By John Raffel
Rockford edged Lakeland to take state title honors for the boys in Division 1 cross country Nov. 1 at Michigan International Speedway.
The Rams finished with 140 points compared to 146 for Lakeland and 148 for Waterford Mott.
Isaac Harding led the way for Rockford with a fourth-place finish in 15:23.2. Cole Johnson, a freshman, was eleventh in 15:40.9, Paul Burke 31st in 16:13.2, Grayson Harding 32nd in 16:15.5, and Grant Gabriel 62nd 16:30.1.
“I know we weren’t ranked first, but coming in, our coaches would say rankings don’t matter,” Harding said. “It’s all what you bring on state meet day. Everyone seemed to bring it today. We worked hard this year. It was exciting to find out we won.”
With the nature of the state meet, teams usually aren’t sure if they won until the results are posted. “We were trying to figure out where everyone was,” Harding said. “There’s so many people racing, that it’s hard to figure out who was where and who was in front of you.”
Various runners had their personal records for the Rams despite the cold, windy conditions.
Harding and Johnson were both all-state, and of the top five finishers for Rockford, only Burke graduates.
“Our coaches do a good job with the program,” Harding said.
It was Rockford’s first state title since 2002.
Boys’ State Champions: Rockford in Division 1, Grand Rapids Christian in Division 2, Benzie Central in Division 3, Beal City in Division 4
Girls’ State Champions: Birmingham Seaholm in Division 1, Grand Rapids Christian in Division 2, Ithaca in Division 3, Beal City in Division 4
Lansing Catholic enjoys individual state champion
Lansing Catholic didn’t win a state team title in Division 3, but it did take the individual crown. Keenan Rebera finished first in 15:30.2. In team standings, Benzie Central won with 86 points. Lansing Catholic finished second with 141, and Shepherd was fifth with 205.
“It was really windy out; it was tough, but that’s the spirit of cross country,” Rebera said. “I was really happy with how it went. It was a great way to end my senior year.”
The team “did pretty well,” he added. “We were definitely in the running to win. I definitely thought we’d have a chance. We had a pretty young team this year, so our freshman came out and had a chance to learn a thing or two about racing.”
Cedar Springs’ two defending state champions had to settle for second places this year in Division 2.
For the girls, Kenzie Weiler had a time of 18:23.5 but fell 2.5 seconds shy of Karrigan Smith of St. Johns.
“I felt that it went well,” Weiler said. “It was a competitive race and all you can ask for on this day. It was a good pack of us pushing each other for most of the race. It got down to the finish just like you would expect from a highly competitive girls’ race.”
It was cold and windy, but Weiler didn’t mind. “The colder the better,” she said.
Cedar Springs’ Austin Sargent had a time of 15:42.1 to place behind Morgan Beadlescomb of Algonac in 15:30.57.
“It’s definitely not how I wanted it to end,” Sargent said. “I didn’t have my best day today. I’ll use this as motivation to do better at the Foot Locker and and the Ohio races.
“I felt really good the whole race. We were head-to-head at the very end. He just outlasted me and my legs just gave out.”