JoBurg's Allie Nowak, GSM's Miriam Murrell set new school records at Red Devil Invite
EAST JORDAN ― After watching their fall sports counterparts get the 2023 season going over the past few weeks, the Otsego-area cross-country runners are off and running.
The runners from Gaylord, St. Mary and Johannesburg-Lewiston are out to prove they are among the best distance runners in all of Michigan yet again, and led by the defending Division 4 state champions, the JoBurg girls, and rising stars in GSM's Miriam Murrell and GHS's Katie Berkshire, the area is certainly loaded with cross country talent.
Those talents were on full display in the opening meets of the season last week as both GSM and JoBurg got their seasons going at the Red Devil Invite in East Jordan on Wednesday, Aug. 30 while GHS started their season at the Dwayne Rau Memorial Invite on Thursday, Aug. 31.
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JoBurg's day in East Jordan was highlighted by the championship effort by the Cardinals' boys squad as they finished first among the small schools with 28 points, while the girls finished as the invite runner-ups with 58 total points.
The top individual performance came from junior Allie Nowak, the leader of the team's state title run in 2022, as she led off the 2023 season with a new school record with a time of 18 minutes, 26 seconds, finishing first among the girls in the small schools' division.
Senior Malaki Gascho also finished atop the small school finishers for the boys, clocking in a personal best time of 16 minutes, 14 seconds to help the boys bring home the invite title.
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Other top JoBurg boys finishers included Blake Fox (fourth, 17:11), Dusty Layman (seventh, 17:57), Drake Fulton (14th, 18:39) and Jeremiah Witt (15th, 18:39). On the girls side, Nowak was helped along by impressive performances from Madalyn Agren (sixth, 19:55), Yolanda Gascho (seventh, 20:05) and Danielle Agren (14th, 22:33).
Gaylord St. Mary didn't have the same team success at the EJ Invite but did come home with an individual milestone similar to the Cardinals as senior Miriam Murrell set a new GSM school record with a time of 19 minutes, 14 seconds, good for a third-place overall finish.
The Gaylord girls cross country team wrapped up the opening-week meets at the Ogemaw Heights-hosted Dwayne Rau Memorial Invite, placing second in the Grezeszak/Frank bracket with 58 points.
The Blue Devils were led by a 19-minute, 29-second time from sophomore Katie Berkshire, the best time by any female athlete in attendance. She was helped along by performances from Anastasia Lougen (seventh, 22:34), Lucy Johnson (12th, 23:21) and Ella Spanding (14th, 23:30).
Gaylord and Gaylord St. Mary will be back in action on Saturday, Sept. 9 at the Charlevoix Mud Run, while JoBurg will run again on Tuesday, Sept. 13 at the Boyne City Co-Ed Relay.
Contact Sports Editor Dylan Jespersen at Djespersen@gaylordheraldtimes.com. Follow him on Twitter, @dylanjespersen, and Instagram, @dylanjespersen
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Johannesburg-Lewiston, Gaylord St. Mary cross country have new records set by Miriam Murrell, Allie Nowak
