Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023.
17 races, 234 teams, 6,100+ athletes, 20,000+ spectators: this is the cross country spectacle at the Portage Invitational. One of the biggest meets in the country, Portage offers runners a chance to go head-to-head with the best in the sport before the State Finals. Local teams from the Blue Water Area who raced this weekend included St. Clair, Yale, and Port Huron Northern.
“I’d just say it was a great experience, as always, at such a massive meet. The course was tough and decently hilly but we had a lot of fun out there,” St. Clair’s Dylan Distelrath said. Distelrath was the first finisher for the Saints, running 16:48 and placing 62nd in the Division 2 race. St. Clair finished 16th as a team and even with such a large field, managed a 1:13 time spread between runners, despite missing their number one. They also had five athletes run their season or personal bests, including Distelrath. Jerry Westrick was 99th in 17:20 (PR), Dylan Schuman 105th in 17:24, Ethan Kreger 124th in 17:31, Korbyn Thornton 170th in 18:01 (season record), and Brayden Prieskhorn 182nd in 18:09 (PR).
The “most guts” award goes to Colin Boullard, who raced Thursday afternoon at the Marysville Invitational and then was the Saints’ number seven runner on Saturday morning, running a personal record in 18:18 with less than two days’ rest. “We have guys willing to step up and they proved it today. Things are definitely gonna get interesting as we get into championship season,” Distelrath emphasized.
Yale finished 11th as a team, with Acer Campbell leading the Bulldogs in a new personal record of 16:20, placing 32nd. Gio Pardo-Keegan finished 34th in 16:25 and Blake Ferguson was 42nd in 16:29: these three seniors all earned medals for finishing in the top 50. “I really enjoyed the race even though the course was very hilly and there were some wet and muddy spots,” Pardo-Keegan commented. “The course was fast and I thought we did well as a team”. Teddy Rutkofske was 125th in 17:32 (season record), Wyatt Murtos 139th in 17:44, Nolan Korolden 180th in 18:07, and Lucas Peltier 205th in 18:27. Korolden also earns the “guts” award: he ran Thursday at Marysville and still managed to run a season record at Portage.
In the Division 1 race, Luke VanderHuevel of Port Huron Northern similarly had a season-best time, finishing 67th in 16:37. “It rained the night before and a lot of the day of. Thankfully a lot of the parts were sand so the mud was minimal,” VanderHuevel noted. “The mindset at Portage for the first bit is to survive and thankfully I stayed unharmed through a mile. From there it was just to use all of the runners to move up, which I did pretty well. The hills there are worse than any we find in the Blue Water Area, but I was able to use them well throughout my race. It’s always worth the trip out to Portage to see all the other great runners across the state.”
Other finishers for the Huskies:
186: Carson Prone, 17:46 (PR)
216: Grant Gonser, 18:09
224: Luke Maher, 18:27
229: Oliver Howie, 18:37 (PR)
On the girls’ side, St. Clair had many personal and season-best times, as well. Lilyana Bratt was 62nd in 20:33 to pace the Lady Saints in the Division 2 race, followed by her freshman teammate, Gabriella Komarowski, who ran her personal best in 21:26, finishing 98th. Molly McNabb (100th; 21:28), Allie Komarowski (109th; 21:32), Aubrey Sargent (111th; 21:33), and Ella Thornton (141st; 21:57) all had personal or season-best race times. Clair Bacon rounded out the Saints’ top seven in 169th place, running 22:22. The St. Clair girls had a team spread of 59 seconds, the second-lowest in the Division 2 race.
Div. 1 Port Huron Northern Girls: 165: Samantha Langolf, 21:45
201: Isabella Nestle, 22:55
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