And the result was, “in really tough conditions, he pulled off a phenomenal race.”

Next he’ll turn his focus to hockey and the indoor track season which begins in the new year.