It’s officially championship season as local teams are finishing up regular season competition and beginning league, county, and regional meets. Here is a recap of cross country action from around the Blue Water Area for the week of Oct. 8-12.
@ Algonac High School
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1. Royal Oak Shrine 47 2. Algonac 59 3. Madison Heights Lamphere 74 4. Cardinal Mooney Catholic 86 5. Imlay City 129 6. Austin Catholic 141 7. Marine City 187
| 1. Imlay City 46 2. Royal Oak Shrine 56 3. Algonac 84 4. Marine City 90 5. Madison Heights Lamphere 95 6. Austin Catholic 148 7. Harper Woods 194 |
On Tuesday, the Algonac Foxes and Hounds Invitational featured a unique approach to a typical cross country race: varsity runners were placed in reverse order from seventh to first and released every 30 seconds. The fastest runners started last as the “hounds”, chasing the “foxes” who had an earlier start, allowing athletes who don’t normally lead a race the chance to do so, and challenging the fastest runners to chase down the competition. Net times weren’t calculated or factored into finishing times: the order in which the runners crossed the line determined their position. The course and format are made for fast times and season-bests.
The one-two punch of Julian Walker (16:49) and Owen Beindit (17:29) went two-three against top D4 runner Ebenezer Cerone of Royal Oak Shrine, who won in 15:59. The Muskrats were second as a team, as well. Nico DiPonio of Austin Catholic was fifth in 17:41, Liam Knuth ninth in 18:31 for Cardinal Mooney Catholic, and Jacob Campbell tenth in 18:50 (PR) for Kimball New Life Christian. In 16th was Liam Bhatti (19:28) for Imlay City, while Earl Beattie was 23rd in 19:49 for Marine City. Jacob Clark was the top finisher for Blue Water Christian Academy (52nd; 26:00).
Imlay City won the girls’ race as a team with Charlotte O’Brien leading the Spartans in a fifth-place finish of 21:32. Cassidy Bowers of Austin Catholic was the overall champion in 20:14, a personal best for the freshman. Algonac’s Kate Bennett also had a personal best, taking second in 20:34. Bowers and Bennett moved into the top 10 in the Blue Water Area Performance list. Julia Rogers of Kimball New Life Christian was fourth (21:14 SR), Daniela DeLuca of Imlay City seventh (21:41 PR), Jasmine Walker of Algonac eighth (22:00 SR), Stella Behnan of Marine City Cardinal Mooney ninth (22:09), and Kendal Donahue of Imlay City tenth (22:16 PR) to round out the top ten finishers. Jada Mauricio (16th; 23:11 PR) and Emma Terhune (17th; 23:21 SR) led Marine City, while Livia Kuecken was the top runner for Blue Water Christian Academy in 19th (23:22 PR).
@ Ubly High School
Jack Kerrigan led Croswell-Lexington and Blue Water Area finishers in the boys’ race at Ubly, running a season’s best of 18:29 to finish 24th. Wyatt Opperman (32nd; 18:59), Cooper Hoyt (35th; 19:10), and Hudson Budreau (48th; 19:41 PR) of North Branch also medaled. Donovan Glasgow was 54th for Capac (20:05) and Daniel Rosenow 98th for Memphis (23:04). North Branch was sixth as a team and Cros-Lex was tenth.
Eva Thompson ran her season-best of 18:52 to claim yet another individual invitational title, leading Cros-Lex to a second-place team finish behind meet host Ubly. Cros-Lex had several other medalists, including Brynn Hurley (7th; 20:12), Madelyn Barkley (6th; 21:17 PR), and Penelope Persig (39th; 22:50 PR). Memphis freshman Sophia Lawrence was 43rd in 23:10, while Tracy Ludescher was 49th in 23:39 (SR) for North Branch.
Dave Patterson Invite - 10/12/2024
@ Mayville HS
The top 25 places earned medals at the Dave Patterson Invite on Saturday in Mayville. It was a great chance for Yale’s JV runners to lead the pack and earn second as a team, while the Lady Bulldogs took eight of the top 25 spots with their varsity team earning second overall.
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Medalists: 9. Matthew Dusett 18:55 Yale 12. Carter Krause 19:06 PR Yale 13. Steven Foltz 19:28 PR Yale 14. Logan Carrier 19:37 Yale 15. Wyatt Opperman 19:40 North Branch 19. Hudson Budreau 20:02 North Branch 21. Draper McFadden 20:06 PR Yale 22. Cooper Hoyt 20:07 North Branch 23. Finn Ruediger 20:18PR Yale
| Medalists: 2. Saige Cole 20:54 Yale 3. Lillian Bender 21:21 PR Yale 10. Ava Childers 22:26 Yale 18. Zyana Wadsworth 23:38.35 Yale 19. Noelle Marsh 23:51 PR Yale 18. Zyana Wadsworth 23:38 Yale 19. Noelle Marsh 23:51 PR Yale 25. Lauren Fowler 24:48 Yale
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@ Stoney Creek Metropark
Full gallery at https://bluewaterrunning.zenfoliosite.com/
With beautiful fall weather on the shores of Stony Creek Lake, Macomb County schools met up with All-County honors on the line. Utica’s Harper Wesley won the individual title in 15:37 and the UHS Chieftains took the team win, as well. Joshua Macri took seventh (16:29) and Xavier Roman 19th (16:49) to place Macomb Lutheran North on the Macomb All-County team twice in the boys’ race. The Mustangs earned the D2/3/4 small schools team title by finishing sixth overall. Aaron Osterman of Anchor Bay ran a personal best of 16:30 to lead the Tars in eighth place and earn his first All-County honor, along with teammate Greg Vogt (13th; 16:38). Macri, Vogt, and Osterman are now 1-2-3 on the Blue Water Area top XC times performance list. Other top runners for their schools include Nico DiPonio in a PR of 17:34 (39th; Austin Catholic), Mason Pietrykowski in 43rd (17:46 PR) for Richmond, Ian Potts in 54th (17:59) for MACH, and Max Durham in 76th with a new PR of 18:39 for New Haven. Austin Malburg was 89th for Armada (19:06 PR) and Daniel Rosenow 148th for Memphis (22:59 PR).
When you have the defending D1 XC state champions in Macomb County, the outcome is no surprise. As predicted, the girls’ race was all Romeo: they swept the entire first seven places, earning a perfect score of 15 and taking every first-team All-County spot. The individual title was a photo finish, with teammates Natalia Guaresimo and Annie Hrabovsky both running the same time of 17:48. Hrabovsky was the champion as a freshman last year in 17:54, but this year Guaresimo was declared the winner. All seven varsity runners were well under 19 minutes with a team spread of 43 seconds between the top five. Freshman Alannah Wessel was the only freshman to earn All-County honors, taking 11th in 19:11. Lutheran North’s Samantha Whitlam broke the 20-minute barrier for the first time to finish 17th in 19:46, moving her into the third spot on the Blue Water Area top times performance list. MLN received the small school championship trophy, as well. Brooklyn Khon of Armada was the last All-County spot in 22nd (20:23). Other top runners for their respective teams were Cassidy Bowers of Austin Catholic (26th; 20:39), Pauline Chapman of Richmond (44th; 21:18 PR), Emma Reimer of New Haven (76th; 22:55), Tenaya Jendza (83rd; 23:12 PR) for New Baltimore Anchor Bay, and Sophia Lawrence (104th; 24:12) for Memphis.
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@ Hudson Mills Metropark
Write-up from St. Clair XC/TF Instagram and SCXC Barstool Instagram:
It was a huge day at our final race before Regionals. We had massive PRs and season bests set by a majority of our runners, as they let it rip at the 40th annual FGR invite in Dexter. There were several medalists and the girls’ squad brought home a trophy with a third-place finish!
Photos courtesy of SC XC/TF Instagram
Ella Thornton Medalist 20:35.2 PR Gabriella Komarowski Medalist 20:40.9 SR Allie Komarowski Medalist 20:43.3 SR Molly McNabb 21:14.0 PR Eden Brewer 21:26.6 PR Abbey Morabito. 21:46.5 PR | Boys Varsity: Ethan Kreger Medalist 17:05.5 - second-fastest time of the season. Brayden Prieskorn Medalist 17:09 PR Korbyn Thornton 17:36 PR (first PR in two years) Griffin Kreger 18:07 PR - almost full-minute PR Gavin Bishop. 18:34 PR |
Girls JV Clair Bacon Medalist 23:07 SB Lydia Stockwell 24:25.5 PR | Boys JV: Cole Stockwell Medalist 19:13 PR Ronan Turrell, RT19!! 19:20 PR Emery Govare 19:54. Season Best Joe Jalosky 19:58. PR (by 80 seconds) Jackson Zhang runs his second fastest time of the season with a 19:25. |
Photos courtesy of SC4 - Facebook.
The SC4 cross country team saw personal bests across the board as they ran at the Jayhawk Invite. Lily Lemanski set a school record, running 19:40 to take 40th. Acer Campbell dipped under the 26-minute mark in the 8K for the first time, taking 12th in 25:57: Campbell has dropped almost two and a half minutes throughout the season.
Photos courtesy of MCC XC
The men’s cross country team won their second meet of the year as five runners finished in the top eight at the Justin Spoon Fiercely Faithful Invite. Erin Rowan (9th place) and Emma Dell (11th place) led the way for the Monarchs on the women’s side.
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