BAY CITY — Traverse City Central is back in familiar territory. TC West is just back.
The Trojan girls qualified for the state finals for the 13th straight year by breezing through their regional, and the Titans also are in the Division 1 field after finishing third, marking West’s first finals appearance since 2004.
“The girls are really fired up,” Titans coach Eric Houghton said. “It’s a nice return for us. The girls are running their strongest at the end of the year.”
Central, meanwhile, placed five girls in the top nine. The Trojans had a team score of 28, easily outdistancing runner-up Grand Blanc’s 85. West was third with 97.
Junior Katie Perkins was third in 18:49, followed closely by junior Julia Otwell (fourth, 19:00) and senior Taylor Mattarella (fifth, 19:17). Sophomore Sam Ehle chipped in a seventh-place finish in 19:25 and junior Maren Bahra was ninth in 19:32. Central also had Alison Ostema in 27th and Aimee Marsh at 32nd.
“Everything went just as planned,” Central coach Lisa Taylor said. “But they’re going to have their hands full (at the finals). Next week will be won by whoever is perfectly on and has the tightest 1-5 gap. We had a 43-second 1- 5 spread and we know we can do better.”
Gabrielle Anzalone of Grand Blanc won the region with a time of 17:52. West, which qualified for the eighth time in school history, finished higher in regionals than in the Big North conference, led by a 10-place finish by Marcy Marek (19:34), the first freshman to cross the finish line. Hannah Rickard was 11th in 19:36 to join Marek on the all-region team comprised of the top 15 finishers.
Clancey Hawke came in 20th in 20:03 and was the second freshman behind Marek. Kaylee VanDommelen was 23rd in 20:17 and Paige Richards placed 33rd in 20:38. Marek, Rickard, Hawke and VonDommelen all posted personal-best times. The state finals are at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn next Saturday, with Division 1 girls race is at 3:30 p.m.
BOYS
Central’s Lance qualifies for states as individual
Traverse City Central senior Alex Lance was the lone qualifier from Traverse City as the Trojans came up one spot shy of going as a team.
Central finished fourth in the Division 1 regional held at Delta College.
TC West was seventh.
Lance placed 15th to earn the final individual spot with a time of 16:37. Teammate Reece Karbowski was 16th, four second back.
Other top placers for the Trojans were Evan Dancer (22nd, 16:51), James Padden (28th, 17:09) and Drew Dancer (37th, 17:29). Saginaw Heritage won the region with 44 points, followed by Bay City Western (67), Grand Blanc (86) and TC Central (117). West had 162 points.
The top three teams in the region are ranked in the state’s top 15.
“The kids were sad they didn’t qualify for states, but I told them that’s a heck of a lot of competition,” Central coach John Lober said. “We knew we were going to be in a battle today and we were. The kids gave a good account of themselves.”
Midland Dow’s Steven Walker won the race in 15:38.
The Titans were led by Ray Innis and his personal-best time of 17:07, good for 26th place. He was followed by freshman Jonah Laursen (30th, personal-best 17:16), Matt Laylin (32nd, personalbest 17:19), senior Erik Wilson (34th, 17:23) and Sebby Kucera (41st, 17:39). Wilson, West’s top runner who had been out with a nerve injury in both legs, returned to run for the first time since the first two meets of the season.
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