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September 23, 2009

Gaylord calculates cross country win

Blue Devils take first BNC boys meet

BY DENNIS CHASE

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TRAVERSE CITY -- Jeff Kalember did the math and figured his Gaylord Blue Devils had finished second to Traverse City West in the first Big North Conference boys cross country meet of the season Tuesday.

But when the final results were tabulated, it was Gaylord on top, followed by the Titans.

"Miscalculated," Kalember explained.

Led by Jayden Hesselink -- the lone senior in the top seven -- Gaylord won its first ever boys race in the Big North, edging West 52-58.

"We had one guy up front, and then a good solid pack, which we haven't had in the past," Kalember said. "Our young kids came through. The future is bright."

It was the senior, though, who led the way.

"He's (Hesselink) improved every year," Kalember said. "This summer he ran 500 miles. He gave (Traverse City Central's Evan Cover) a good run for it today."

Cover won the race in 17:29. Hesselink was seven seconds back at 17:36.

As for Gaylord's underclassmen, junior Joe Jones took seventh (18:02), freshman Nate Fischer 11th (18:22), junior Bryan Slocum 13th (18:28), and sophomore Lucus Avenall, 19th (18:47).

West was paced by senior Sam Kosinski, who's in his first year of cross country. He placed fourth overall (17:54). Seb Kucera came in ninth (18:11), Jonah Laursen 14th (18:28), Matt Laylin 15th (18:30) and Ray Innis 16th (18:34).

"This is only our third race of the season," Titans coach Dan Zemper said. "These guys are just becoming racing fit. They're just getting started."

That can certainly be said of Kosinski, who was competing in just his third career race.

"I thought everyone ran well," Kosinski said. "We're starting to pick it up and I think we're going to keep improving."

Kosinski included.

"I feel like I could have done better," he said. "I'm still learning how to run. I felt I had too much left at the end."

Establishing a proper pace will be key for Kosinski, Zemper said.

"It's hard to do that," he said. "Every course is different. He doesn't know how to meter out his energy expenditure throughout the race yet because he's worried about going that distance. As he becomes more and more experienced, he'll become better at it."

Traverse City Central finished fourth with 78 points. Cover, though, was the day's individual star. He took the lead with just 600 meters to go.

"I don't like leading the pack," he said. "I like staying behind someone. I usually have a pretty good kick at the end."

James Padden was eighth (18:06), Caleb Thompson 12th (18:26), Drew Dancer 24th (19:02), and Adam Waggoner 33rd (19:53) for the Trojans.

Dancer was ill while Max Johnson was injured during the race.

"Today was not our day," Cover said.

Central coach John Lober said he thinks better days are ahead.

"We're going to be working hard to get our kids up there," he said. "Can we do it? Yeah, we can do it."

Lober sees a tight race developing in the league.

"Everybody had a couple runners in the top 10," he said. "It's really competitive."

Added Zemper: "It could be interesting as everyone gets their ducks in order as season moves on. It's going to be a good fight this year."

Kalember expects nothing less.

"We'll take this one, but I know in two weeks the Traverse City teams will be right there knocking at the door," he said.

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