Best in the long run

Championship meet highlights efforts of middle school long-distance runners

 
  Video games, texting and Web surfing have taken a back seat to running for hundreds of local middle schoolers this fall.

  Proof was never more evident that Tuesday afternoon when a sea of sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders from the Plymouth-Canton School District's five middle schools capped their second season of competition with the annual Middle School Championship Meet on the challenging trails of Cass Benton Park.

  The seventh/eighth-grade course was two miles long while the sixth-grade course covered 1.5 miles.

  Discovery Middle School captured the sixth-grade title while Central won both the boys and girls championships in the seventh/eighth-grade race.

FINAL TEAM RESULTS: 1. Central, 34; 2. West, 68; 3. Discovery, 75; 4. Pioneer, 88; 5. East, 102.

Top 20 individual finishers
1. Liam Cardenas (C), 11:58.41
2. Max Rogowski (E), 11:59.42
3. James Gibbs (P), 12:24.14
4. Mace Gatzek (C), 12:24.57
5. Ammar Chistz (D), 12:27.59
6. Paul Vander (C), 12:32.21
7. Noah Engerer (C), 12:32.83
8. Gregory Schaver (C), 12:35.33
9. Johnny Dalton (E), 12:39.33
10. Eric Combee (C), 12:41.79
11. Alex Clark (P), 13:06.81
12. Wesly Tsou (D), 13:09.18
13. Pratik Patel (W), 13:18.77
14. Matthew Pahl (P), 13:19.53
15. Brendan Genaw (P), 13:21.72
16. Billy Toth (C), 13:22.11
17. Drew Yaekle (D), 13:22.46
18. Erik Liubakka (E), 13:22.76
19. Brian Brown (D), 13:24.38
20. Connor Lewis-Campbell (C), 13:30.06

FINAL TEAM RESULTS: 1. Central, 28; 2. West, 51; 3. Pioneer, 70; 4. Discovery, 113; 5. East, 118.

Top 20 individual finishers
1. Natasha Stevenson (C), 13:55.93
2. Hannah Stoliker (C), 13:56.86
3. Courtney Kurke (W), 14:01.66
4. Kelly Schmidt (D), 14:23.25
5. Emilia Hillard (C), 14:50.01
6. Jessica Siegler (P), 14:56.15
7. Allison Spitz (W), 15:04.84
8. Emily Hug (W), 15:05.25
9. Katelyn Fuller (C), 15:13.04
10. Rene DeBrito (E), 15:26.39
11. Alyssa Granowicz (C), 15:26.63
12. Madison Proben (P), 15:30.11
13. Marisha Potter (C), 15:31.10
14. Caitlyn Webb (C), 15:34.18
15. Shannon Burke (W), 15:39.37
16. Emily Marcero (P), 15:40.29
17. Kelli Garvey (P), 15:42.58
18. Catherine Lawton (W), 15:54.93
19. Emma Swales (P), 15:56.93
20. Emily Smith (P), 15:57.18

FINAL STANDINGS: 1. Discovery, 51; 2. West, 52; 3. Pioneer, 68; 4. Central, 86; 5. East, 90.

Top 20 individual finishers
1. Mary Galm (D), 8:47.47
2. Hunter Olson (P), 8:57.32
3. Sam Doloy (W), 8:58.37
4. Gabe Gatzek (C), 9:02.70
5. Peter Bruchnak (W), 9:13.98
6. Josh Wood (D), 9:19.17
7. Jason Ren (E), 9:22.36
8. Matt Song (E), 9:22.92
9. David Heldemeyer (C), 9:23.19
10. Natalie Nowicki (W), 9:25.40
11. Nate Yaekle (D), 9:27.55
12. Halley Katulski (W), 9:28.09
13. Megan McCurry (D), 9:30.34
14. Caroline Simko (E), 9:30.65
15. Kaya Knake (P), 9:33.69
16. Samantha McGrath (P), 9:41.85
17. Carson Pakula (P), 9:42.59
18. Daniel Mazur (P), 9:46.26
19. Emily Osika (C), 9:47.12
20. Ben Yaekle (D), 9:49.21

*Complete results can be found at www.salemcrosscountry.org.

 
Ed Wright can be reached at [email protected] or (734) 453-1980.