Laker harriers finish in top 10
From Manistee News Advocate Staff Reports
BROOKLYN — The Bear Lake High School cross country teams both finished
in the top 10 in the Division 4 state finals at the Michigan
International Speedway on Saturday.
The Bear Lake boys’ team placed ninth, while the girls team took 10th.
“For us, it was a great meet,” said Bear Lake coach Eric Ross. “It was a
great year.”
Bear Lake, which co-ops with Onekama, was one of just four teams to
place both the boys and the girls in the top 10. The others were Harbor
Springs, Hesperia and Saugatuck.
Individually, junior Chuck Schoedel and freshman Jaylee Brown both
received All-State honors for placing 25th and 27th, respectively. “That
was amazing in itself,” Ross said. “For us to have a freshman girl in
the top 30, her confidence soars, and the same goes for Chuckie.”
The Bear Lake boys finished with 268 points, while Potterville took
first (129), Adrian Lenawee Christian (131) was second and Harbor
Springs (145) took third.
What’s significant about the Lakers’ finish is where they placed
compared to Traverse City St. Francis. Last week, the Gladiators beat
out the Bear Lake boys for a regional title by two points, which served
as motivation for the Lakers. On Saturday, Bear Lake finished 206 points
and 10 spots ahead of St. Francis.
|
The Bear Lake girls’ tallied 347 points, while Harbor Springs (91)
placed first, Manton (103) took second and Hesperia (127) finished
third.
The Laker girls also finished behind the Gladiators in the regional
meet, only to finish five spots and 101 points ahead in the state
finals.The Lakers will go into next season without three seniors who
ran in Saturday’s finals — Jaron Llewellyn, Shelby Sidor and Brenna
Miller.
“It was a great day but it was also sad because I’m losing some great
kids,” Ross said. “It was emotional. It’s amazing what these kids put
into the program. It’s no doubt they will be successful in life given
their work ethic.”
“It’s pretty incredible that they finished where they did,” Ross said.
“It was nice to see the kids get challenged and respond the way they
did.”
Both Laker teams improved on last year’s performance in the state finals
in which the girls placed 13th and the boys took 15th.
“They made a great improvement from last year,” Ross said. “It shows the
program is moving in the right direction.
Note: Individual places in team scores don’t reflect runners who weren’t
part of a state-qualifying team.
|
