St. Johns' Ava Schafer continues debut success, wins Greater Lansing Championships

GRAND LEDGE — Ava Schafer has made her presence known in Greater Lansing and beyond in her debut season running varsity cross country.

The St. Johns freshman added to that Saturday.

Schafer augmented a dominant season by finishing as the girls individual champion at the Greater Lansing Cross Country Championships on a rainy Saturday morning at Ledge Meadows Golf Course. She finished with a time of 18:32.5, which was just under 18 seconds ahead of runner-up Meghan Ford of Mason.

"I knew my time wouldn't be that great (so the focus) was to just try to win," Schafer said. "I didn't really care about times or anything like that. (My focus) was mostly just trying to win."

Saturday's race win was the fifth this season for Schafer, who has finished second and fifth in her other two races. She entered the Greater Lansing race with the fastest time among all area girls runners with the mark of 17:48 she ran at a CAAC Red jamboree last month.

Schafer had the lead at both the mile and two mile mark, stretching her lead between those marks while gaining a 10-second edge over a pack that included Lansing Catholic's Tessa Roe, Okemos' Shannon Gillahan and Ford.

"I knew that she pushes it in the last half of the race so I just knew that she would do what she does," Ford said. "She's amazing."

Schafer hopes Saturday is a big step to what she hopes is a strong finish to her season. The freshman has big goals for regionals and the state finals.

"I wanted to win this meet," Schafer said. "I wanted to win all the big meets. This was kind of the first step to the next few races."

Okemos captured the team championship with a score of 55 points. The Wolves were 58 points ahead of runner-up DeWitt and had their top five runners finish in the top 20.

Gillahan led the finishers for Okemos and was third, finishing just behind Ford. Freshman Gabriella Fugazzi was seventh, while sophomore October Harns took 13th, senior Lily Salazar placed 14th and senior Nicole Mays finished 18th for the Wolves.

More: Pewamo-Westphalia's Collin Farmer runs way to top spot at Greater Lansing Championships

Greater Lansing Cross Country Championships

Top 10 individuals

1. Ava Schafer, St. Johns – 18:32.5

2. Meghan Ford, Mason – 18:50.2

3. Shannon Gillahan, Okemos – 18:50.7

4. Tessa Roe, Lansing Catholic – 18:55.1

5. Ezgi Kurt, Alma – 19:07.9

6. Kayla Williams, DeWitt – 19:23.6

7. Gabriella Fugazzi, Okemos – 19:24.9

8. Abby Young, St. Johns – 19:39.6

9. Whitney Werner, Pewamo-Westphalia – 19:40.3

10. Aviana Skinner, Grand Ledge – 19:40.8

Team standings

1. Okemos – 55

2. DeWitt – 113

3. Owosso – 130

4. St. Johns – 140

5. Alma – 207

6. Pewamo-Westphalia – 207

7. Leslie – 231

8. Mason – 248

9. Grand Ledge – 251

10. Lansing Catholic - 253

Contact Brian Calloway at bcalloway@lsj.com. Follow him on X @brian_calloway.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: St. Johns freshman Ava Schafer wins Greater Lansing Championships