Harbor girls claim first D4 regional since 2016; host of runners qualify in D3, D4
EAST JORDAN — The Harbor Springs girls’ cross country team is no stranger to the state finals and hoisting trophies over the last couple decades.
But, that coveted regional championships has eluded the Rams since 2016, as a competitive group of teams around them have made things difficult in recent seasons.
On Saturday at their East Jordan hosted Division 4 regional, the Rams changed that in dramatic fashion.
With four runners inside the top seven, the No. 4 ranked Rams just edged out No. 2 ranked Johannesburg-Lewiston to claim the regional win by a one point margin.
Harbor Springs had six of their seven runners put together a personal best time on the day, with all seven finishing inside the top 20 for the race.
It also comes as the 12th regional title all-time for the Rams.
Harbor’s victory came with a 32-point finish, which edged out J-L’s 33. Also qualifying was Petoskey St. Michael in third with 102.
The top three teams advance to the state finals, along with the top seven runners not on one of those qualifying teams.
On the boys side, the race came down to JoBurg and Petoskey St. Michael, with the Cardinals taking the crown with a 28 to 37 point finish.
Harbor Springs’ boys also qualified for states with a third place 66 point finish.
While it was the Rams taking the girls race, it was J-L finishing with the top two spots, with Allie Nowak placing first in 18 minutes, 47.05 seconds. Yolanda Gascho also placed second (19:31.54).
For Harbor, Grace Thorpe then took third in 19:45.16 and Juniper Rodham placed fourth (20:00.06). Also for the Rams, Tara Shouldice was sixth (20:41.61); Lizzie Bassett, seventh (20:48.08); Fran Warren, 13th (21:17.16); McKenzie Bowman, 14th (21:17.80); and Josie Baker, 19th (21:39.78).
St. Michael was led by Jane Manthei to get to the final, as she took fifth in 20:28.40. Also for St. Michael, Veronica Paga was 15th (21:25.70); Sydney Feagan placed 20th (21:49.18); Hannah Ledy, 42nd (25:59.61); Siobhan Weed, 48th (28:29.88); and Catherine Hayes, 51st (30:46.11).
Five area runners also qualified as individuals to the state finals, which included East Jordan’s Elke Knauf in 11th place (21:03.72); Inland Lakes’ Luciana Bunker, 16th (21:33.08); East Jordan’s Christine Whitaker, 21st (22:02.64); Mackinaw City’s Larissa Huffman, 22nd (22:09.57); and Inland Lakes’ Lauren Fenstermaker, 23rd (22:13.96).
Within the boys’ race, J-L took the top two spots as well, led by Jacob Wartenberg (15:58.15) and Blake Fox (16:37.64).
St. Michael then placed four inside the top 10, led by Macartan Moore’s third place finish in 16:39.87. Zach Maendel placed fourth in 16:51.49; Lynus Cadarette, sixth (16:56.09); Cody Bradley, 10th (17:24.01); Levi Benzing, 15th (17:45.51); Russell Vandermus, 17th (17:50.41); and Domenico Fantozzi, 55th (21:43.71).
For Harbor Springs, Cal Benjamin led in a seventh place finish in 17:19.75, followed by Trevor Clarke, 12th (17:40.14); Henry Kruzel, 14th (17:45.40); Teddy Krieger, 19th (17:58.86); Adam Ferguson, 20th (18:02.75); Logan Kihnke, 27th (18:32.04); and Max Vroman, 31st (19:01.95).
Qualifying as individuals from the area included Mackinaw City’s Lars Huffman, who led in ninth place in 17:22.75, East Jordan’s Guy Chamberlain and Jacob Chamberlain, who placed 21st (18:11.48) and 22nd (18:15.46) respectively, along with Ellsworth’s Tyler DeYoung in 24th (18:17.36).
The Division 4 state championship race will next take place on Saturday, Nov. 5 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn.
DIVISION 3
EAST JORDAN — Everyone in attendance at the Division 3 regional cross country race Saturday in East Jordan knew Traverse City St. Francis would be tough to knock off in both races.
In the end, that held true, as the Gladiators stole both the boys and girls regional titles by solid margins.
However, the Charlevoix girls will be joining the Glads at the Division 3 state finals.
Charlevoix earned a third place finish to make their way to the finals, while a handful of others in both races qualified as individuals.
The St. Francis boys earned a first place finish with 31 points, followed by Clare (63) and Elk Rapids (82), while Charlevoix was fifth (135) and Boyne City ninth (229).
On the girls side, St. Francis earned the win with 32 points, followed by Elk Rapids (47) and Charlevoix (115). Boyne was then fourth (138).
Leading for the qualifying Rayder team was Laina Sladics in seventh place in 19:38.50, followed by Rachel Descamps 21st (21:04.44); Hannah Miller, 25th (21:21.74); Katie Rohrer, 28th (21:32.17); Lena Sytsma-Reed, 38th (22:23.17); Adele Crook, 45th (23:02.18); and Maya Rohrer, 54th (23:30.73).
Boyne City also had both Ava Maginity and Delaney Little earn qualifying spots for the finals. Maginity placed fourth to lead the area in 18:47.66 and Little was 20th (20:59.02).
While neither the Rayders or Ramblers earn team spots in the finals, James Descamps and David Dhaseleer each qualified as individuals for the Rayders.
Descamps ran placed 15th overall (17:29.04) and Dhaseleer was 22nd (17:54.35).
The Division 3 state championship race will next take place on Saturday, Nov. 5 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Harbor girls claim first D4 regional since 2016; host of runners qualify in D3, D4
