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Chippewa Hills' Ava Hollandworth heads to the finish line of Thursday's CSAA race.
Pioneer photo/John Raffel
MORLEY - - Reed City got past Big Rapids boys 58-75 in a tight race for first place at Thursday’s first of three Central State Activities Association races.
It was also the debut of Morley Stanwood’s new course around the school grounds.
For the boys, it was Reed City with 58, followed by Big Rapids (75), Central Montcalm (78), Kent City 117. White Cloud (129), Tri County (142), Chippewa Hills (169), Morley Stanwood (198), Grant (236) and Newaygo (266).
Central Montcalm won the girls with 46, followed by Kent City (77), Chippewa Hills (79), Newaygo (135), Tri County (139), Big Rapids (149), Reed City (155) Morley Stanwood (166), White Cloud (211) and Lakeview (243)
For Reed City, Gus Rohde was third (16:57.00), Anthony Kiaunis sixth (17:00.77), Ryan Allen seventh (17:06), Ty Kailing 13th (17:38) and Aaron Allen 27th (19:12.16).
“It was a great race,” Kiaunis said. “I felt good. My positioning was good on the first mile. I hung right there with Owen (Westkerkamp), Jake (O’Neil) and my race teammate Gus Rohde. It was a good-all around race. It was a great flat course. It looped around a couple of times.”
“We started out real strong and got our position,” he said. “My first mile was 5:29, but the second mile made us right. I had a PR today.”
Owen Westerkamp was second for Big Rapids (16:31.34) behind Kent City’s Samuel Martin (16:10.50). Also for Big Rapids, Ben Knuth was eighth (17:09.83), Kyan Deam 18th (18:14.06), Hayden Gould 23rd (18:43.18) and Brayden VanOs (19:35.43).
“It went pretty good,” Westerkamp said. “I stayed with the front guy for the most of it and had a close finish.”
“It was all right but I didn’t feel the best today,” Knuth said. “It was nice to be on a new course and in the conference.”
“For our conference race, we looked strong,” BR coach Brenden Bennett said. “Overall, we looked strong. We’re looking forward to our next conference race (Oct. 4 at Lakeview).”
Chippewa Hills’ Jake O’Neal was third (16:31.78) overall while teammates Matthew Brownell was 21st (18:33.87), Jacob Simon 34th (19:42.96), Raiden Stenquist 64th (22:03.52) and Hunter Hoover 65th (22:03.52).
“It was really good weather conditions,” O’Neil said. “It was a pretty competitive race. It was great for a brand new course.”
Morley Stanwood had Tyler Vining 17th (18:00.42), Shelby Hopkins 20th (18:26.34), Dylan Phillips 48th (20:49.02), Gavin Cornell 69th (22:40.42) and Kayden Kangas 70th (22:55.15).
For the girls, the race winner was Lila Volkers of Kent City. Morley Stanwood’s Miranda McNeil took third as the top local runner (19:27.93).
Also for Morley Stanwood, Claire Johnston was 21st (22:54.46), Grace Supanich 36th (23:53.30), McKenzie Houtman 42nd (24:35.49) and Morgan Bennett 75th (28:32.15).
“It was nice running on the home course for the first time,” Johnston said. “I felt strong.”
Ava Hollandsworth (20:25.96) was seventh and Quinn Hatfield was eighth (2041.93) as Chippewa Hills’ top two runners. Also for the runners, Augusta Bowman was 15th (22:17.15), Haylee Livermore 24th (23:16.14) and Brooklyn Webster (23:20).
“It was perfect weather and I felt good,” Hollandsworth said. “I ran this race a little scared. The last race, I did not feel good. Once I felt my first real pain, I was scared that I would feel it again. So I backed up a bit. But I’m excited because I should run my next race strong and not be scared again.”
Oliviah Malloy (21:52.12) led Big Rapids in 12th followed by Gwen Rickard (22:39.09) in 16th, Summer Adams (22:53.52), in 19th, Haylee Livermore in 24th (23:16.14) and Brooklyn Webster 25th (23:20).
“I was a really fast course today,” Malloy said. “It was very similar to the last race we had.”
"The girls continue to improve every race," Big Rapids coach Sharon Schumann said. "We had 10 of our 12 runners PR today. We have a lot of new runners on our team and they are eager to learn. I have no doubt we will continue to see more success as the season progresses. I am proud of the girls, this is a fun group to be a part of."
For Reed City, Nora Smoes was ninth (21:01.93), Clare Smoes 13th (22:01.93), Carly Carlson 41st (24:34.68), Makayla Watkins 47th (25:12.49) and Ava Hammar 48th (25:14.31).
“I was pretty happy for the boys today,” Reed City coach Rich Saladin said. “It’s a tough conference. Winning first overall is a big deal. I’m proud of Ryan Allen and (brother) Aaron Allen. They really stood out with their performances today. It was a great race overall. Paul Saladin, our normal No. 5, was injured today and unable to run. But everyone stepped up to the plate. On the girls side, Nora and Clare had strong runs.”
