- Oct 7, 2023
- 3 min read

43rd Marysville XC Invitational, Dakota Carnival of Races

Thursday, Oct. 5 at Marysville City Park

In a recent Blue Water Running Instagram poll, 65% of respondents indicated they prefer running in the rain, and Thursday’s invitational at Marysville Park had plenty of precipitation. Marine City Cardinal Mooney’s Tyler Lenn was the individual winner, completing the rainy, slippery, muddy course in 16:33. His teammate Isaac Zammit was third, running a time of 17:02. This was a personal record for Zammit: he dropped 39 seconds on his previous season's best and over a minute from last year’s PR. His excitement was evident as he crossed the finish line, putting his hand up and eliciting some cheers from the sidelines. Cardinal Mooney finished third overall in the team standings, with Max Procissi in 20th (18:50) and Evan Jacobs in 23rd (18:56).

Julian Walker of Algonac was right behind Zammit in fourth, running his season record by 15 seconds to finish in 17:04. A sophomore, Walker's improvement has been steady this fall, helping the Muskrats snag a fifth-place team finish. Also running a personal record by 40 seconds from Algonac was Zach Witherspoon: he took 14th in 18:38, and Owen Beindit was 22nd (18:55) in a season record as well.

Many teams were resting or heading to the Portage Invitational on Saturday, so this was a good chance for other athletes to shine. Despite having their top runners on reserve for Portage, Yale still managed to pull off the team win with 74 points in the boys’ race, showcasing their depth. They had an extremely low team spread of 32 seconds between athletes. Nolan Korolden of Yale paced the Bulldogs with a seventh-place finish in 18:16. Yale then swept 15th-17th and 19th place, broken up by Kai Fisher of Memphis (18th; 18:48). John Zakrzewski (15th;18:42), Braden Carless (16th; 18:44), Logan Rhodes (17th; 18:45), and Leo Bearss (19th; 18:49) rounded out the top 5 Bulldogs.

Anchor Bay’s Brandon Ziemer, only a freshman, took fifth place in 18:04. Nathan VanderMeulen of Marysville was sixth in 18:04 on his home course. St. Clair finished fourth as a team led by Collin Boullard in 10th place (18:21) and Luke McDonell in 12th (18:30). Richmond’s Sawyer Rosberg was 24th (19:03), Cros-Lex’s Jack Kerrigan was 26th (19:06), and Sam Keller of Kimball New Life Christian took 28th place in 19:25.

In the girls’ race, it was a familiar sight at the finish line: Eva Thompson of Cros-Lex (19:26) won another invitational, this time by thirty seconds over Anchor Bay’s Lauren Thomas (19:59), leading Cros-Lex to a team win. Morgan Newton was third (20:05) and Brynn Hurley was fourth (20:12) to secure three of the top five spots for the Pioneers. Marysville’s Lillian Rutallie was fifth in 21:09, followed by Richmond’s Brianna Albers (sixth) in 21:29.

Julia Rogers of Kimball New Life Christian ran her personal and season best by close to a minute, taking seventh in 21:37. Jasmine Walker of Algonac did the same, running 21:39 to finish eighth. Cros-Lex’s Abagayle Barkley (9th; 21:40) and Richmond’s Paulina Chapman (10th; 21:50) rounded out the top ten finishers. Marysville was second as a team while Richmond was third. Yale finished fourth and had the lowest team spread of 1:30 between runners.

Other team’s top finishers not mentioned above:

Yale - Lillian Bender: 17th in 22:41

Marine City Cardinal Mooney - Maya Ferguson: 20th in 23:02

St. Clair - Eden Brewer: 27th in 23:32

Memphis - Morgan Brown: 32nd in 24:01

FULL RESULTS: https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/223849/info

Dakota Carnival of Races

Friday, Oct. 6 at Dakota High School

Armada and the Michigan Athletic Club for Homeschoolers ran Friday afternoon at Dakota High School.

Ava Baltierra led the Lady Tigers with a third-place finish in 20:05, followed by Brooklyn Khon in 5th (20:34). Faith Wessel of MACH finished 13th in 21:43 and Erin Rowan in 18th (22:07).

Armada:

3rd: Ava Baltierra (20:05)

5th: Brooklyn Khon (20:34)

8th: Sam Kook (21:00)

12th: Abigail Denoyer (21:28)

19th: Helena Reiff (22:09)

MACH Girls:

13th: Faith Wessel (21:43)

18th: Erin Rowan (22:07) 31st: Lauren Robinson (23:26)

36th: Cecilia Grice (24:20)

44th: Amber Watta (25:24)

On the boys' side, Ian Potts of MACH was sixth in 17:25 to lead his team. Luke Nawrocki paced the Armada boys with a 13th-place finish - his personal best - in 17:59.