Area Cross Country Teams Run In JPC Meet At Meridian

By BEN MURPHY Cleaver Sportswriter The first Jack Pine Conference cross country jamboree of the season was held last week. Meridian served as hosts to the expanded conference meet on Wednesday, Sept. 18. The Clare girls’ team was the top area finishers, coming in second place, finishing behind event winner Shepherd. Farwell had a seventh-place finish and Harrison was ninth.

On the boys’ side of things, Shepherd won as well, while Clare was fourth, Farwell was eighth and Harrison placed ninth.

“It was a good first jamboree for our team,” Clare girls head coach Kyle McKown said. “We had a lot of girls step up, overcome obstacles, and show their determination.”

The Lady Pioneers were led by Sophia Buzzelli who was third overall with a time of 20:20. Leah Leis was 11^th and Lauren Leis was 12^th with times of 22:13 and 22:25 and Elizabeth Letherer and Olivia Forsberg were 21^st and 22^nd with identical times of 23:12. Ava Robinson had a time of 24:26 and Catherine Taft was able to cross the line 37^th, by clocking a 24:36.

Also, for the Pioneers, Emma Stolzel was 39^th when she timed out at 24:55, Taylor Seibt was 47^th at 25:35, Brooklinn Barcia was 50^th with a 25:50, Lily Fouts added a 56^th place run on a 26:34, Kayla Villa-Bilton ran a 32:38 and was 77^th and Annmarie Green was able to run a 38:09 and finished 85^th.

For the Lady Eagles, Isablle Eppert was sixth on a run of 21:43, Ivy Frisch was 41^st on a time of 24:58, Evalynne Bell was 44^th at 25:29, Addyson Thormeier ran a 25:40 to place 48^th and Rhylee Wladysiak placed 87^th on a 38:52.

The Lady Hornets were led by Arie Workman, who was 51^st on a time of 25:55. Hope Purvis added a 67^th place finish with a 28:45, KyLeigh Briggs timed out at 30:14 and was 70^th, in 73^rd with a 30:43 was Madylynne Gross and Kailee Eichorn wad 84^th at 37:07.

In the boys’ race, starting with Clare, Connor Schmidt was able to finish 12^th with a time of 18:06. Clayton Peacock was 19^th and Neiko Ketchum was 20^th with times of 18:58 and 19:02 and Sutton Klaus was 24^th after timing out at 19:15. William Warner was 27^th at 19:34, Joseph Haupt added a 31^st place run at 19:43 and Caiden Gaskill had a 40^th place finish at 20:05.

Other Pioneer runners included Christian Villa-Bilton, who was 41^st with a 20:09, Carter Peacock was 44^th at 20:18 and Kona Crump was 51^st at 20:56. Ian Letherer and Brayden Schmidt both ran times of 21:11, with Letherer finishing a step ahead to finish 53^rd to Schmidt’s 54^th. Hogan Walter was able to place 68^th on a 22:37, Carter Champan was 85^th at 24:07 and Cole Grundy had a run of 25:34 and placed 92^nd.

As for the Farwell boys, Keagan Terrian ran a 22:39 and crossed the line in 69^th. Landon Barnett was 72^nd at 22:54, Memphis Peever was 74^th at 22:58, Matthew Firman was 77^th at 23:05 and Timothy Pearson was 82^nd thanks to a time of 23:40.

Lastly the Harrison boys had Logan Young come in 32^nd, with his time reading 19:44. Gavin Jansen was 76^th at 23:02, Eli Wing had a time of 23:40 and was 83^rd and Cory Westbrook was 84^th at 23:48. Sam Bennoit was able to get an 87^th place finish on time of 24:10 and Kaden Eichhorn was 93^rd thanks to his time of 26:00.

The next JPC jamboree is Wednesday, Oct. 2 at Shepherd.