Collective effort earns Huron girls a trip to state; Wilk lone qualifier from the boys? squad

by Peter Jakey– Managing Editor

Extra training sure can go a long way. Just ask the Huron girls? cross country team who qualified for the state meet Saturday morning at the Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn. Rogers City finished with 108 points to earn the third and final qualifying position at the East Jordan regionals. The point total was six points behind second place Ellsworth, but more importantly 15 points ahead of fourth place Onaway. The key to the state berth was the high placing of former regional champion, Kaylee Kreft, who took a fourth (20:04), and the Hurons? placers grouped from 25th place through 40.

?I WOULD SAY it was our three, four, and five runners really picking it up that made the difference,? said head coach Rob Kortman. ?They really trained these last two weeks. Megan Hopp really ran a good race. She was our number six girl today, but she pushed, and took places away from Onaway.? The girls did extra training at the state park to prepare, with the additional work paying dividends with another race to be run Saturday morning at 10 a.m. The best runners from Division IV run the first finals race of the d

ay at MIS. It?s familiar territory for senior Sarah Bruning. ?I?m excited,? said Bruning. ?I?m happy to have made it four years in a row.? Kari Johnson, who Kreft defeated as a freshman in Gaylord two years ago at regionals, outpaced the next placer by 40 seconds. Kreft was only a few more ticks behind. Kortman has been impressed with her efforts all season, especially after taking her junior year off with an injury. The next placers for the Hurons were Leilani Kortman (25th, 22:26), Jami Horn (29th, 22:50), Bruning (34th, 23:13), Hilary Lynch (36th, 23:19), Megan Hopp (40th, 23:37), and Amy Hughes (60th, 26:06).

Harbor Springs was the regional champ with 32 points. THARIN WILK made up five places with a mile left in the race to equal his 13th place finish from a year ago and become the only individual qualifier from the boys? team. His time was 17:35. ?It is 100 percent mental desire,? said Wilk. Several runners tried to stay with Wilk as he passed them, but he said he wanted it more and kicked it in down the stretch. Missing state by 10 places was Andy Grambau in 25th (18:17). The rest follow: Zak McLennan (47th, 19:06), Aaron Wilbert (59th, 19:47), Travis Lafferty (67th, 20:03), Jake Vogler (72nd, 20:20), and Andy Derry (79th, (21:03). Wilk will run in his final race as a Huron at 11 a.m. at the MIS track.

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