EAST JORDAN — The Traverse City St. Francis Gladiators brought out the brooms Saturday as they swept the Division 3 cross country regional at East Jordan.
St. Francis won both the boys and girls regional championships, anchored by Josh Slocum and Betsy Skendzel capturing individual titles for a 4-for-4 day on the race course.
”Very proud,” said St. Francis head coach Julie Duffing, adding that she believes Saturday marked the first time in program history that the Gladiators won all four regional championships on the same day. “We have just been blessed. This is just a great group of kids.”
Following up in their state title last season, the St. Francis boys won with 22 points, qualifying the full roster for the state championship finals at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn in Saturday, Nov. 2.
”Our goal was 18 points, but I’ll take 22,” Duffing said. “It was a fun day.”
St. Francis had six of the top eight finishers in the boys division. Slocum led in first with a 15:46.41 followed by William Ready in third at 16:04.82, Robby Myler in fifth at 16:07.27, Owen Read in sixth at 16:11.59, Riley Pattinson in seventh at 16:13.38, and Lewis Walter in eighth at 16:32.63.
”We have to go out and run our races,” Duffing said. “Watching that pack of Glads run today, it was so cool. If the boys can pack together next week, I think we have a really good opportunity to repeat.”
The win was Slocum’s third of the season. He credits his spectacular senior season to his training regimen during the summer.
”The past summers have been rocky for me with injuries, but I was injury free this entire summer and that felt really good,” Slocum said.
Charlevoix, led by Hunter Eaton in second (15:52.72) and Matthew Solomon in fourth (16:06.49), took second with 45 points and will send its full squad to the finals as well. Qualifying as individuals were Elk Rapids’s Qwynn Darnell, Boyne City’s Isaac Dionne and Finn Parish, and Grayling’s Tristan Demlow and Liam Mahaffy.
”We were pretty confident that we could come in today and win it,” Duffing said. “So today was about this being a really fast PR course. If you want to PR, today’s the day to do it.”
Four St. Francis boys and six Gladiator girls took advantage and set their personal bests Saturday.
”Our team went through our rough patch in some of our bigger races, but it’s nice for us to finally have everything click and to run good as a team,” Slocum said. “It’s just the culmination of all the work we’ve put in over the summer.”
The Gladiator girls tallied 29 points in the win, led by Skendzel at 17:46.84 and Molly Kate Hollandsworth in second at 19:12.45.
”I felt pretty good and didn’t want anyone between Betsy and I,” Hollandsworth said.
The Glads had six in the top 14 with Emily Dunphy in seventh at 19:58.47, Emma Kerr in 11th at 20:17.34, Stella Houdek in 13th at 20:24.02, and Paige Ritchie in 14th at 20:34.23.
”The girls were a wall today,” Duffing said. “They went out and did it for each other.”
Clare was runner-up with 65 points, and Boyne City took third with 118 to qualify its full team for the finals.
Individual qualifiers in the girls race were Grayling’s Nico Triebold, Elk Rapids’ Hunter Shellenbarger and Anna Pray, Charlevoix’s Maya Rohrer, and Kalkaska’s Kylee Jenkins.
The regional title for the St. Francis girls is the program’s 10th in a row, and Betsy Skendzel won her third consecutive regional championship — setting a personal-record time in the process.
”Today’s race made us feel more hopeful as a team,” Skendzel said. “We are looking forward to racing well next week at the state meet.”
For the Gladiator boys, the regional win is their sixth straight.
”This senior group of boys, when you go back and look at their freshman time, you kind of giggle,” Duffing said, referring to just how much they have improved throughout the last four seasons. “You never would have thought they’d be in the hunt for their second state championship in a row. This group of boys, I’m going to miss them next year.”
The Gladiator girls won the state championship in 2022 and took second last season while they boys won a state title last season and were runner-up in 2022.
”This has been three solid years of both teams doing so well,” Duffing said. “They work hard and follow directions. But most important, they trust us to get them there. We’ve been training for 19 weeks, from summer training on. We talked in the first week that it’s 21 weeks to Brooklyn.”
Duffing said the team is aware of the expectations to win two state championships this coming Saturday
”They know,” Duffing said. “We’ve really tried all season not to put pressure on them, but we talked all season about not being complacent. ‘You’re good. You’re a really good team, but we want to make you great. It’s on you guys to be great.’”
Slocum is excited at the prospect of being back-to-back state champions.
”We’re really pumped,” he said. “It’s cool to see us as we’ve risen as a team and become one of the top teams in Michigan. Hopefully we can close it out well.”
CROSS COUNTRY REGIONALS
Freshman Sinke leads Bear Lake-Onekama to regional title
BENZONIA — Callie Sinke put together a tremendous Saturday as the freshman runner lead Bear Lake-Onekama to a Division 4 regional championship with a first-place finish.
Sinke ran an 18:52.91 at Benzie Central to capture an individual regional title as the BL-O co-op finished with 61 points to qualify for the state finals at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn on Saturday, Nov. 2.
Grand Traverse Academy and Buckley also qualified as full teams. The Mustangs tallied 69 points, led by Amelia McKinney in second place with a 19:34.3. The Bears were third with 77 points, paced by Kinsey Peer in 10th place at 20:40.
Joining Sinke in the win were Addy Zeller (5th, 20:02.65), Melodie Hulinek (8th, 20:21.01), Natalie Brown (25th, 22:18.7) and Peyton Buckner (33rd, 23:12.94).
Scoring for GT Academy along with McKinney were Madison Smith (13th, 21:12.45), Addison Patrzik (14th, 21:16.04), Shenoah Collier (20th, 21:50.28) and Maria Schwerin (28th, 22:34.18).
Peer was joined in the third-place finish by Leire Mahiques (11th, 21:04.68), Mikayla Kulawiak (17th, 21:31.82), Addisen Harrand (21:44.61) and Kaylee Swanson (31st, 22:54.97) as the Bears’ scoring runners on the day.
Qualifying as individuals for the state finals were Glen Lake’s Carmella Julian, Frankfort’s Addison Jarosz, Leland’s Ella Knudsen and fellow Comets Sophie Grinage and Natalie Burpee, and Lake Leelanau St. Mary’s Claire Couturier.
In the boys division, Glen Lake tied Mason County Eastern for first place with 55 points, but MCE’s sixth runner finished ahead of the Lakers’ sixth runner to earn the tiebreaker and win the regional championship.
Glen Lake still qualified as a team along with third-place Leland, which scored 90 points.
Colebrook Sutherland led the Lakers, running a 15:52.55 for second place. Scoring along with Sutherland were Abraham Feeney (5th, 16:29.66), Liam McCaw (8th, 16:51.65), Lincoln Bailey (18th, 17:40.11) and Britton Wheeler (30th, 18:16.3).
Carter Suttmann anchored the third-place Comets, placing ninth in 16:55.36. Also scoring for Leland were Christopher Knudsen (19th, 17:41.25), Brady Keen (22nd, 17:46.85), Campbell Fedderman (25th, 18:03.94) and Evan Keen (26th, 18:05.64).
Individual qualifiers were Mesick’s Kyle Redman and Ty Redman, BL-O’s Mason Sinke, Frankfort’s Owen Jarosz and Keith Crompton, GT Academy’s Beckett Dennis and Parker Rubin, and Buckley’s Matthew Bentley.
Harbor Springs wins dual championships
Boys state qualifying teams: Harbor Springs, Petoskey St. Michael, Ellsworth
Harbor Springs: 4. Grant Corlew, 16:49.07; 5. Teddy Krieger, 16:55.65; 13. Adam Ferguson, 17:21.42; 15. Henry Kruzel, 17:22.29; 17. Max Vroman, 17:42.92.
St. Michael: 1. Cody Bradley, 16:01.19; 7. Atticus Cadarette, 17:01.73; 12. Russell Vandermus, 17:19.76; 26. Cole Wesley, 18:50.94; 32. Cooper Feagan , 19:25.45.
Ellsworth: 6. Khadar Jama, 16:59.81; 19. Cole Abney, 18:03.37; 22. Zander Chellis, 18:16.03; 37. Roman Windish, 19:54.83; 52. Andrew Michanowicz, 21:31.47.
Boys individual state qualifiers: 2. Austin Sneed (East Jordan) 16:23.48; 3. Jeremiah Witt (Johannesburg-Lewiston) 16:36.89.
Girls state qualifying teams: Harbor Springs, Ellsworth
Harbor Springs: 3. Stefi Reskevics, 18:58.89; 7. Juniper Rodham, 20:27.70; 9. McKenzie Bowman, 20:40.85; 10. Fran Warren, 20:44.64; 11. Sophia Balistreri, 20:56.06.
Ellsworth: 4. Ruby Pletcher, 19:54.54; 17. Natalie Fitzgerald, 21:50.96; 25. Ella Sponable, 23:19.39; 26. Mackenzie Oeder, 23:21.39; 27. Bailey Hibbard, 23:22.37.
Girls individual state qualifiers: 1. Allie Nowak (Joburg) 18:05.16; 2. Jane Manthei (St. Michael) 18:45.44; 5. Harlie Fox (Joburg) 20:00.95; 8. Danielle Agren (Joburg) 20:37.46; 13. Elke Knauf (East Jordan) 20:56.69; 14. Elizabeth Furman (Inland Lakes) 20:59.68; 15. Veronica Paga (St. Michael) 21:02.52.
FOOTBALL
Benzie Central 20
Cheboygan 0
Benzie Central: Rowan Zickert 85-yard kickoff return TD, 4-yard TD run; Huskies fumble recovery TD. Zickert 7-15 passing, 48 yards, 15 carries, 36 yards, TD; Conner Wenkel 2 catches 26 yards; Parker Pritchett 11 tackles.
UP NEXT: The Huskies end the regular season at 3-6.
8-PLAYER FOOTBALL
Suttons Bay 1
Engadine 0
Suttons Bay: Win via forfeit.
UP NEXT: The Norsemen end the regular season at 6-3.
VOLLEYBALL
Titans compete at East West Challenge
Results: Traverse City West split with Lake Orion 25-18, 15-25; lost to Mercy 19-25, 20-25; def. Portage Northern 25-16, 25-16; def. Lowell 25-23, 22-25, 15-13; lost to Mercy 10-25, 21-25.
TC West: Madeline Bildeaux 21 blocks, 26 kills, 8 digs; Emma Flick 53 digs; Eleanor Kinsey 49 assists, 19 digs; Abella Gallagher 31 assists; Emily Kelsey 26 kills, 23 digs; Judy Steffens 18 kills, 12 digs; Olivia Kandow 17 kills, 7 blocks; Kendall Sierzputowski 7 aces, 8 digs.
UP NEXT: The Titans (24-10) travel to Gaylord on Wednesday.
Boyne City Invitational
Results: Bellaire lost to Sault Area 22-5, 20-25; def. Forest Area 25-17, 25-17; split with Harbor Springs 23-25, 25-23; lost to Clare 15-25, 17-25.
Bellaire: Addy Patton 2 aces, 15 digs, 28 assists; Brooklyn Fischer 3 aces, 17 digs, 12 kills, 2 blocks; Abi Yuhaus 3 aces, 16 digs, 7 kills; Tatum Molski 8 aces, 15 digs, 4 kills; Madi DePew 10 digs, 9 kills; Alayna Elandt 2 aces, 32 digs; Brooklynn Stevens 2 aces, 42 digs.
UP NEXT: The Eagles (21-9-4) head to Mancelona for the Battle of M-88 on Wednesday.
Sabres win Leland Invitational
Results: Traverse City Christian def. Lake Leelanau St. Mary 25-23, 25-23; TC Christian def. Leland 25-21, 25-15; St. Mary def. TC Christian 16-25, 25-23, 15-12. St. Mary def. Leland 19-25, 25-19, 15-9; St. Mary def. Suttons Bay 25-22, 25-27, 15-12; Leland def. Suttons Bay 12-25, 25-23, 15-13; Leland def. Suttons Bay 25-20, 25-22.
Lake Leelanau St. Mary: Cathryn Mikowski 24 kills, 33 digs, 3 aces, 1 block; Kyla Barnowski 23 kills, 33 digs, 15 aces, 1 block; Maggie Ursu 13 kills, 30 digs, 5 aces; Lydia Bramer 58 assists, 3 kills, 24 digs, 3 aces, 3 blocks; Mackenzie Schaub 5 kills, 9 digs, 3 aces, 2 blocks; Daisy Serrano 18 digs, 6 aces.
UP NEXT: The Sabres (16-18-2) plat at Kalkaska on Monday. The Eagles (24-14-3) travel to Grand Traverse Academy on Tuesday. The Norse (15-10) host Bear Lake on Tuesday. The Comets (8-22-2) host Traverse City Central, Traverse City St. Francis and Kingsley for the ABCD Quad on Monday.