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Article by Matt Wenzel, Sports
Editor of Manistee News Advocate
The Bear Lake cross country team
held its first home meet on Wednesday, but it might as well have been a
practice since the Lakers got more competition out of each other than
from their opponents. Bear Lake, which co-ops with Onekama, easily
won a West Michigan ‘D’ League jamboree over a light field of
competition.
The Bear Lake boys took five of the top six spots and finished with 18
points. Mason County Eastern was second with 48, while Walkerville only
had three runners, giving them an incomplete score. The Laker girls also
took five of the top six spots, and seven of the first eight, finishing
with 17 points. Mason County Eastern was second with 54, while
Walkerville didn’t have any runners in the field.
Given the dominance, are the league jamborees more of a competition
between the Lakers themselves than a race against their opponents?
“As far as the conference goes,
without a doubt,” said Bear Lake coach Eric Ross. “There’s a lot of team
support, but also a lot of competition within the team. They’re all
pushing each other.”
Bear Lake’s Jaron Llewellyn took first with a time of 17:49, while
teammate Chuck Schoedel was second in 18:12. MCE’s Mike Stickney took
third in 18:57 to break up the pack of Lakers, which followed with Tyler
Groenwald (4th, 19:04), Ryan Pienta (5th, 19:07), and Danny Brown (6th,
19:30).
“It’s a really strong team this year,” Ross said of the boys. “We have
two outstanding freshmen who are solid varsity kids (Groenwald, Graf).”
With underclassmen challenging veterans for spots on the varsity roster,
the Lakers are pushing themselves this season.
“I think that’s what’s going to make this team so much stronger this
year,” Ross said. “The varsity spots have changed every single race. |
In the girls’ race, freshman Jaylee
Brown continued to shine in her first varsity season by taking first
place by almost a full minute and a half with a time of 21:01.
“I would say that’s pretty impressive,” Ross said. “Jaylee has some
great goals set out for herself this year.”
Shelby Sidor (2nd, 22:27) edged teammate Tobi Schoedel (3rd, 22:28) at
the finish line while MCE’s Jen Spinner (4th, 23:20) was the first non-Laker
to finish. Also placing for Bear Lake were Elizabeth Schoedel (5th,
23:26) and Anna Veverica (6th, 23:41).
“I’m very pleased,” Ross said of the girls’ performance. “They’ve made
great improvements from last year. We have a number of girls on this
team who have the potential to be all-staters. Each one of them is
pushing each other, it’s no different than the boys.”
Although the Lakers dominated the jamboree, that didn’t diminish their
performance in the eyes of their coach.
“By any standard, these are exceptional times,” Ross said. “It’s going
to be an exciting year. I’m stoked about it.”
Also running for the Bear Lake boys were Ian Smith (9th, 19:42), Cody
Graf (10th, 19:46), Alex Ringle (11th, 19:47), Lewis Bartlett (12th,
19:48), Josh Goins (13th, 19:50), John Evans (15th, 20:33), Patrick
Spalding (18th, 21:13), Laust Merryld (20th, 21:48), Kyle Nettler (23rd,
22:52), Justin Brown (25th, 23:30), Braden Bowling (26th, 24:04),
Stephen Verrett (27th, 24:11) and Roger Mullet (28th, 24:17).
Also running for the Bear Lake girls were Brenna Miller (7th, 23:46),
Taylor Hagen (8th, 23:50), Katie Alkire (10th, 23:57), Yumi Babinec
(12th, 24:54), Danielle Ward (13th, 25:00) and Emily Pomeroy (14th,
25:13). |
