INTERLOCHEN — Temperatures might have had the chill of late autumn, but the Traverse City West Titans were as hot as the middle of July at the inaugural TC West Titan Takeoff at Memorial Park in Green Lake Township on Saturday.
The Titans took 11 of the top 12 spots in the girls division, including the top six, to win with the minimum possible 15 points.
West junior Abby Veit won the individual championship with a time of 18:45.45. She was followed by fellow Titans Tessa Mascari (18:55.22), Bailey Wenzlick (19:34.89), Bridget Raven (19:55.81), Reese Smith (20:05.86) and Alyssa Fouchey (20:12.18).
Lake City’s Megan Gottschall broke up the run of Titans by taking seventh place with a 20:16.98 to lead the Trojans to a runner-up team finish.
After Gottschall, the Titans took back over the individual standings with Peyton Tucker in eighth (20:28.62), Leighton Basile in ninth (20:58.96), Ava Zeratsky in 10th (21:07.8), Olivia Reading in 11th (21:10.79) and Grace Finch in 12th (21:25.05).
Traverse City Central finished third overall in the girls division, led by junior Ani Free (14th, 22:01.52).
The West boys were slightly less dominant than the Titan girls. Only slightly.
The Titans took the top four spots and eight of the top 12, winning with 19 points.
After setting his personal best (15:46.6) at the Pete Moss Invitational, West sophomore Liam Wierzba won the Titan Takeoff with a time of 16:13.9.
Hayden Murray took second at 16:42.6 and was followed by teammates Aidan Simrau in third at 16:47.27 and Austin Taft in fourth at 17:31.97 to give the Titans a big advantage.
Just like Gottschall, Lake City’s Caiden Helsel ended the string of Titans by finishing in fifth place at 17:33.71.
Traverse City Central took the next three spots, securing the Trojans a second-place team finish with 48 points.
Miles Kirkwood finished sixth in 17:36.13 and was closely followed by Jackson Andrew Shev in seventh at 17:36.29 and then Evan Fox in eighth at 17:45.25.
The Titans got back on the board with Joseph Sturtevant in ninth (17:47.42), Cooper Roster in 10th (17:58.39), Porter Kowalski in 11th (18:02.23) and Declan Shoemaker in 12th (18:03.98).
St. Francis wins Buckley Bear Country Invitational
BUCKLEY — The Traverse City St. Francis Gladiators are not content to be complacent. That showed Saturday as they won both the boys and girls overall titles at Buckley’s Bear Country Invitational.
The Gladiators won the boys division with 31 points with Glen Lake taking third (79), Mesick fourth (135), Grand Traverse Academy fifth (138), Bear Lake-Onekama sixth (148), Mancelona seventh (186), Lake Leelanau St. Mary eighth (193) and Traverse City Christian ninth (237).
After setting the school record at Benzie Central’s Pete Moss Invite, Josh Slocum did it again with a record-breaking time of 15:20.34 to win the individual crown of the boys race.
Fellow Gladiators William Ready (4th, 15:46.52), Robby Myler (7th, 16:08.31), Owen Read (9th, 16:13.06) and Riley Pattinson (10th, 16:28.46) helped guide St. Francis to the team win. Ready’s time is now second in the St. Francis record books.
Other area runners in the top 10 of the boys race were BL-O’s Mason Sinke (3rd, 15:43.07), Mesick’s Kyle Redman (5th, 15:52.47) and Ty Redman (8th, 16:10.4), and Glen Lake’s Colebrook Sutherland (6th, 16:01.12).
For the host Bears, Tamrak McEachern set a Buckley freshman record, finishing 32nd with an 18:42.16.
St. Francis won the girls championship with 26 points and had all five scoring runners finish in the top nine.
GT Academy was second with 72 points followed by Buckley with 83, Glen Lake with 97 and BL-O with 119.
Betsy Skendzel set a personal best and won the individual title with a time of 17:47.8 for St. Francis, besting the runner-up — Leland’s Ella Knudsen — by nearly two full minutes.
The senior Gladiator was joined in the top 10 by teammates Emily Dunphy (5th, 20:14.36), Molly Kate Hollandsworth (7th, 20:39.18), Paige Ritchie (8th, 20:41.67) and Emma Kerr (9th, 20:51.88).
Knudsen took second in 19:39.12, and the rest of the top 10 was rounded out by BL-O’s Addy Zeller (3rd, 19:56.53), GT Academy’s Amelia McKinney (4th, 20:04.05) and Addison Patrzik (10th, 20:52.48), and Glen Lake’s Carmella Julian (6th, 20:18.41).
The Buckley girls were led by Leire Mahiques with a time of 21:24.43 followed by Mikayla Kulawiak at 21:40.52. Rounding out the Bears’ top five were Kinsey Peer (21:40.78), Kaylee Swanson (22:36.38) and Addisen Harrand (23:36.38).
Rayders, Ramblers, Rams win at annual Charlevoix Mud Run
CHARLEVOIX — Rainy weather Friday added to the sloppiness of the Charlevoix Mud Run as runners embraced the fun of the annual race Saturday that serves as an unofficial kickoff to the cross country season.
The host Rayders won the boys team title in the large division while Boyne City took the girls championship. Harbor Springs captured both team crowns in the small division, although no runner from either of those three schools took first place in the individual standings.
The only area runner to take first was East Jordan’s Austin Sneed in the small division boys race. Sneed ran a 17:19.79, besting runner-up Grant Corlew of Harbor Springs by just under five seconds (17:24.72).
Other area runners in the top 10 of that race were Harbor Springs Henry Kruzel (4th, 18:03.94), Teddy Krieger (5th, 18:04.93) and Max Vroman (7th, 18:33.42), Petoskey St. Michael’s Atticus Cadarette (6th, 18:21.65) as well as East Jordan’s Jacob Chamberlain (8th, 18:52.86) and Jayden Dunnebeck (10th, 18:57.33).
In the small division girls race, the champion Rams took six of the top 10 spots as Stefi Reskevics (2nd, 20:13.35), Sophia Balistreri (3rd, 21:26.79), Juniper Rodham (4th, 21:34.13), Fran Warren (5th, 21:34.13), Tara Shouldice (6th, 22:07.55) and McKenzie Bowan (10th, 23:07.22) carried Harbor Springs to the win.
East Jordan’s Elke Knauf (8th, 22:32.23) and Ellsworth’s Ruby Pletcher (9th, 23:06.38) were the other area runners in the top 10.
Area runners in the top 10 of the large division boys race were Charlevoix’s Hunter Eaton (2nd, 16:33.19), Matthew Solomon (4th, 16:59.02), Ryder Hopkins (5th, 17:00), David Dhaseleer (7th, 17:49.38) and Jacob Veurink (8th, 18:15.34), Elk Rapids’ Qwynn Darnell (6th, 17:20.23), Grayling’s Tristan Demlow (18:17.41) and Kalkaska’s Owen McGlone (18:22.02).
Grayling’s Nico Triebold (2nd, 20:59.39) was the top area finisher in the large division girls race followed by Elk Rapids’ Hunter Shellenbarger (3rd, 20:59.44), Boyne City’s Hailee Bertels (4th, 21:17.55) and Delaney Little (5th, 21:32.3), Charlevoix’s Maya Rohrer (6th, 21:35.94) and Rachel Dhaseleer (8th, 21:48.56), Grayling’s Tierney Hartman (9th, 22:26.15) and Boyne City’s Cambrynne Giem (10th, 22:29.46).
Forest Area takes 3rd at Marion Steeplechase
MARION — The Forest Area boys and girls cross country teams both finished third in the 2-mile race at Saturday’s Marion Steeplechase.
In the boys division, Brody Naeyhart (8th, 18:58.2) and Cameron Haynes (9th, 19:03.61) finished in the top 10 for Forest Area.
The lone top-10 finisher for Forest Area in the girls 2-mile race was senior Autumn Debarr, taking 10th in 30:35.77.
Gaylord’s Berkshire 2nd, Petoskey boys 4th at Northwood Invite
MIDLAND — Katie Berkshire came into Saturday’s Northwood Invite two for two in her junior cross country season. Although she didn’t win Saturday, Berkshire set a personal-record time of 18:04.5 in her second-place finish.
Ava Pawlick was Petoskey’s top finisher, running a 20:25.3 for 13th place.
In the boys division, Petoskey took fourth place overall with 110 points to champion Midland’s 62.
Reeve Olberman led the Northmen with a seventh-place finish, running a 16:23.7. Zahar Rush was 12th in 16:56.1, and Parker Fettig took 14th at 17:00.1 to help Petoskey.
Gaylord’s top runner was Caleb Lamblin in 59th at 18:31.8.
McBain freshman Caelyn Torry wins Windmill Invite
BRECKENRIDGE — Caelyn Torry enjoyed a nice Saturday morning run as the McBain freshman won the Trent Carter Breckenridge Windmill Invite.
Torry ran a 19:25.3, nearly 20 seconds better than the runner-up, as she led the Ramblers to a second-place team finish.
Kayden Hinton (4th, 21:12.5) and Chelsi Eisenga (6th, 21:59.97) also finished in the top 10 for McBain.
The Ramblers took fourth overall in the boys division, led by sophomore Braydn Winkel (6th, 18:49.25).