John Raffel
Sports Scene
Lansing Catholic’s girls cross country team fell 11 points shy of a Division 3 state title this season.
Lansing Catholic earned 88 points for second place while Traverse City St. Francis took first with 77.
The Cougars were led in the team race by Olivia Theis, who took second (17:41.3); Lauren Cleary, third (18:24.20); Jaden Theis, fifth (18:55.0); Grace Frost, 31st (20:28.89 ); Rachel Reid, 47th (20:53); Elaina Phelps, 96th (21:44.0); and Abigail Gilmore, 167th (23:57.6).
“We were hoping for first,” Theis said. “We worked really hard this year. We’ve been training and we were hoping for it. Second is pretty good.”
The Cougars’ top three runners, including Theis, will all be returning next season.
Theis finished second to Hart’s Adelyn Ackley (17.40.6), who won the race.
“I think it went pretty well,” Theis said. “I got out good with my teammate. It went well at the beginning. We broke away. In the final straightaway, Adelyn caught me and I couldn’t make up for it.”
Cleary finished higher than what she was ranked,
“I ran out and did my own race,” she said. “It worked out better than it should be. We definitely had a chance to win. We just wanted to work hard and see what happens. We were really close with (St. Francis) at Portage. We knew we had a chance.”
Theis is a freshman while the other two girls are sophomores.
“It was not my best time, but I’m pretty happy with my place,” she said. “It was pretty muddy out there, so that makes sense.”
The Cougars have been gearing for a state title run all season, Cleary said, adding that “hopefully my team can contend for first next season.”