Chips 2nd, 3rd in Grabowski Invite

Bear Lake boys, girls finish fourth

Matt Wenzel, Manistee News Advocate
MANISTEE — As a regional competitor later this month, Mason County Central presents a challenge for Manistee.

The Chippewas found out just how tough the task will be on Thursday in the Chris Grabowkski Invitational as both the boys and girls finished behind the Spartans.

The Mason County Central boys took first with 22 points, Manistee was second with 60, Hart third with 73 and Bear Lake fourth with 112 in the seven-team field.

“The main thing we wanted to see is we hadn’t directly raced against Scottville this year and they’re in our regional. And, now I’m pretty certain they’re going to win our regional,” Manistee coach Eric Thuemmel said of the boys. “I think Scottville is one of the most underrated teams in the state.”

The MCC girls lost a sixth-runner tiebreaker to Traverse City St. Francis to finish second with 53 points while Manistee, paced by a first-place finish by Annie Fuller, was third with 72 and Bear Lake was fourth among six teams with 86.

“It’s about what I thought, it’s going to be really tough to beat Mason County Central at regionals in two weeks,” Thuemmel said of the girls. “Our three, four and five girls are a little slower than they have been, but with the right competition … I think we still have a shot at the state finals for the girls.”

Fuller eclipsed a personal-best time on her home course by finishing in 19:07, 12 seconds off the course record set by 2012 graduate Kelly Schubert.

“I was feeling good at the mile so I just decided to take it out,” Fuller said. “I kind of ran pretty evenly, like a six-minute pace.”

Manistee freshman Ashley Lindeman was third with a time of 20:11, which Thuemmel said was just a second off of Fuller’s freshman record time last season.

“Annie did fantastic,” Thuemmel said, “and Ashley Lindeman, I thought, had a spectacular race.”

Rounding out the score for Manistee was Sophie Shriver (15th, 22:16), Kelsey Harrigan (28th, 23:37) and Courtney Stefanski (30th, 23:51).

“They just put too many people ahead of our number four and five runners,” Thuemmel said. “It was just too big of a crowd after that and it hurt us.”

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The Bear Lake girls were without top runner Keena Gilbert and were paced by Faith Moerdyk, who finished 12th in 22:11, followed by teammates Kelly Babcock (16th, 22:21), McKaya Groenwald (17th, 22:27), Taylor Anderson (27th, 23:24) and Meredith Hengy (35th, 24:21).

“They did well; they did just what we were expecting them to do,” Bear Lake coach Tony Shrum said of his runners. “It was a training run today so the goal was to run negative splits — so run slower the first mile, harder the middle mile and faster the third mile. It’s a different type of race for most of them, but overall I’m happy with it.”

Manistee’s Austin Minx (left) and Bear Lake’s Alex Barto approach the finish line during Thursday’s Chris Grabowski Invitational. (Matt Wenzel/News Advocate)

MCC’s Chase Barnett finished in 17:01 to win the boys race by 23 seconds while Manistee was led by Jarret Deisch (seventh, 18:05) and Jon Bailey (eighth, 18:14).

“I was a little disappointed that our top guys weren’t right there with MCC’s number three and four,” Thuemmel said, “but I think it will be a little bit closer once we get to the regional meet.”

Bryce Cameron (11th, 18:28), Nick Veine (14th, 18:36) and Austin Fancher (26th, 19:24) rounded out Manistee’s score.

“Once again, we’re struggling at that fifth runner position,” Thuemmel said. “It’s been bouncing around. … We’re just going to need someone to step up there … because our top four are pretty solid.”

Bear Lake was led by John Girven (18th, 19:00), followed by Shane Peterson (21st, 19:15), Jordan Anderson (22nd, 19:16), Cole Verrett (30th, 19:39) and John Schoedel (32nd, 19:42).

“We’re going from strength to speed,” Girven said, “and I think this was a good workout today.”

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