By John Raffel
Correspondent
CLARE — The Clare boys cross team ended their season 11-1 in Jack Pine Conference action, finishing as JPC runners-up.
“They finished eighth in the fastest Regional in D2 (Benzie), posting 5 of 7 career PRs on the day,” coach Adam Burhans said. “Being the smallest in D2 has been a challenge all season. We will continue to hover between D2 and D3. . . which is really where we should be. That’s a difference of about 10 kids in enrollment.
“In the world of four-division sports, moving up a division is absolutely earth-shattering. It’s a 140-plus new schools/variables to contend with, and when you’re at the bottom of that range, it can be a bit disheartening when lining up against schools twice your size.”
Burhans added, “For this season, our fastest guys would have had to run 16:14 individually to get to the state finals. That time is insane, and would equate to the 8th fastest time in school history. We are hoping to eventually return to where we belong (D3) but for now, we bite the bullet and find a way to get better, which in the end we honestly did.
“We are proud of the overall improvement of the team, and are fortunate to have three All-Conference runners: Connor Schmidt, 2nd Team; Clayton Peacock, 2nd Team, and Sutton Klaus, Honorable mention.”
Burhans said the best times for the season were as follows: Connor Schmidt (junior), 16:55; Sutton Klaus (junior), 16:57; Clayton Peacock (senior), 17:14; Christian Villa-Bilton (junior), 17:18; Joey Haupt (junior), 17:24, William Warner (senior), 17:47; Kona Crump (seniors), 18:25; Matt Rodgers (freshman), 18:28; Cullen Gallagher, 18:32; Ian Letherer (senior), 19:12; Greg Steele (junior), 19:38; Cole Grundy (senior), 19:52; and Carter Chapman (sophomore), 20:17.
“We are happy for the seniors stepping up this season and excited for next year’s core group of returners.” Burhans said.
