That senior leadership is going to be hard to find for co-op Lakers, who are relying heavily on youth.
Ten of Bear Lake’s 13 varsity runners Saturday are underclassmen, including six freshmen.
“We’re just a really young team this year,” Groenwald said. “We’re just slowly working into it, getting up to speed and we’ll and go from there.”
For a youthful bunch, the Lakers did well in their second race of the season as the girls took sixth and the boys seventh in the small-school division. Three of the six teams that finished ahead of the boys and one squad that beat the girls are Division 3. Bear Lake is Division 4.
The Bear Lake girls finished with 165 points while North Muskegon won (28), Grand Traverse Academy was second (62) and Traverse City St. Francis third (99).
“I thought all the girls ran good times today,” said Bear Lake coach Eric Ross. “They all improved dramatically.”
Freshman Keena Gilbert led the way with a 15th-place finish in 21:20, while freshman McKaya Groenwald (20th, 21:53) and sophomore Kelly Babcock (28th, 22:42) also medaled. Freshman Meredith Hengy (54th, 24:05), freshman Alyson Fink (89th, 26:10) and junior Taylor Anderson (101st, 26:54) rounded out the team.
Article posted by
Matt Wenzel
Manistee News Advocate