September may now be half over, but the summer-like temperatures haven’t relented, and this weekend offered up more lessons in cross country racing through significant heat for most local teams.
MSU Auto-Owners Spartan Invitational @ Forest-Akers Golf Course, Lansing (meet titles are clickable links to results)
Friday, Sept. 13, 2024
MI XC Speed Ratings: https://mixcspeedratings.com/2024/09/14/2024-ratings-spartan/
The MSU Auto-Owners Spartan Invitational in Lansing on Friday (the 13th!) provided a great showcase of Blue Water Athletes in both the collegiate and high school divisions. Starting the day off were the collegiate women in the 6K distance, followed by the collegiate men’s 8K.
Women’s 6K |
63: Reese Powers, MSU (Marysville). 24:10 81: Grace Wessel, SC4 (MACH). 24:53 PR 103: Abagayle Barkley, Spring Arbor University (Cros-Lex). 26:12 107: Lily Lemanski, SC4 (Marlette). 26:23 PR 126: Jenna Denver, SC4 (Imlay City). 27:18 PR 138: Olivia Crawford, SC4 (Cros-Lex). 28:10 PR 152: Laela Bhatti, SC4 (Imlay City). 29:37 PR. |
Men’s 8K |
6: Jack Pennewell, MSU (St. Clair). 24:57 33: Glen Davis, Spring Arbor (PHN). 25:53 45: Camden Khon, Spring Arbor (Armada). 26:07 48: Noah Verlinde, SVSU (Armada). 26:19 67: Isaac Zammit, SVSU (Cardinal Mooney). 26:45 106: Blake Ferguson, Ferris State (Yale). 27:44 129: Ethan McCombs, SC4 (Cros-Lex). 28:17 131: Lukas Kriesch, SVSU (Yale). 28:18. 133: Jax Giannosa, SC4 (St. Clair). 28:19 145: Acer Campbell, SC4 (Yale). 28:40 153: David Harris, Ferris State (St. Clair). 28:58 179: Vinny Schweihofer, SC4 (St. Clair). 29:56 180: Lance Kowalski, SC4 (Marysville). 29:57 195: Gunnar Wessel, SC4 (MACH). 30:44 200: Trent Glass, SC4 (Marysville). 30:51 205: Dylan Schuman, SC4 (St. Clair). 31:10 214: Elliot Whitney, MSU Run Club (Imlay City). 31:46 |
FULL PHOTO GALLERY AT https://bluewaterrunning.zenfoliosite.com/photo-galleries/msu-spartan-xc-invitational-1
In the high school races, the top 30 finishers in each division earned a medal. For D1, Port Huron Northern’s Samantha Langolf was 12th in 20:59, helping pace the Huskies to a team finish in seventh overall. Eva Thompson of Cros-Lex was the highest placer of the day regardless of division for high school athletes from the Blue Water Area, taking fifth in 19:47 in the D2 race. Sage Cole of Yale (39th; 21:23) and Pauline Chapman of Richmond (85th, 22:53) were each their team’s top runners. In D3, Jasmine Walker led all Algonac girls in 23:26 to take 54th place.
For the boys, Wyatt Murtos of Yale narrowly missed snagging a medal but did grab a personal best, running 17:18 to take 33rd in the D2 race. Connor Peppin led Cros-Lex (106th; 18:39), and Mason Pietrykowski was the top runner for Richmond (111th; 18:47). In the Division 3 race, Algonac’s Julian Walker was 13th, a fitting finish number for the date, running 17:36. His teammate Owen Beindit was close to the top 30, taking 32nd in 18:09. Port Huron Northern’s Carson Prone was the top Husky finisher of the day, running 18:24 to take 122nd.
MI XC Speed Ratings: https://mixcspeedratings.com/2024/09/14/2024-ratings-holly/
For the 56th year, the Holly Invitational fired off a race every 15-20 minutes and despite the heat (combined with tough hills and tight turns), runners still managed to crank out some very fast times across the 20 different divisions.
Boys
For D2 boys, Ethan Kreger (12th; 17:43), Jerry Westrick (22nd; 18:00), Brayden Prieskorn (27th; 18:10), and Luke McDonell (32nd in 18:15, a season-best time), all medaled. The Saints were sixth as a team. Compare that to the D1 race, where Greg Vogt of Anchor Bay ran a 17:32 and that was 45th place: Aaron Osterman (55th; 17:38) and Brandon Ziehmer (79th; 18:08) also would have medaled in a lower division. In the D3 race, Armada’s Anthony Alvarez was the team’s top finisher (56th; 19:48), Wyatt Opperman for North Branch (67th; 20:30), and D4 was Nathan Kirby for Kimball Landmark (28:21; 95th).
Dryden had a great showing in the D5 division, taking third as a team and medaling their top five runners: freshman Levi Fitchett led the Cardinals in 11th place, running a personal best of 17:59, and Logan Romain (15th; 18:15 SR) and Nick Abromaitis (23rd; 19:23 PR) were on the podium. Their number four and five weren’t far behind: Noah Hall was 32nd and Sean Finnagan 34th. James Nelson was the top finisher for Kimball New Life Christian in 20:25, taking 40th.
Girls
St. Clair also placed sixth as a team in the girls’ D2 race, with four out of their top five medaling:
(21) Allie Komarowski, 21:54; (22) Molly McNabb, 21:55; (23) Gabriella Komarowski, 22:03; and (29) Ella Thornton, 22:16. Mary Wright was the highest Tars finisher for AB in 83rd (23:45) in the D1 race
Armada took home a third-place trophy in the D3 division, with Brooklyn Khon earning a top-10 finisher t-shirt and a season-best time of 20:28. Her teammates Helena Reiff (20th; 21:49 PR) and Abigail Denoyer (21st; 22:00) also medaled. Lucilla Cordle of Kimball Landmark Academy was 63rd in the D4 race (28:18).
Several Dryden runners claimed hardware in girls’ D5: Cara Prusakiewicz was also a top-ten finisher (9th; 20:54) and Claire Wright was 26th (22:48 PR). Prusakiewicz is now fourth on the BWA performance list for girls. Julia Rogers was 21st in 22:12.5 for Kimball New Life Christian.
Sat. Sept. 14, 2024
Athletes were split into two race categories: yellow and red. Based on results, the red division was the fastest, with Macomb Lutheran North’s Josh Macri earning another first-place invitational win in 16:37. The only place the sophomore dual-sport athlete (soccer) took second was at the highly competitive Lamplighter Invite, and he ran his PR of 16:32, so Macri is establishing a pretty strong grip on the D2 top area time. Teammate Xavier Roman was fourth in 17:12, a personal best for him, too, which moves him into the third spot on the Blue Water Area's performance list. Almont’s Colton Grzyb (37th; 18:51) and Gavin Campbell (38th; 18:53) were a close pack for the Raiders, while Earl Beattie (42nd; 19:08) and Ryan Jackins (43rd; 19:09) did the same for Marine City. Ian Potts and Garrett Potts were 16th and 25th for MACH at 17:56 and 18:25, respectively. Brendan Koza of Marysville was 30th in 18:43, a PR, and Nico DiPonio of Austin Catholic finished in 18:51 in 36th. Freshman Liam Bhatti of Imlay City was 95th in 20:23, a PR.
MACH freshman Alannah Wessel is still undefeated this season, winning the meet in 19:38 to runner-up Samantha Whitlam’s 20:51. Whitlam led Macomb Lutheran North to a team win, doubling the trophies for the Mustangs' cross country team on Saturday. MACH’s Faith Wessel was fourth in 21:15, Lillian Rutallie of Marysville was sixth in 21:43 - a season’s-best time, and several more area athletes landed in the top 30. Cassidy Bowers was 10th in 22:10 Austin Catholic, Charlotte O'Brien was 25th (22:52 SR) for Imlay City, and Taylor Stanczak was 27th (22:56 PR) for Almont. Aubrey Pilon was 36th in 23:19.6 for Marine City.
Boys Team Scores | Girls Team Scores |
1. Macomb Lutheran North 55 2. Clarkston 85 3. Macomb L'Anse Creuse North 110 4. Ublyn119 5. Beverly Hills Groves 132 6. Marysville 142 7. MACH 149 8. Grosse Pointe North 182 9. Almont 233 10. Warren Mott 248 11. Marine City 269 12. Rochester 283 |
|
On Saturday, Sept. 21, you can catch many local teams in action at the Brooks Mid-Season Spectacular at Goodells Park. Info can be found at https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/236299/info.
Cross country coverage on Blue Water Running is being sponsored in part by Elite Feet of Port Huron. If you need running shoes, spikes, or apparel, they have a friendly and knowledgeable staff to help you find the right fit (and they are big fans of running, too). They are located at 327 Huron Ave in downtown Port Huron. If you are interested in sponsoring coverage or partnering with Blue Water Running as an advertiser to reach and support local runners, please reach out via our website or social media channels.
Kommentare