Several Blue Water Area cross country teams ran their opening races at the Mike Jackson Memorial Invitational in Cros-Lex Thursday morning, and even with the foggy, drizzly conditions, one thing was clear: local runners and coaches are feeling optimistic about the season ahead.
“I’m happy with how the race went. It was wet and we just came back from camp but it went well," said girls’ winner Eva Thompson, who finished in 20:40. Meet host and Cros-Lex girls’ coach Lisa Shaw agreed: “I was extremely pleased with the team’s effort today. We just came off our camp on Wednesday, so they were racing a little tired. We were able to finish ahead of the Caro team, which is the only team we lost to in our regular season last year. It’s a great start to our season. You can tell the summer miles we put in.”
Thompson and teammates Morgan Newton (3rd) and Brynn Hurley (7th) placed in the top 10 spots to secure the team title, besting Caro by 11 points. Marysville's Lillian Rutallie had a notable sixth-place finish for the Vikings. Underclassmen Samantha Langolf, Haley Sharp, and Isabella Nestle of Port Huron Northern all placed within the top 20 spots.
Marine City and Yale rounded out the other girls' teams competing from the Blue Water Area. Caro, EPBP Laker, and Peck also traveled from the Thumb Area to participate.
“I was very pleased with how we did today, especially given the wet conditions,” Yale girls’ coach Erin Kovach said. “We are a young team and are working hard developing a competitive mindset. We met some initial team goals today and I am proud of the girls.”
Marine City girls’ coach Angie Rossi echoed the same sentiment: “I’m pleased with the results today. The first race of the season is always tough. Many of the girls bested their times from this race last year with course conditions today being much worse. It’s a great way to start our season.”
In the boys' race, Owen Jackson traveled all the way from Oak Hill, Indiana to decisively win by over half a minute with a time of 16:52. Port Huron Northern’s Luke VanderHeuvel and Luke Maher were second and third, pacing their team to a third-place finish, followed by the Yale pack of Blake Fergason (5th), Acer Campbell (7th), and Giovanni Pardo-Keegan (8th), who placed second as a team. Division 1 school Davison took the team win.
Yale boys’ coach Jared Shutko was pleased with where the Bulldogs finished but feels they have some work to do. “The conditions were definitely not the best today; probably the wettest I’ve ever seen that course. I told the guys to throw the times out the window and just focus on places and put themselves in a good position for the end. We had eight guys medal today, so that showed our depth.” Shutko mentioned that Kale Kovach, who hasn’t raced since halfway through last year’s season due to an injury, jumped right back in as Yale’s fourth runner, exactly where he was last year.
Marysville boys' and girls' head coach Sarah St. Coeur remarked, “All of our returners dropped time from the 2022 meet, which was fantastic! I’m also very impressed by how our five new runners competed today at their first meet.”
Other teams competing in the boys' race included EPBP Laker, Warren Woods Tower, Peck, and Memphis. Full meet results can be found at https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/221866/info.
You can watch more Blue Water Area cross country at the upcoming Brown City Invitational on Tuesday, Aug. 29.
Comentários