Lakers take 3rd, 4th at Portage Invite

Chips place 10th, 28th in D3 races

PORTAGE — Saturday’s Portage Invitational served as a good measuring stick for the Manistee and Bear Lake cross country teams among their respective division foes.

The Laker girls placed third in the Division 4 race while their male counterparts finished fourth, and the shorthanded Chippewas placed 10th and 28th, respectively, in Division 3.

“It was obviously a pretty competitive meet,” said Bear Lake coach Tony Shrum. “We kind of look at it as a preview to the state finals, and overall we were really happy.

“Good splits between first and fifth runners on both sides, which is what we look for,” he added. “Now we’ve got to start working on the speed we’ll need to be more competitive at the state finals.”

The Bear Lake girls scored 119 points, short of just runner-up Breckenridge (103) and winner Pewamo-Westphalia (96) in the 21-team field.

Keena Gilbert paced the Lakers with a 17th-place time of 20:29 while McKaya Groenwald (21st, 20:51), Faith Moerdyk (23rd, 20:56), Kelly Babcock (41st, 21:42), and Alycia Peterson (43rd, 21:52) rounded out the team score. Alyson Fink (51st, 22:15) and Meredith Hengy (89th, 24:17) also ran.

The Laker boys scored 154 points behind Saugatuck (76), Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart (106), and Pewamo-Westphalia (118) in the 29-team field.

John Girven and Jordan Anderson led the way together, each finishing in 17:12, to take 13th and 14th. Bear Lake’s John Schoedel (38th, 18:08), Shane Peterson (49th, 18:23), and Cole Verrett (50th, 18:25) rounded out the team score while Jared Bair (68th, 18:53) and Michael Belinsky (73rd, 19:00) also ran.

 

In the Division 3 races, Manistee had a disappointing day, according to coach Craig Fuller.

“It was definitely a downer day when you’re hoping for a lot more in a big meet like that,” he said. “It wasn’t a slow course, it just seemed to run slower for us.”

The Chippewa girls scored 311 points in the 41-team race while Shepherd won with 85. The Manistee boys scored 659 among 38 teams while Benzie paced the field with 130.

Both the boys and girls were without typical top-five runners.

“We can’t afford that kind of stuff, and we got a good dose of it there,” Fuller said of being shorthanded due to injuries. “But, we still have to perform.”

Manistee’s Ashley Lindeman had the team’s top individual finish of the day with a fourth-place time of 19:03. Annie Fuller (14th, 19:38), Sophie Shriver (44th, 20:40), Natalee Kott (56th, 21:06), and Presley Petzak (198th, 24:05) rounded out the team score while Mallory Stefanski (199th, 24:08) and Alma Brinkman (221st, 24:53) also ran.

Bryce Cameron paced the Chippewa boys in 17:45, good for 72nd, while Will Shriver (113th, 18:22), Colin Bachinski (141st, 18:41), Austin Fancher (168th, 19:01, and Nick Bauman (197th, 19:26) rounded out the score. Kyle Schaubroeck (234th, 20:19) and Jacob Stefanski (261st, 21:16) also ran.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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