And after the Bear Lake girls
finished with a first-place 21 points, and the boys with a first-place
29, both teams earned the championship outright.
As they held the trophy once again, the Lakers had some suggestions as
to why it has become commonplace.
“Our team is just motivated,” said Chuck Schoedel who finished first for
the Laker boys and second overall in the time of 18:05.
“Our team is a big family and we work together and push each other,”
said Yumi Babinec who was the fourth Laker girl to finish and sixth
overall in the time of 24:16.
Lakers coach Eric Ross, whose team has won the league title each of the
three years he’s coached, said he’s proud of his harriers for the feat,
but they’re focused forward.
“I don’t want to downplay any trophy that they ever take home,” Ross
said. “There’s no question about that. But, in all honesty, we train for
the last meet of the year. They’re training for the end of the season.”
Ross and his team alike are focused on the upcoming regional competition
and beyond.
“I was very proud of all of them. They performed really well, but a race
is a race, is a race, is a race,” Ross said. “Today we used this as a
speed workout. They’re showing just incredible things right now. In the
three years I’ve coached, I haven’t been as excited to see the end
result as I am now. They’re just very dedicated and very driven. They
work so well together. In all honesty, they have absolutely everything
going for them.”
At this point in the season, the Lakers are making the transition from
strength workouts to speed workouts according to Ross.
“Strength training builds strength, and speed builds speed,” he said.
“So once we move to speed, that’s when you’ll see the times just start
shaving off.”
And a faster Bear Lake squad will be scary for upcoming opponents.
The Bear Lake boys topped Big Rapids
Crossroads Academy (43), MCE (64), Pentwater (116) and Walkerville
(127).
Big Rapids’ Aaron Tait finished first overall in the time of 17:51 while
the Lakers’ Schoedel finished second in 18:05. |
Also for the Lakers, Tyler Groenwald finished fifth in 18:41 and was
followed by Josh Goins (sixth, 18:47), Alex Ringel (seventh, 18:53),
Danny Brown (ninth, 19:00), Lewis Bartlett (10th, 19:01), Ryan Pienta
(12th, 19:24), Bobby Myers (17th, 20:03), Stephen Verrett (18th, 20:12),
Kyle Nettler (20th, 20:20), Weston Brooks (23rd, 20:29), Patrick
Spalding (25th, 20:30), Parker Sternberger (30th, 22:02), Braden Bowling
(33rd, 23:00), and Roger Mullett (35th, 24:20).
“The workout that they had on Monday
was the hardest workout they probably ever had,” Ross said. “So for them
to perform the way they performed today, and run the times that they
ran, is pretty representative of their fitness level and we’re looking
for really, really great things here at the end of the season.”
The Bear Lake girls team (shown
above preparing to leave after taking first place) topped Mason County Eastern (47), Pentwater
(55), and Walkerville (62).
Jaylee Brown finished first overall in the time of 20:45 and was
followed by Tobi Schoedel (second, 21:38), Elizabeth Schoedel (third,
22:39), Babinec (sixth, 24:16), Samantha Mullet (eighth, 24:28), and
Taylor Anderson (10th, 22:54).
The Bear Lake middle school
team ran the shortened MCE course and topped the Cardinals with a
perfect score of 15.
The Lakers’ John Girven finished first overall in 12:20 and was followed
by Taylor Makowski (second, 12:23), Shane Peterson (third, 12:43),
Reilly Merrill (fourth, 12:48), John Schoedel (fifth, 12:59), McKaya
Groenwald (sixth 13:04), Keena Gilbert (seventh, 13:28), Josh Ide
(eight, 13:38), Alicia Peterson (ninth, 13:46), Allison Fink (10th,
13:59), Cady Lowe (12th, 14:06), Meredith Hengy (13th, 14:18), Triston
Gleason (14th, 14:28), Alex Dutton (15th, 14:30), Haily Kott (18th,
16:08), Tawny Kott (19th, 16:19), Madelene Smeltzer (20th, 16:24) and
Sierra Link (21st, 17:49). See
Middle School Photos |
