Bear Lake junior John Girven won a Division 4 regional title on
Saturday at Benzie Central, finishing in 16:45. (Matt Wenzel/News
Advocate)
Posted by Matt Wenzel, Manistee News Advocate on-line
BENZONIA — John Girven wasn’t even born the last time the
Bear Lake boys didn’t qualify for the state finals.
And, the Lakers’ legacy isn’t lost on the 16-year-old
junior.
“You hear it all the time,” he said. “The tradition is to
get to state. You can’t be the one who breaks the streak.”
The current Lakers clearly had no intention of doing so
as Bear Lake won a Division 4 regional title on Saturday at Benzie
Central, making it 17 straight years the Lakers will run in the state
finals at Michigan International Speedway.
“Our team was amazing,” said Girven, who added an
individual regional title medal to his varsity jacket. “I can’t believe
how well everyone did.”
Not to be outdone, the Bear Lake girls won a regional
title of their own.
“They exceeded my expectations again,” said first-year
Bear Lake coach Tony Shrum. “They seem to do it every race.”
Individually, all 10 Lakers who factored into team scores
medaled and all 14 who ran set personal records.
“Just when I think they can’t make me any prouder,” Shrum
said, “they go out and run like this.”
The Bear Lake boys rolled to the title by finishing with
41 points, well ahead of runner-up Traverse City St. Francis, which won
a sixth-runner tiebreaker with Grand Traverse Academy after both totaled
85 points.
Girven, who took over as the team’s No. 1 runner this
season, doesn’t recall what place he finished in last season, but won’t
have trouble remembering his race on Saturday.
“I never even really thought I could do it,” Girven said
of winning a regional title.
Girven passed Mesick’s Zack Workman around the one-mile
mark and stayed ahead the rest of the way.
“I wasn’t sure where I was after the first mile, then I
heard my time and I knew I was right on track so I just kept going and
kept listening to the times and kept pushing it and tried not to think
about the guy behind me,” he said.
After being the first to cross the finish line in 16:45,
Girven collapsed in a heap.
“The last corner over here I was wobbling and I really
didn’t have much left,” he said. “I didn’t want to have anything left at
the end.”
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Jordan Anderson (fifth, 17:18), John Michael Schoedel
(eighth, 17:28), Alex Barto (12th, 17:38) and Shane Peterson (15th,
17:42) rounded out the team score while Jared Bair (22nd, 18:16) and
Cole Verrett (25th, 18:21) also ran for the Lakers.
The Bear Lake girls had a closer race than the boys, but
still edged TCSF 34-46.
“It was an awesome feeling,” said Jordan Anderson, the
team’s lone senior. “We’ve been working for this all year.”
Bear Lake sophomore Keena Gilbert finished second overall
in 19:36, more than a minute behind winner Holly Bullough of Traverse
City St. Francis.
“I think I did good,” Gilbert said. “I tried to pace
myself with her a little bit. I knew she was a lot faster, but just
tried to stay with her, kind of.”
Faith Moerdyk (fifth, 19:52), Kelly Babcock (11th,
20:10), McKaya Groenwald (12th, 20:22) and Alycia Peterson (18th, 20:37)
rounded out the score while Anderson (20th, 20:47) and Meredith Hengy
(32nd, 22:07) also ran for the Lakers.
Shrum summed up his team’s effort using Schoedel as an
example
“He asked me what I wanted him to run,” Shrum recalled of
a Friday conversation. “I said just go out and run your best race and
that’s all I ask. He sent me a message later and said, ‘I need a goal, I
need a goal, I can’t sleep tonight. You’ve got to give me a goal.’ So I
sent him a message back and gave him his goal for the day.”
Shrum said he had three for the junior. First, for the
team to win, second for Schoedel to run 17:45 or faster and third for
him to finish in the top 15.
Schoedel met all three marks and the Lakers did precisely
what they wanted to do.
“Fantastic,” Shrum said. “I think they’re more than
motivated for next week, especially after this performance.”
Brethren didn’t have enough runners to post a team score
in either race, but just revived its program this season.
“I’m just really excited for next year,” said Brethren
coach Andy Robak. “We’re going to have something to build on. My last
practice, I actually had four or five kids inquire about how to get on
the team for next year. Things are really looking up for us.”
Freshman Josh Riggs, the lone boy, finished his first
regional 48th in 20:04 while Chloee Janssen (63rd, 25:26), Haley Tighe
(64th, 25:29) and Aspen Robak (74th, 28:46) ran for the girls.
Tighe is the lone senior for the Bobcats while the rest
are underclassmen.
“The kids on the team just had a wonderful experience and
word is getting around the school,” Robak said. “I know I’ll have a
bigger team next year.”
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