Meet the 2023 All-Livingston County girls cross country team
BRIGHTON - Brighton was once again the dominant girls cross country team in Livingston County, placing fourth in the state Division 1 finals while no other local team qualified for state.
It stands to reason that the Bulldogs also dominate the all-county team, taking 10 of the 14 spots on the first or second team. In other words, some of the best runners in the county ran for Brighton’s junior varsity squad this fall.
There are signs of hope for two other county teams, as Hartland and Pinckney each put a freshman on the first team.
Elle Bissett
Brighton, junior
► Accomplishments: Bissett ran the two fastest times in Livingston County this season, going 18:26.5 for 10th place at the Jackson Invitational on Sept. 23 and 18:25.8 for seventh place at the Portage Invitational on Oct. 7. She finished sixth in the KLAA meet, sixth at regionals and 58th in the state Division 1 meet.
► Coach Kristi Matuszewski: “Elle made huge gains from last year. It started with track season. She found a bit of confidence. This summer, they were out of town for over a month and she had to do a lot of training on her own. I was anxious to see what she was going to come back as. We were like, ‘Wow! This girl has been training!’”
Nikki Carothers
Brighton, senior
► Accomplishments: After breaking 19 minutes three times as a junior, Carothers struggled for most of the season before finishing on a high note. She broke 19 minutes for the first time this fall by running 18:50.8 at the state meet, good for 38th place. She ran 18:46.9 in the postseason Michigan Meet of Champions.
► Coach Kristi Matuszewski: “Throughout the season, she was running really well in practice. She had some issue with her calves. She just wasn’t able to turn it around as much in races as she had hoped and we had hoped. Even in practice, I kept her running faster paces than she was racing. She’s like, ‘You sure you want me to run these?’ I said, ‘Absolutely, because that’s the runner I know you are.’”
Ava Goodman
Hartland, freshman
► Accomplishments: Goodman is only the second Hartland freshman girl to make the first team in the last 10 years. She qualified for the state meet by placing seventh at regionals in 19:29.34. She was 78th in the Division 1 finals in 19:21.5. Goodman ran a personal-best 19:18.5 in the postseason Michigan Meet of Champions.
► Coach Matt Gutteridge: “She fit into the team fantastic. She jumped up and was the leader on the course, but she learned from a lot of the older girls and had fun with the kids. She’s really, really coachable. You give her a little bit of direction, whether in practice or in a race, and she makes that immediate change.”
Carrigan Eberly
Brighton, senior
► Accomplishments: Eberly made the all-state podium for the first time by placing 28th in the Division 1 finals in a personal-best 18:38.9. She finished fifth in the KLAA meet and fourth at regionals. She broke 19 minutes five times. Eberly ran in four state meets, improving her finish each season.
► Coach Kristi Matuszewski: “She does a great job communicating and including our whole team, being a cheerleader for everybody. She puts a lot of pressure on herself, expects a lot of herself. I know all-state was a huge goal for her. I was so happy to see her be able to accomplish that.”
Lydia LaMarra
Brighton, sophomore
► Accomplishments: Nobody in the county performed better in championship season than LaMarra. She became the first Brighton girl since 2007 to win individual conference and regional titles. LaMarra won the KLAA meet in 18:49.6 and regionals in 18:37.9. She capped her season by making all-state, placing 21st in Division 1 in 18:28.7. She broke 19 minutes in her final five meets.
► Coach Kristi Matuszewski: “Lydia is the type of kid who wants to do anything she can do to be better. She’ll run with whoever she needs to run with. She felt a lot of comfort in running with Carrigan and Nikki up front, even as a freshman. It was like, ‘Go, run with the older kids, and she had no problem with that.’”
RUNNER OF THE YEAR: 1-year trial became passion for Brighton's Lydia LaMarra
Juliet Lewis
Brighton, sophomore
► Accomplishments: While track and field may be Lewis’ best sport, she has made first-team all-county in cross country twice. She set the county 800-meter freshman record of 2:16.73 in the spring. In cross country, she was eighth in the KLAA meet and 13th at regionals. Her fastest time was 19:10.4 at Huron Meadows Metropark.
► Coach Kristi Matuszewski: “I think track is her favorite type of racing. She has great friendships on the team and that lends itself to running. They happen to be the varsity kids, so she trains with them. That’s going to make her faster. She’s just a natural athlete, very fast. She will progress as she gets older and finds that confidence to run with the girls she’s training with.”
Jaelyn Ray
Pinckney, freshman
Brighton, sophomore
► Accomplishments: Ray’s fastest race was in her high school debut, a runner-up time of 19:09.5 in the Lamplighter Invitational. She battled injuries for most of September, but was fit enough by championship season to finish sixth in the SEC White meet and fourth at regionals. She placed 61st in the state Division 2 finals.
► Coach Matt Maciag: “She performed at a level we all expected and learned a lot of things about racing this year. Any time you can go to a state meet and experience the atmosphere, the energy, the course itself and take something away from that, that’s a positive. Going in and using your freshman year as a learning experience, particularly at states, that’s a very educated and smart way to look at your season.”
SECOND TEAM
Gabrielle Bolitho, Brighton, Sr.
Camden Essenmacher, Hartland, Jr.
Megan Kowalski, Brighton, Sr.
Courtney Lince, Brighton, Soph.
Cayla Marzban, Brighton, Soph.
Selena White, Brighton, Soph.
Taylor Wiegand, Livingston Christian, Soph.
HONORABLE MENTION
Brighton: Emilee Balzer (Sr.), Maizie Cavanaugh (Soph.), Ashley Lubowicki (Fr.), Maureen Mangan (Jr.), Abby Watkins (Sr.). Fowlerville: Delaney Richardson (Soph.). Hartland: Zoe Howard (Jr.), Olivia Linski (Fr.), Elliana Neuer (Soph.), Madeline Samborski (Soph.). Howell: Maura Lichiello (Sr.), Nora Rioux (Soph.). Pinckney: Madalynn Karsies (Jr.).
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Meet the 2023 All-Livingston County girls cross country team
