Brighton, Pinckney boys win 'dress rehearsal' for state cross country meet at Portage
PORTAGE — The event that really matters is Nov. 4 at Michigan International Speedway, but winning the Portage Invitational is usually a good barometer that a cross country team will be bringing home hardware from the state meet.
Livingston County made a splash at the most competitive regular-season invitational in Michigan Saturday, with the boys teams at Brighton and Pinckney winning championships and the Brighton girls team finishing a close second.
“I tell the kids every year, this is a dress rehearsal for the state meet,” Pinckney coach Jim Wicker said. “It’s a big deal. The course is similar to the state meet, too. That’s the main reason we drive all this way to see where we’re at heading into the state meet.”
Brighton’s No. 1-ranked boys won the Division 1 meet with 83 points, 46 fewer than third-ranked Grand Haven.
Pinckney’s boys, who are ranked No. 7 in Division 2, are due for an upgrade in the polls after scoring 115 points to beat top-rated Ada Forest Hills Eastern by six.
Brighton’s boys topped a 34-team division that included eight of the top 12 teams in Division 1.
“It’s a good sign, but by the same token whether the outcome was the same or whether we came in last, it doesn’t change our focus for the season,” said Brighton coach Chris Elsey, whose team has won two of the last four Division 1 state championships.
“It’s a nice little accomplishment for these kids. They ran well. They ran hard. We’re looking down the road.”
All seven Brighton runners ran personal bests on a Portage West Middle School course that tends to yield fast times.
Senior Tyler Langley was seventh in 15:29.7, moving him from sixth to third on Brighton’s all-time list behind current University of Michigan runners Jack Spamer (14:48.1 in 2019) and Zach Stewart (15:07.1 in 2019).
Luke Campbell was 16th in 15:52.2, Elijah Forbord 19th in 15:56.2, Tyler Brock 26th in 16:05.7 and Brad Millington 30th in 16:09.2. Running fast times that didn’t factor into the score were Tyler Outlaw (32nd, 16:11.4) and Bode Cooper (51st, 16:25.6).
Pinckney repeated as Portage’s Division 2 champion behind a first-place finish from senior Evan Loughridge. The Pirates topped a field that included eight of the top 11 teams in Division 2.
“They ran with determination and heart today,” Wicker said. “We had six guys under 17 minutes; we haven’t done that in a long time. We were running against all the big boys, too.”
Loughridge won by 14 seconds with a time of 15:17.3 that ranks second in school history.
Senior Paul Moore showed he’s recovered from an early-season injury, placing fifth in 15:41.6. Senior Ethan Sandula was seventh in 15:44.7.
Rounding out the Pirates’ score were Zach Newman in 52nd place in 16:38.5 and Parker Hays in 54th in 16:43.5.
Brighton’s third-ranked girls team scored 134 points to finish second to No. 2-ranked Ann Arbor Pioneer in Division 1. Eight of the top nine teams in Division 1 competed.
Brighton junior Elle Bissett moved from sixth to fifth on Brighton’s all-time list with a time of 18:25.8, placing seventh. Lydia LaMarra was eighth in 18:35.5, Carrigan Eberly 17th in 18:59.3, Juliet Lewis 44th in 19:28.4 and Gabrielle Bolitho 58th in 19:42.0 for the Bulldogs.
In the Division 2 girls race, Pinckney freshman Jaelyn Ray was 39th in 19:36.6. The Pirates were 26th out of 45 teams.
Greater Flint Championships
Hartland’s boys were fourth out of 21 teams, led by Carson Cook’s ninth-place time of 16:34.98. Robert Wisniewski was 15th in 16:58.45 and Jack Costa 16th in 17:00.11.
Freshman Ava Goodman was 12th in 19:22.31, leading Hartland’s girls to a sixth-place finish out of 18 teams.
Swimming and diving
MISCA meet
Brighton’s Grace Gray had four top-10 finishes to lead Livingston County’s contingent at the biggest regular-season meet of the season at Calvin University.
She was fourth in the 100-yard butterfly in 58.56 seconds, 10th in the 200 freestyle in 1:57.62 and was on Brighton’s sixth-place 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams.
In the 500 freestyle, Millie Hayosh was seventh in 5:18.63 and Ola Bodyl eighth in 5:19.11 for Brighton.
Sage Bissett of Brighton was 11th in the 100 freestyle in 54.92 and 12th in the 50 freestyle in 24.69.
Following are full Livingston County results from the meet:
200 freestyle: 10. Grace Gray, Brighton, 1:57.62; 29. Millie Hayosh, Brighton, 2:01.47; 31. Ava Sventickas, Brighton, 2:01.86
200 individual medley: 24. Sehee Kim, Hartland, 2:19.51; 25. Olivia Glenfield, Howell, 2:19.57
50 freestyle: 12. Sage Bissett, Brighton, 24.69; 27. Ola Bodyl, Brighton, 25.50; 32. Anabelle Respondek, Howell, 25.58; 35. Addie Osborne, Hartland, 25.61
Diving: 29. Morgan Wehner, Hartland, 277.65
100 butterfly: 4. Grace Gray, Brighton, 58.56; 27. Ava Hasson, Brighton, 1:01.63; 43. Lily Storey, Brighton, 1:03.89.
100 freestyle: 11. Sage Bissett, Brighton, 54.92; 29. Ava Sventickas, Brighton, 56.45; 41. Anabelle Respondek, Howell, 56.80; 44. Addie Osborne, Hartland, 56.93; 50. Sehee Kim, Hartland, 57.26.
500 freestyle: 7. Millie Hayosh, Brighton, 5:18.63; 8. Ola Bodyl, Brighton, 5:19.11.
200 freestyle relay: 6. Brighton (Grace Gray, Ola Bodyl, Ava Sventickas, Sage Bissett) 1:40.76; 22. Hartland 1:45.05; 25. Howell 1:45.50.
100 backstroke: 18. Ava Hasson, Brighton, 1:00.90.
100 breaststroke: 36. Olivia Glenfield, Howell, 1:11.86.
400 freestyle relay: 6. Brighton (Ava Sventickas, Ola Bodyl, Grace Gray, Sage Bissett) 3:41.40; 33. Howell 3:54.65; 41. Hartland 3:56.67.
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Brighton, Pinckney boys win Portage Invitational cross country meet
