Traverse City Record-Eagle

Cross Country

October 21, 2009

Hesselink sparks Blue Devils to league title

FROM STAFF REPORTS

GAYLORD -- Practice makes prefect?

Well, it did for Jeff Kalember and his Gaylord Blue Devils on Tuesday.

Gaylord won its first Big North Conference boys cross country title, beating second-place Traverse City West 34-46 in the third and final jamboree at the Gaylord Country Club.

Gaylord and West had each won one of the previous jamborees.

"It was a big day for us," Blue Devils coach Jeff Kalember said. "We knew it would be a dogfight."

So much so that Kalember had his team repeatedly run the final 800 meters, increasing speed each time, in practices leading up to the race.

"That's where the race was decided," he said. "At the two-mile it (race ) was dead even.

"Our focus (in the last 800 meters) was for each of our guys to pass one (competitor). That's five points. Well, they probably each passed a couple guys."

It turned a close race into a 12-point victory.

"Gaylord just out-kicked us the last half-mile," West coach Dan Zemper said.

The Blue Devils were led by Jayden Hesselink, the lone senior in the top five. He won the race in 16:55.

"He's made himself one of the top runners (in the north) through pure hard work," Kalember said. "That's the beauty of cross country."

Joe Jones finished fourth (17:04), Bryan Slocum sixth (17:08), Charlend Howard 10th (17:26) and Nate Fisher 13th (17:34) for the Blue Devils.

West was paced by Sebby Kucera, who placed third in 17:01. Sam Kosinski came in seventh (17:13), Jonah Laursen ninth (17:21), Matt Laylin 12th (17:33) and Hunter Swogger 15th (17:53).

"We had five in the top 15," Zemper said. "We ran well. But Gaylord had a tremendous day. They ran a heckuva race. So I can't feel too bad about it. I can live with it. Congratulations to Jeff and his team."

Cadillac finished third with 77 points. The Vikings were followed by Traverse City Central (104), Petoskey (114) and Alpena (153).

Cadillac's Ryan Hearth placed second overall in 16:59.

Central was led by James Padden, who took 11th in 17:30. Drew Dancer came in 14th (17:38), John Miller 24th (18:25), Caleb Thompson 27th (18:33) and Alex Berman 28th (18:39).

"Those two teams (Gaylord and West) were the cream of the crop this year," Central coach John Lober said. "Gaylord came out ready to go today and got it done. They're young, but they were on task."

West's Dylan Snider won the JV race in 17:54.

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