Cross-Country Retionals: October 25, 2003

It was a beautiful day for a CC Regional but the runners said it was a little too warm. As was expected we had some very good racers in both the boys and girls regional runs. Both BL/OHS/MCC teams are headed to state with the boys narrowly taking first place for a repeat as regional Champs, and the girls just getting the third spot by a very narrow margin. Congratulation to both teams as they both will be headed to the state finals at Brooklyn, MI next Saturday.

In a very exciting finish, the boys repeated as Regional CHAMPS with BL/OHS/ getting a total of 56 points. 2nd place was Hale with 60 points, 3rd went to Traverse City St. Francis with 74 points. These three teams all move on to the State finals next weekend. MCE was 4th with 102 point, and 5th was Buckley with 138 points.

For BL/OHS/ boys there was a surprise as Nate Milarch was the 1st BL/OHS/ boy to cross the finish line in 8th place with a time of 18:05. Great job Nate, just beating teammate Josh Groenwald who was 9th in a time of 18:05; 10th Luke Allen 18:06; 12th Nick Swisher 18:16. All 4 of these runners got medals for finishing in the top 15. Next to cross was 21st place Dan Deising 19:00; 22nd Andy Desmarias 19:03 and 28th Nick Sidor 19:29. Great job guys!

Nick Swisher and his parents.

Jackie and Sam Bladzik and their Dad.

For the BL/OHS/MCC girls as everyone expected turned into a very exciting finish. Traverse City St. Francis came in 1st with 39 points, and were followed very closely by Crossroads Charter Academy from Big Rapids with 42 points. 3rd place went to BL/OHS/MCC with 66 points. These 3 teams all move on to the state finals next weekend. 4th place was Sutton Bay with 71 points and 5th place was Pentwater with 142 points.

Leading the BL/OHS/MCC girls was 2nd place Erica Jach 20:37; 8th Samantha Mitchell 21:51. These two girls got medals for finishing in the top 15. 19th Jackie Bladzik 23:18; 27th Elise Ocelnik 23:56; 28th Renee Pienta 24:03; 31st Samantha Bladzik 24:29; and 34th place Ashley Zupin 24:51. Great job Gals!

Josh Groenwald and his parents.

Luke Allen and his parents.

CONGRATULATION TO THE BOYS AND GIRLS FOR A GREAT RUN TODAY AND TO COACH DAL TOWNSEND AND HIS ASST. ANTHONY TORRES FOR A GREAT SEASON SO FAR. GOOD LUCK TO THE RUNNERS NEXT WEEKEND AT THE STATE FINALS. ...Dennis Zupin

This page was created October 25, 2003