Several Blue Water Area Conference (BWAC) teams competed Friday, Aug. 25 at the Oakdale Classic, held at Rolland Warner Middle School in Lapeer. Almont, Imlay City, North Branch, and Richmond were part of the event, with a total of eight schools competing.
Imlay City’s Elliot Whitney won the boys’ race, finishing in a time of 18:04. His teammate Conner Wildie also cracked the top 20. The IC Spartans finished fifth as a team. For Richmond, Donovan Germain and Kaleb Manska were 18th and 19th, separated only by a second at the finish line. “Those two had medal-earning performances and have been pushing really hard all summer,” Richmond coach Griffin Fraley stated. “We still need to see a bit more from the next group of boys to complement our top two, so that will be our next challenge if we want to make noise in our league this year.” That looks to be a realistic goal, as the next four Blue Devil runners are all within 20 seconds of each other. The Blue Devils were sixth as a team. Almont’s top runner was Colton Grzyb, who took 30th place.
Wyatt Opperman (13th) and Bryce Barkowska (21st) led the North Branch Broncos. “Wyatt and Bryce ran a great race,” affirmed North Branch coach Jason Castle. “Brent Castle (23rd) dropped over two minutes from his previous meet and Ben Card and Datota Kardell were our 4th and 5th runners. These guys are running really great for this early in the season. I am proud of each of them.” Card and Kardell finished 35th and 36th, separated by less than a second. The North Branch boys’ team took fourth place overall.
In the girls' race, the BWAC ladies were well-represented, taking three of the top four spots. Richmond’s Brianna Albers was the race runner-up, finishing second with a time of 22:59. Rowan Conley (North Branch) was third and Charlotte O’Brien (Imlay City) finished fourth. Other notable performances include Almont’s Ayla DeLaurier (12th) and Laila Evola (14th), Richmond’s Paulina Chapman (7th), and Kelsey Pendry (18th).
Coach Castle was very pleased with the Lady Broncos’ effort. “Rowan Conley ran a fantastic race. Isabelle Hunt had another great showing. These girls are really running hard and training together as a team. I’m very proud of them.”
“Our girls in particular had a really strong day,” Richmond coach Fraley agreed. “Our number two runner Paulina Chapman had a great day. We wanted to see her make a leap forward in her sophomore season after a good freshman year, and I thought she did that. Our 3-5 girls normally run in a pack and they all finished relatively high and allowed us to edge out Holly for second overall. I was particularly happy with how Kelsey Pendry pushed ahead of that pack a bit today, too. All in all, six medalists and a second-place trophy for the girls was a good way to start the year. Considering the conditions were tough with storms the two nights before, they ran with a mentally tough attitude.”
Imlay City Coach Sara O'Brien said, "We were very pleased with the athletes' performance at our season opener. The course was very muddy with many hills and that added to the challenge of a first race, but the athletes did well."
North Branch finished fifth, Almont seventh, and Imlay City eighth in the girls’ team scores.
Full meet results can be found at https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/222880/info
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