SPRINGFIELD — Both the Sturgis girls and boys cross country teams ran at the 58th Annual Holly Invitational last Saturday, with all teams having to contend with rainy and muddy conditions on the course. The Lady Trojans placed fourth, finishing with 122 points, while the boys finished 16th, scoring 385. Midland Dow took first in the girls race with 41 points, while host school Holly won the boys event with 104 points.
For the Lady Trojans, Alice Starkey landed in 10th spot with a time of 20:42.50, followed by Lulu Park (13th, 20:47.90), Leilani Machuca ( 14th, 20:53.60), Annmarie Taylor (40th, 22:10.40), Eleanor Park (51st, 22:35.50), Olivia Green (22:39.50) and Ally Farber (63rd, 23:09.10).
For the Sturgis boys, freshman Milo Barry was the top finisher, as he ran to 45th place (17:56.00). Also for the Trojans, Cooper Hohn took 62nd (18:13.60). He was followed by Vaughn Merril (77th, 18:40.10), Niko Morales (100th, 19:46.00), Caleb Hohn (105th, 20:04.20) and Henry Ebert (113th, 20:24.90).
It was a split for the Sturgis cross country teams on Tuesday, as the boys beat visiting Paw Paw 37-18, while the Lady Trojans were outpointed by the Red Wolves, 31-25.
Christopher Vogt (Paw Paw) was first overall with a time of 16:31.3, while Milo Barry paced the winning effort for Sturgis, finishing fifth (18:27.9). Cooper Hohn was sixth, crossing the line in 18:51.9, followed by Vaughn Merril (7th, 19:25.1), Nike Morales (9th, 19:54.5), Caleb Hohn (10th, 20:12.2), Henry Ebert (11th, 20:18.3) and Bryce Smoker, who was 12th. His time was 20:20.7.
Also for the Trojans, Blake Smoker was 14th (20:38.4), followed by Harper Morgan (16th, 22:02.9), Theo Kind (19th, 23:04.4), Iker Cepa Server (20th, 23:23.9) and Ben Moses, who placed 21st (23:24.0).
Sturgis’ Alice Starkey won the girls race, finishing the 5000 meters in 20:26.5. She was followed by teammates Lulu Park (3rd, 21:13.0), Annmarie Taylor (6th, 22:04.2), Ally Farber (7th, 22:16.3) and Olivia Green (8th, 22:21.3). Also competing for the Lady Trojans was Emmy Farber (10th, 22:30.2), Eleanor Park (12th, 23:18.5), Carolina Garcia (13th, 23:28.2), Norah Hatt ( 14th, 23:47.3), Jocelyn Nieves-Carmona (19th, 27:35.8), Lizeth Garcia (20th, 28:06.6), Kylie Bruderick (21st, 28:24.8) and Jada Okeke (22nd, 30:56.1).
TR boys ninth, girls 11th at Ottawa Hills; split against Otsego, Edwardsburg
GRAND RAPIDS — Three Rivers’ cross country teams competed in Grand Rapids for the Ottawa Hills Invitational Friday, with the boys’ team finishing ninth out of 21 teams and the girls finishing 11th out of 23 teams.
For the boys, the Wildcats were led by David Kore, who finished 15th with a time of 1:30 overall, earning a medal for his performance. He was followed by Elijah Harris (60th, 17:47), Tony Hilton (62nd, 17:55 (PR)), Adrian Perez (77th, 18:22 (PR)), Cesar Rodriguez Delgado (88th, 18:43), Bryce Robinson (101st, 18:54 (PR)), and Connor Bleything (104th, 18:55) in the top seven.
The girls’ team was led by freshman Kloey Osborn, who finished 52nd with a personal-best time of 21:02, beating the previous personal record by 36 seconds. Following Osborn in the top seven were Lauren Kane (66th, 21:29 (PR)), Simone Allen (75th, 21:53 (PR)), Lillie Kerr (80th, 22:04), Brynn Copenhaver (86th, 22:16), Mikayla Reed (126th, 24:01 (PR)), and Kylie Harris (134th, 24:14 (PR)).
“This was a huge day for our girls with multiple PRs by big numbers,” head coach Jason Muckel said. “We are super proud of them and everything this young team is accomplishing this season.”
On Tuesday, the Wildcats had their first Wolverine Conference race of the season in Edwardsburg against Edwardsburg and Otsego. On the boys’ side, Three Rivers lost to Otsego 39-20, but won a nailbiter against Edwardsburg 27-28.
Kore led the Wildcats in the boys’ race with a second-place finish and a time of 16:56. He was followed by Harris (8th, 18:11), Hilton (10th, 18:28), Rodriguez Delgado (15th, 18:40), Max Wolgast (19th, 19:08), Perez (22nd, 19:44), and Bleything (24th, 19:58).
“We consider this a big win for the boys team and believe it will launch us well into the conference season,” Muckel said.
For the girls, the Wildcats lost 50-15 to Otsego, but took a decisive 21-34 win against Edwardsburg. Leading the pack for the Wildcats was Copenhaver, who finished 12th with a time of 21:53, her best of the season thus far. She was followed in the top seven by Osborn (13th, 21:59), Kane (14th, 22:29), Kerr (16th, 22:59), Allen (19th, 23:42), Harris (26th, 25:11), and Reed (28th, 25:33).
“If you had told us going into the night we would take both wins against Edwardsburg on the boys and girls’ side we would have been thrilled with those results,” Muckel said. “We are super happy with the start of conference and looking to a week of practice before the next race at home for senior night.”
Constantine boys 11th, girls 8th at Fennville SAC Jamboree
FENNVILLE — Constantine’s cross country teams competed in the first of three SAC Jamborees this season, with the boys’ team placing 11th and the girls placing eighth in Fennville Wednesday, Sept. 16.
For the boys’ team, Aaron Hofmeister led the team with a 17th place finish and a personal record time of 17:49. The next two Falcon finishers, Derek Sonnevil and David Ledden, both ran season’s best times for themselves. Derek’s time was just under a minute faster than his previous season record. Brock Warren and Ben Wright rounded out the scoring five for the Falcons with strong finishes. Two freshmen racers who finished outside the top five had best-ever times: Quinn Maxwell and Frank Catanzarite.
In the girls’ race, senior Tessa Bienz set a personal record, running a time of 26:55. Sofia Avila improved her season best time by 90 seconds, running a time of 24:56.
