STURGIS — The Trojans hosted the Sturgis Kickoff Classic cross country meet last weekend, and both the girls and boys turned in impressive performances. The Lady Trojans placed first, while the boys ran to a second-place showing.
For the girls, freshman Alice Starkey took first in 20:42.03, while fellow freshman Lelani Machuca placed third with a time of 21:37.93. Lulu Park finished fourth (21:46.14), followed by Eleanor Park (6th, 22:31.05), Emmy Farber (10th, 23:26.93), Annmarie Taylor (11th, 23:44.40), Olivia Green (12th, 23:50.20), Norah Hatt (14th, 23:54.74) and Carolina Garcia (19th, 24:48.51).
Also for Sturgis, Ally Farber took 23rd (26:30.86), followed by Lizeth Garcia (26th, 27:33.83), Jocelyn Nieves-Carmona (30th, 29:07.81), Kimberly Hernandez (35th, 30:56.06), Makenna Nation (37th, 34:13.74), Kylie Bruderick (38th, 34:14.09) and Dayanara Ulloa Ramirez (40th, 36:41.76.
In the boys’ race, Cooper Hohn was the top finisher for the Trojans, placing fifth with a time of 18:31.68. He was followed by Milo Barry (6th, 18:35.87), Vaughn Merril (8th, 18:50.84), Micaiah Arreola (9th, 18:53.39), Caleb Hohn (14th, 19:38.34), Henry Ebert (15th, 20:34.82), Bryce Smoker (19th, 21:16.27), Harper Morgan (21st, 21:20.43), Jose Carmona (25th, 21:56.46), Ben Moses (26th, 22:19,79) and Blake Smoker (27th, 22:46.34).
“This was a great start for Sturgis Cross Country,” commented Trojan coach Emerson Green. “We had the top runners from both teams graduate last year, and it was wonderful that our young athletes stepped up to fill the void.”
TR team both 16th at Portage Early Bird
PORTAGE — Three Rivers’ cross country teams opened the season at the Portage Early Bird Invitational on Friday, with both the boys and girls’ teams finishing 16th out of 24 and 21 teams respectively.
The Wildcat boys were led on the day by junior David Kore, who finished 10th overall with a new personal-best of 16:14.1, over a 45-second personal best from last season. Following him and rounding out the top seven were Elijah Harris (87th, 18:08), Tony Hilton (106th, 18:41), Connor Bleything (117th, 18:51 (PR)), Cesar Rodriguez Delgado (136th, 19:06 (PR)), Rowan Griffin (201st, 20:04 (PR)), and Adrian Perez (202nd, 20:05).
“Our boys ran incredibly well getting that first race of the season under their belts and set themselves up as we continue to move through the early part of the season. As this team gets healthy, we will continue to develop as a team and be ready when conference season begins,” Three Rivers head coach Jason Muckel said.
For the girls, Muckel said it was the “best overall start to the season in years,” with freshman Kloey Osborn leading the team with a 62nd-place time of 21:54. Following her in the top seven were Brynn Copenhaver (82nd, 22:48), Lauren Kane (103rd, 23:27 (PR)), Lillie Kerr (127th, 23:58), Simone Allen (133rd, 24:08 (PR)), Lily Kane (165th, 25:01 (PR)), and Lizzy Kangas (184th, 25:27).
“We have a mostly young team leaning on a vast majority of freshmen and sophomores and all the hard work they put into the summer paid off today with a great start! We are incredibly excited about this girls’ team and their potential growth this season,” Muckel said.
Other athletes setting lifetime personal bests today were: Bryce Robinson (20:31), Zeke Serna (21:38), Izayah Watson (32:30), Kylie Harris (25:54), Caitlin Smallcombe (28:01), and Bre Taylor (31:56).
