Cheboygan’s Harke wins first career varsity cross country race in Munising
MUNISING – It was a fantastic start to the season for Cheboygan junior cross country runner Sammy Harke, who won her first career varsity high school race at the Larissa Vartti Invitational in Munising on Tuesday.
Harke’s first-place time of 22:05 led the Cheboygan girls, who finished first with 57 points.
"Winning the meet was a surreal experience," said Harke. "I had a goal of top 15, and I didn't expect to find myself in the lead heading into the start of mile two. I took over the race, and I felt great, so I just kept going."
Harke also drew praise from her coach following an excellent race.
"Harke was out for vengeance this year in Munising after having a difficult finish at the same meet in the 2022 season, landing her in the emergency room after the meet," said Cheboygan coach Sandy Safford. "She finished 21st last year, but had dropped five places in the race with stomach issues."
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Other Cheboygan girls running included Cloee Rupp (sixth, 23:41), Briahna Campbell (eighth, 23:51), Addison Ptasnik (18th, 25:36), Ella LaRocque (24th, 26:38), Nola Ecker (28th, 27:22) and Jillian McKinley (30th, 27:48).
"Munising is one of our most difficult courses," Safford said. "We had three of our top five runners be freshwomen who had not run a varsity race, 5K distance competitively, or had any idea of what kind of time to shoot for. They set goals before the meet, surprised themselves, and were grinning ear to ear because they achieved their goals."
The Cheboygan boys, meanwhile, finished second with 80 points. Leading the Chiefs was sophomore Carson Kiefer, whose 19:39 time was good enough for seventh individually.
Gavin Smith (14th, 20:28), Andrew Kiefer (15th, 20:33), Russell Abernathy (19th, 20:54), Collin Mersch (40th, 24:19), Evan Blaskowski (41st, 24:59) and Jose Castro (46th, 26:03) each raced for Cheboygan.
"They looked strong on a difficult course, which is important early in the season," Safford said of the boys. "I told many of the runners today that now they know they can do hard things."
Onaway volleyball wins two at Boyne City quad
BOYNE CITY – Don’t take your foot off the gas.
That’s a message Onaway volleyball coach Steve Watson is trying to convey to his team this season.
On Tuesday, Watson’s Cardinals came out of Boyne City’s quad match with a 2-1 record. However, Watson knows his team didn’t play with the consistency he was hoping for.
“We definitely did not play with focus or intensity that we had (at last Saturday’s Pellston Invitational),” said Watson. “Sometimes, people made good plays, but we were rarely playing at our best.
“We can’t let off against anybody.”
The Cardinals opened with a victory over Alpena (25-15, 25-21), lost to Boyne City (13-25, 15-25) in their middle match, and closed with a three-set win over Bellaire (25-7, 14-25, 17-15), a game Watson was frustrated with. The Cardinals were down 15-14 to the Eagles before rallying to win late.
Sydney Peel led Onaway (5-3-1) with 14 kills, 18 digs, five assists and three aces, Grace Watson had 10 kills, 28 assists, 24 digs, four aces and two blocks, Ema DeMaestri tallied eight kills, 14 digs and four assists, Sadie Decker added eight kills, 14 digs and four assists, Carley Karsten finished with four kills, 16 digs and two aces, Amya Janusky registered three kills and six digs, and Ella Lintz chipped in with nine digs.
Mackinaw City, Inland Lakes open XC seasons in Petoskey
PETOSKEY – The Mackinaw City cross country team started its season at the Twilight Taco 2-Mile event in Petoskey on Tuesday.
Braylon Currie raced a 12:38 time and finished 28th individually to lead the Comets. Others running were Ben Strittmatter (31st, 12:58), Kyle Valot (32nd, 13:01), Myran Thompson (33rd, 13:06), Isaac Valot (48th, 13:55), Knox Wilson (52nd, 14:19), Tanyon Pierce (55th, 14:28), Wesley House (57th, 14:48), Connor Birchfield (64th, 17:33), and Mikey Sullivan (65th, 17:41).
Cynthia Thompson (41st, 20:32) raced for the Mackinaw City girls.
Inland Lakes was also at the meet on Tuesday, as Elizabeth Furman finished sixth overall at 13:45 in the girls race. Maggie Newman (15:35) took 20th and Francis Bunker (19:37) was 39th.
Logan McMullen finished 27th in 12:34 to lead the I-L boys, who saw Connor Wallace (13:08) take 35th. Remi Bollinger (15:39) was 63rd.
Cheboygan to honor 1993 state semifinalist football team on Sept. 8
CHEBOYGAN – The Cheboygan High School football program will be honoring the 1993 Chiefs – who reached the state semifinals under head coach Jack Coon – in a ceremony at Western Avenue Field on Friday, Sept. 8.
Members of the 1993 squad can get into the event free and there will be honorary captains during the coin toss before the game. The Chiefs and Stags face off at 7 p.m. on that Friday.
On Thursday, Sept. 7, Bishop GMC Cadillac will be hosting a team dinner for the 1993 team and the current Cheboygan team.
Contact sports editor Jared Greenleaf at jgreenleaf@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @sportsCDT
This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Cheboygan’s Harke wins first varsity cross country race at Munising
