Harriers battle heat

Lakers take 2 firsts in jamboree

By DYLAN SAVELA, Manistee News Advocate Sports Writer
Published: Thursday, September 10, 2009 12:34 AM

CUSTER — Under the hot afternoon sun, Bear Lake runners continued to cross the finish line at Mason County Eastern, clocking good enough times for a first place finish in both the girls and boys races at Wednesday’s West Michigan D League jamboree.

But, Lakers coach Eric Ross was most impressed with something else. “The win and the times were secondary to the efforts they put out to finish this race today,” he said of the team’s resilience to push through Wednesday’s temperature. “Everybody was effected by the heat today, but I was so proud of the fact that they got through this, because any one of those kids could’ve or was able to quit, but none of them did. To me, that was the most important thing about today.”

“They did very well,” Ross said of the pair of Bear Lake wins. “Everybody ran a great race for how hot it was, and I was shocked to see they actually ran the times they did, because we have not seen this at all. I have no complaints, but I never complain with these kids anyway. They’re all hard workers.”

Chuck Schoedel led Bear Lake to a first place finish at Wednesday’s West Michigan D League jamboree at Mason County Eastern. (Dylan Savela/News Advocate)

The Lakers boys team took first with 25 points, topping Big Rapids Crossroads Charter Academy (52), MCE (70), Pentwater (143), and Walkerville (169).

While Big Rapids CCA’s Aaron Tait took the top spot overall with 18:14, the Lakers were led by Chuck Schoedel with his second place finish in 18:15.

Also for Bear Lake, Ryan Pienta took third in 18:50, Alex Ringel was fifth in 19:34, Danny Brown finished seventh in 19:58, Josh Goins was eighth in 20:02, Weston Brooks was ninth in 20:20, Tyler Groenwald finished 11th in 20:28, Lewis Bartlett was 13th in 20:41.3, Patrick Spalding finished 15th in 21:05, Bobby Myers took 18th in 21:35, Kyle Nettler was 23rd in 22:08, Stephen Verrett took 27th in 23:13, Justin Brown was 31st in 24:03, Parker Sternberger finished 33rd in 25:14, Roger Mullet took 36th in 27:29, and Braden Bowling was 37th in 27:30.

Jaylee Brown led Bear Lake girls to a first place finish at Wednesday’s West Michigan D League jamboree at Mason County Eastern. (Dylan Savela/News Advocate)

The Laker girls finished with 19 points atop MCE’s 58, Pentwater’s 65, and Walkerville’s 70.

Jaylee Brown led the way with a first place finish in the time of 21:40, but was more excited about how her team has handled the season thus far. “Our team is doing really good,” she said. “Everybody’s times are getting a lot better. You can just tell they’ve been working over the summer.”

Brown’s first place finish was followed up by a Bear Lake second and third place finish — Tobi Schoedel clocking in at 22:04 and Elizabeth Schoedel in 22:35.

Also for the Lakers, Yumi Babinec finished sixth in 25:15, Taylor Hagen was seventh in 26:07, Samantha Mullet was eighth in 26:23, Danielle Ward finished ninth in 26:41, and Taylor Anderson was 11th in 27:25.