Bear Lake girls
take 4th, Jaylee Brown, Tobi Schoedel advance to D4 state finals
By MATT WENZEL Manistee News Advocate Sports Editor
Published: Sunday, November 1, 2009 9:32 PM
BENZONIA — Unlike their male counterparts,
the Bear Lake girls cross country team didn’t have a regional title
trophy to hoist on Saturday afternoon.
And for the first time since 2005, the Lakers didn’t qualify for the
state finals as a team, finishing one spot and 11 points out of the top
three.
However, Bear Lake coach Eric Ross was far from disappointed. “I was so
proud of the way the girls ran,” he said. “There wasn’t an ounce of quit
in any one of them. And, through the year, there’s maybe been some doubt
with some of them where their mindset has been, but their mindset was
really, really focused today. It was so satisfying to see what they
did.”
Although the Lakers didn’t qualify for the
state finals as a team, sophomore Jaylee Brown and junior Tobi Schoedel
finished in the top 15 as individuals and will run in the finals at
Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn on Saturday.
Brown took third place in 20:23, despite the poor conditions. “I
felt awesome today, actually,” she said. “It’s kind of weird because I
normally wouldn’t have a better race when it’s like this. It worked out
for me. I’m really happy for everybody. They tried hard and that’s all I
could ask for.”
Schoedel placed seventh in 20:56. “It would be nice if all
of us were going,” she said. “I’m happy with my place. This last
week we’ve been working on speed, so that helps with the end of the
race.”
Also finishing for Bear Lake was Elizabeth Schoedel (20th, 22:22),
Samantha Mullet (29th, 23:03), Yumi Babinec (36th, 23:32), Taylor
Anderson (41st, 23:55) and Katie Alkire (44th, 24:13).
“Elizabeth Schoedel, it was her last year and it was so sad for me to
look at her (after the race), but she’s leaving knowing she gave it
everything she had and to me that’s what’s really important,” Ross said.
“She knows she didn’t give up in the end and she worked her tail off to
the finish line. She should never be disappointed with where she
finished.”
The Lakers’ score wasn’t enough for the team to move on, but Ross said
his girls couldn’t have done any better.
“You have to take away PR's (personal
records) here because it wasn’t about PR's, it was about places,” Ross
said. “And, when you look in those kids’ eyes and know they ran as hard
as they could have possibly run, then you got what you got — 110
percent, how do you get past that?” |
Bear Lake’s Jaylee Brown
(left) took third in the Division 4 regional race on Saturday. (Matt
Wenzel/News Advocate)
Manton, the No. 1-ranked Division 4 team
in the state, won the regional with 38 points, Grand Traverse Academy
(65) took second, Traverse City St. Francis (65) third, and Bear Lake
(76) fourth, followed by a significant gap to the rest of the field.
Although Jaylee Brown and Tobi Schoedel
will be the only Laker girls running in the state finals, there will be
an entire team showing at MIS.
“We’re still going,” Ross said of the whole team. “These girls have
worked just as hard this week as their teammates and they’re still going
to share in the complete experience.”
And, while Ross said he thought the girls may be disappointed that they
won’t compete as a team, he knows they left everything on the course.
“They worked hard and it showed,” he said. “In the long run, how hard
they worked and what they put into the season will have a much greater
effect on their lives.”
Boys' Team at Regional Competition
Team
Photos by Lynn O'Connor |
