RC Girls Cross Country team wins trophy at Regional Meet

The Rogers City girls varsity cross country team captured the Lower Peninsula Division 4 Region 28 title on Saturday in Gaylord with a strong finish on a tough course. The only other time the Rogers City girls varsity team has won the regional event was in 2001 when Lauren Fairbanks was on the team and took 10th place at the state finals. Fairbanks is now doing well as a member of the Central Michigan University track and cross country teams. Coach Rob Kortman noted it was helpful for the team to run on the Gaylord course earlier in the week at the last regular meet of the season. This gave them the chance to know the obstacles and to be able to pace themselves accordingly.

“It gave them a good feel for the terrain, the course was a lot slower Saturday due to the rain, so parts of the course were pretty muddy. It was a soggy course but fortunately there were no mishaps, I didn’t have anyone wipe out,” Kortman said. “The girls ran really strong and the boys team ran very well, too, but there was just real good competition there,” he added.

Derek McLennan will be going downstate for the boys team after taking 10th place in Gaylord. The top 15 individual runners were selected for the State finals. The girls team will be running against 26 other Division 4 teams at the finals on Saturday. Kortman explained that the Gaylord course is one of the more difficult regional sites and, with the rain and high gusting winds, the times were lower than expected.

“By contrast the Brooklyn course is very fast and this should favor some of the swifter runners on our girls team,” he said. The coach said he didn’t plan any heavy workouts to prepare for Saturday, noting that the girls team was in good shape but needed to rest up after some grueling meets right at the end of the season.

“Basically, I want to just keep them running and limbered up but I want to let them rest up, too,” he said. “Rest is what some of them need right now to be in their top form. We had four girls in the top ten and three of them in the top four at the regional meet,” he continued. Boys team member Charley Smolinski said he would shave his legs if the girls won in Gaylord and now faces the razor.

“Next year, I think we will come up quite a ways on the boys team also,” Kortman said. The Rogers City girls varsity finished as the highest-placed team in Division 4 in a field of 21 schools overall. The boy’s varsity placed 15th out of 21 schools.

THE REGIONAL results are as follows: Girls varsity: Lacey Kreft (1) 22:00; Chelsea Kreft (3) 22:31; Sarah Bruning (4) 22:44; Sara Belusar (10) 23:49; Cynthi

a Belusar (22) 25:12; Katy Fryske (27) 25:51; and Jessica Hempel (46) 28:30. Boys varsity: Derek McLennan (10) 18:43; Mike Mierzwinski (36) 20:25; Charley Smolinski (38) 20:32; Tyler Idalski (62) 21:53; Andy Grambau (65) 22:16; and Eric Kieliszewski (72) 22:53.

THE LAST MEET of the season on Tuesday, October 26, also run in Gaylord, had the following results: Girls varsity took 6th place out of 21 teams with a mix of all divisions: Lacey Kreft (7) 21:28; Chelsea Kreft (10) 21:46; Sarah Bruning (17) 22:17; Sara Belusar (53) 23:43; Cynthia Belusar (79) 25:12; Katy Fryske (83) 25:42; and Jessica Hempel (100) 26:37.

The junior varsity girls team had Jana Schaedig (25) 27:10 and Danielle Roeske (26) 27:14. The boys varsity team finished 13th out of 21 teams: Derek McLennan (12) 17:44; Charley Smolinski (69) 19:59; Mike Mierzwinski (92) 20:43; Tyler Idalski (102) 21:18; Andy Grambau (107) 21:33; and Eric Kieliszewski (72) 22:42.

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