The Armada Tigers opened their cross country season at Stony Creek Metropark on Thursday in winning fashion, taking the girls’ team title at the Bud Cicciarelli/Adams Invitational over several larger Division 1 schools. Leading the team was senior Ava Baltierra (4th) and junior Brooklyn Khon (5th), followed by senior Samantha Kook (10th), who rounded out three runners in the top ten for Armada.
Armada coach Rob Blume said, “I thought we ran good first-of-season paces. Our girls from the 4x800 relay in the spring keep the engine rolling (including senior Darrah Mackenzie; 20th). Ava became the potential star we suspected she was coming out of middle school, Brooklyn is consistently good, and Sam and Darrah are sitting on the doorstep of Armada’s top-10 best ever and were the rocks they needed to be. We have several girls all capable of cracking into that fifth spot.” Sophomore Abigail Denoyer was the fifth runner for the Tigers, placing 39th.
On the boys’ side, seniors Luke Nawrocki and Tyler Buckland paced the Tigers, finishing 34th and 43rd, respectively. Blume added, “Luke and Tyler were every bit what I thought they would be. Buckland’s summer work was outstanding and he keeps getting better. Anthony Alvarez (48th) is a solid runner and Robby Carrigan (62nd) is much improved. Every Armada kid who competed at Adams last year improved this year on a harder course.”
The Armada Tigers and the rest of the Blue Water Area Conference run in their first BWAC Jamboree on Sept. 12 at Almont High School. Full results of the Bud Cicciarelli/Adams Invitational can be found here: https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/224428/info
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