The Laker boys took first with a team score of 29.  (Kingsley was second with 72; GTA 3rd with 96;  McBain 4th with 133; and Lake Leelanau St Mary's 5th with 137)
 

 2 John Girven 17:20
 3 Jordan Anderson 17:55
 6 John Schoedel 18:00
 8 Shane Peterson 18: 20
10 Jared Bair 18:36
13 Cole Verrett 18:43
18 Michael Belinsky 19:14

The Laker girls took first with a team score of 59. (Traverse City St Francis was 2nd with 68; Hart 3rd with 74, GTA 4th with 94 and Lake LeeLanau 5th with 117.)

 
  6 Keena Gilbert 20:44
  7 McKaya Groenwald 21:03
 13 Faith Moerdyk 21:29
 15 Kelly Babcock 21:39
 18 Alyson Fink 21:56
 19 Alysia Peterson 22:01
 42 Meredith Hengy 24:35

Lakers sweep top spots at Manistee National Invitational

FILER TOWNSHIP — The handcrafted wooden trophies awarded at the Manistee National Invitational have an old image of a Bear Lake runner carved into them.

And as hosts of the annual race, the current Lakers made their mark by sweeping the top spots in the small-school division on Saturday.

“It’s something you’ve got to kind of do, win those (races) close to home,” said Bear Lake senior John Girven.

The Division 4 No. 6 Laker boys tallied 29 points to easily top the nine-team small-school division as Kingsley was second (72) and Grand Traverse Academy third (96) in the race on Manistee National’s Cutters’ Ridge. The top 25 individuals medaled and Bear Lake placed all eight boys in that group.

“The times weren’t there, but what are you going to do on a soggy course?” Girven said. “I think everyone was pretty satisfied.”

Girven was second in 17:20 while Jordan Anderson (third, 17:55), John Schoedel (sixth, 18:00), Shane Peterson (eighth, 18:20) and Jared Bair (10th, 18:36) rounded out the team score and Cole Verrett (13th, 18:43), Michael Belinsky (18th, 19:14) and Alex Barto (22nd, 19:20) also ran.

“We’re at the point in the season where times are important,” said Bear Lake coach Tony Shrum, “but on a day like today with the course being wet and spongy, times weren’t going to be that great, so it’s more about how did you run in comparison to your competition.”

Although the meet was scored according to school size, there was just one race for the varsity boys and another for the girls. So the Lakers were pushed by bigger schools like Benzie Central just a week before the regional meet.

“It’s more about the race itself and how you do against your competition and I thought today we competed really well against a lot of bigger schools,” Shrum said. “Obviously in our race we won, but (against the bigger schools) I thought they did really, really well.”

Bear Lake’s John Schoedel leads a pack of runners near the one-mile mark during Saturday’s Manistee National Invitational. (Matt Wenzel/News Advocate)

Bear Lake’s John Schoedel leads a pack of runners near the one-mile mark during Saturday’s Manistee National Invitational. (Matt Wenzel/News Advocate)

The No. 6 Bear Lake girls finished with 59 points to edge runner-up Traverse City St. Francis (68) while Hart took third (74) among nine scoring teams.

“It helps a lot with the competition,” said Bear Lake’s Keena Gilbert. “I think our team is looking really good and we’re going to go in strong to regionals, I’m hoping.”

Gilbert (sixth, 20:44), McKaya Groenwald (seventh, 21:03), Faith Moerdyk (13th, 21:29), Kelly Babcok (15th, 21:29) and Alyson Fink (18th, 21:56) completed the Lakers’ score while Alycia Peterson (19th, 22:01) and Meredith Hengy (42nd, 24:35) also ran.

“The focus on the girls right now is they want to be as competitive at the state finals this year as they were a year ago, if not better,” Shrum said of the team that took second last year. “What we’ve got to do is tighten up from (Nos.) 1 to 5 and work on those splits. The goal today was to get everybody within a minute of each other.”

Brethren had just two varsity runners Saturday as Josh Riggs took 41st in 20:56 and Aspen Robak placed 63rd in 28:52.

“Between injuries and everything else, we’re down to two runners,” said Brethren coach Andy Robak, “but they both ran a good, solid race and we’re ready for next week, I think.”

Visit the News Advocate photo gallery for more
 photos from this story.

~Cross Country   (co-op with Bear Lake)~Football -Varsity (co-op with Bear Lake)
~Football - JV  (co-op with Bear Lake)
~Middle School Football (co-op with Bear Lake)
~Pop Warner Football (co-op with Bear Lake)

~Elementary Sports at Onekama Fall 2013
~High School Sports at Onekama Fall 2013
~Middle School Sports Fall 2013
~Article posted by News Advocate
~Photos by Jackie Moerdyk unless otherwise indicated

www.onekama.k12.mi.us Serving Onekama School since 1997