A highly successful day for the Hart boys and girls cross country teams saw both qualify for the MHSAA D3 State Finals, finishing as runner-ups in the regional meet at Benzie Central, Friday, Oct. 25.
While the finish for both teams was impressive considering the overall youth on each roster, the individual times that got them spoke volumes about the Pirates’ progress. Every runner on both the boys and girls teams achieved either a personal record (PR) time or a season record (SR) time.
The boys team got an overall score of 73 points, slotting them in second out of 14 teams in contention, only finishing behind Benzie Central.
Freshman Silas Ackley was the top scorer for Hart’s boys, snagging ninth place overall with a PR time of 16:49.77. Following Ackley with top 20 finishes were sophomore Aiden Schaner (16:57.48) in 11th, junior Jack Slotman (17:04.78) in 15th and freshman Grant Ackley (17:11.35) in 17th. Both Schaner and Grant Ackley scored PRs as well while Slotman notched his season best.
No Pirate runners on the boys side fell out of the top 30 runners, a big piece in their second place finish. Rounding out the runners in the boys’ race for Hart were a trio of sophomores including Carson Ackley (17:28.14) in 26th, Mason Opalewski (17:29.80) in 27th and Pascal Miller (17:33.18) in 29th. All three sophomores finished with PR times as well.
Hart’s girls also finished in second behind Benzie Central, only trailing the Huskies by 10 points in team scoring.
Sophomore Natalie Rosema continued to pace the Pirates, running a PR time of 19:38.25 that landed her in eighth place overall. Youth and experience rounded out Hart’s top four runners as freshmen Alaina Schaner (19:58.70) and Joselyn Flores (20:28.63) finished top 20 with senior Lexie Beth Nienhuis finishing between them with a SR of 20:19.99. Schaner and Flores finished in 12th and 20th with PR times while Nienhuis was 16th.
Three PR times finished out the top seven on the girls side. Senior Harriet Kidder placed 24th with a time of 20:46.80 while freshmen Bryn Riley (20:49.22) and Emery Velat (21:13.93) came in 26th and 32nd.
The Pirates have now qualified for the MHSAA D3 State Finals which will take place Saturday, Nov. 1 at MI International Speedway in Brooklyn, MI.
Shelby and Hesperia continue to show growth at season’s end
Shelby and Hesperia were also in attendance and while no runners qualified for the state meet, plenty of PRs were set to end the year.
For the Tigers, sophomore Lydia Soelberg – who typically leads the way for Shelby’s girls – was unable to finish the race. That left opportunities for others to step up with sophomore Noel Parker (20:49.69) leading the way in 27th. The remainder of Shelby’s finishers for the girls team included freshman Kaythryn Beyer (21:21.80) in 34th, sophomore Grace Hasenbank (22:22.78) in 47th, junior April Luna (23:51.41) in 70th and sophomore Sydney Reed (23:53.39) in 71st.
Parker, Beyer, Luna and Reed all scored PR times while Hasenbank set a SR. Shelby’s girls team finished in 10th as a team.
Shelby’s boys team finished 13th as a team and were led by junior Iziquiel Picon (18:05.39) who posted a SR with his 36th place finish. Behind Picon was sophomore Alex Crowder (19:10.83) in 58th, senior Ethan Fessenden (19:19.19) in 61st and a trio of freshman including Max Cubillos (22:37.43), Declan Waller (23:36.24) and Edmund Hayes (24:19.77). All of those times apart from Picon’s SR were new personal bests.
Hesperia only had one female runner in attendance as sophomore Rokhaya Ruhstorfer came in 77th with a SR time of 24:24.27.
The Panthers did finish in eighth as a team on the boy’s side, with four top 50 finishes. Sophomore Nate Ruhstorfer was the top runner for Hesperia, placing 32nd with a PR time of 17:57.61. Junior Zack Temple (18:07.37), senior Andrew Sherburn (18:16.36) and freshman Andy Lopez-Garcia (18:27.22) finished in 37th, 41st and 45th individually.
Rounding out Hesperia’s boys was freshman Keegan Roberson (20:00.87) in 70th and juniors Kolt Milner (21:43.05) and Dain Kraus (22:08.55) in 85th and 88th. Milner posted a SR with his time while Kraus had a PR.
