Traverse City Record-Eagle

Cross Country

October 7, 2009

XC Roundup: Titans, Trojans win jamboree

FROM STAFF REPORTS

PETOSKEY -- It was Traverse City's day.

Traverse City West, led by Sebby Kucera, moved into a tie for first in the Big North Conference boys cross country race by winning the second jamboree of the fall Tuesday.

Traverse City Central, without two of its top runners, had the depth to claim its second consecutive girls race.

West won the boys race with 34 points. Gaylord, which is tied with the Titans atop the standings, was second with 56 while Petoskey had 82 for third. TC Central was fifth with 97.

Kucera won the meet in 17:14 while Sam Kosinski was third (17:19), Jonah Laursen fourth (17:25), Matt Laylin eighth (17:39) and Hunter Swogger 18th (18:19).

"We had a number of guys come out and execute," Titans coach Dan Zemper said. "They did exactly what we had planned."

Cadillac's Ryan Hearth was second in 17:17.

Traverse City Central, minus three of its top runners, finished fifth with 97 points. For the Trojans, Drew Dancer placed fifth (17:29), James Padden ninth (17:40), John Miller 18th (18:35), Alan Jacobson 28th (18:47) and Joe Friedli 31st (19:10).

Among the Trojans not running -- Evan Cover, who won the first league jamboree.

"We're battling injuries," Central coach John Lober said. "It's a little frustrating."

In the girls race, Central was missing two of its top runners to illness, but the Trojans still had the firepower to win with 37 points. West and Alpena each had 59, but the Titans won the tiebreaker for second.

Julia Otwell and Sam Ehle led Central, finishing second (19:34) and third (19:50). Jessica Krantz came in eighth (20:47), Maria Lyons 11th (21:04) and Hannah DeBortoli 13th (21:26).

Central coach Lisa Taylor held Katie Perkins and Maren Bahra out of the race.

"Fortunately, we have strong depth we can rely on," she said. "That's good for the future of our program."

West was powered by Marcy Marek, who finished fifth (20:09). Hannah Rickard placed seventh (20:46), Rachael Savela ninth (20:58), Kaylee VanDommelen 12th (21:23) and Aria Jelinek 26th (22:11).

Alpena's Taylor Stepanski won the race in 19:28.

Central had four of the top five runners in the JV race. Finishing second through fifth were Kailey Matarella (22:01), Abby Woughter (22:04), Alyssa Padden (22:10) and Molly Tompkins (22:20).

Benzie sweeps league meet at Frankfort

Benzie Central's girls placed eight runners in the top 10 for a first-place showing at Frankfort's Northwest Conference jamboree.

The Huskies had 15 points, followed by Kingsley with 65 and Leland with 125.

Michaela Carnegie (19:57), Taylor Nye (19:59), Miraka Grabowski (20)30), Miranda Besey (20:44), AMber Peabody (20:48) and Jill Lousignau (21:06) took the top six spots for Benzie. Frankfort's Keeton Spencley was seventh, Benzie's Kelsey Noah was eighth (21:27) while Kingley took nine and 10 with Kirstin Volkening and Samantha Krause.

The Stags also had Alexis Keena 16th, Alex McNair 17th and Katie Bembeneck 20th.

In the boys meet, Benzie won with 20 points. Suttons Bay was second and Kingsley took third with 78.

Ben Wynsma (17:05) won the meet for the Norse.

Benzie's Rick Jones (17:13), William Huddleston (17:15), Tom Smeltzer (17:20), Robert Kirby (17:23), David Rhodes (17:29), Talon Morris (17:17:33), Travis Clous (17:43) and Nick Radionoff (18:10) had top 10 finishes.

Kingsley's Conor Goggin was ninth, Rachi Sims was 13th, Ben Simpson 15th, Jake Lidak 18th and Ryan French 23rd.

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