The Cedar Springs boys cross country team competed against seven other local teams in the MHSAA Pre-Regional Championships held at Cedar Springs on October 24. The team finished fourth and secured a spot to move onto regional action. 

“The boys knew that they had to be top four to move on to regionals as a team, and that on paper we were on the outside looking in by just a few points. They stepped up with fearless confidence and got the job done, moving up and finishing in the top 4 as a team,” said Coach Justin Jones. “Watching them learn to look adversity in the eye and say ‘nope, I have the power and ability to change that’ are the moments that I will always cherish the most as a coach. Proud would be an understatement.” 

Corey Bowers finished first overall running in at 15:52. Clayton Akerman (11^th) ran his lifetime best at 16:44 which moves him to the number eight spot on the all-time sophomore performance list for Cedar Springs. Making the difference for the team was Gabe White (31st) who got into a great position at the start of the race and held onto it. Austin Mann (33rd), Carter Moleski (34th) and Cayden Steinebach (35th) ended up in a position where they were packed together the second half of the race, knowing they would be the difference makers for the race and finished almost exactly where they needed to be in a projected winning scenario. Eli Malon (38th) followed close behind with a hard-fought race to cap off a successful day for the CS boys.  

“Regionals can’t come soon enough. I’m looking forward to going head to head against some of the state’s best teams and runners on one of our favorite courses,” said Coach Jones.  Regionals will be held at Benzie Central High School on October 31 with a start time of 4 p.m.

While the varsity ran at home, the JV took to the road and traveled to Benzie Central High School where they competed in the Benzie Go Out On Top Invite. The boys finished second out of three teams competing and it was a day full of lifetime bests.  Zach Reed broke into the 17s for the first time finishing 2^nd overall and first for the Red Hawks in a time of 17:56. Running their lifetime personal bests were Gabe Minnich (6^th) at 18:04 followed closely by Justin Voskuil (7^th) at 18:05. Eli Kleynenberg was not far behind finishing 8^th with his lifetime PR of 18:10. Alex Cole finished 14^th for the Red Hawks breaking into the 18s for the first time at 18:57. Luke Price also ran a huge PR of 21:29 finishing 27^th. 

The boys cross country team took second at regionals and are headed to state finals.

The Cedar Springs Boys Cross Country team is headed to the MHSAA Division 2 State Finals. The team placed 2nd out of the 15 teams that competed at the Division 2 Regional 10 meet at Michaywe Pines Golf Course in Gaylord, Michigan, on October 27.  

The boys were led by Corey Bowers who finished 3rd overall, breaking the 16 minute barrier for the second time this season in a time of 15:59. Jaydon Moleski had the biggest personal record of the day running a 30-second lifetime best and  finishing in 6th overall in a time of 16:14. Bowers and Moleski each earned All-Regional honors. Dilan Sargent just missed his lifetime best coming in 16th overall in a time of 16:44. Austin Mann ran a personal lifetime best time of 16:53 finishing in 19th overall. Gavin Braciak had a season best time of 17:09 to finish in 29th overall. Daniel Vermulm had his second best race of the year coming in 53rd overall in a time of 17:52. Carter Moleski ran well in his first meet of this importance coming in 64th overall in a time of 18:15.

 “Our boys’ team ran a hard fought race at regionals to finish 2nd and qualify for the D2 state finals at Michigan International Speedway this weekend,” said Coach Garrett Lacy. “We lost to a phenomenal Fremont team, who is one of the best teams in the state. We are excited about our potential moving forward to the state meet next weekend as well. Chelsea and Fremont look to be the top two teams in the state at this point, but after that I see it being a hard fought battle amongst several teams for spots 3-10. We are hoping for a top 5 finish to improve upon our 10th place finish at the state meet a year ago.” 

L to R: Marjorie Hosking, Tonya Tepin, Isabel VanDusen, Lily Howland, Maggie Prins, Ally Ladd, Carolanne Merlington, and Coach Melinda Stressman.

The girls team had a great day of season and personal bests. The team placed 10th out of 14 teams. Senior Carolanne Merlington led the Lady Red Hawks and placed 31st in a time of 20:30 and earned herself a season record. Maggie Prins placed 38th with a time of 20:46 to finish out her season with a lifetime personal best. Coming in next for the Red Hawks was Tonya Tepin, who placed 57th with a time of 21:35, and  also earned herself a lifetime personal record. Continuing with the trend of earning lifetime personal bests, Isabel VanDusen kept the streak rolling placing 64th in a time of 22:03. Following closely was Lily Howland placing 68th with a time of 22:25.  Aslo achieving a lifetime personal best was Marjorie Hosking with a time of 22:47. She placed 76th.  Finishing 84th was Ally Ladd in a time of 23:04. She also earned herself a lifetime personal best.  

“I was so happy with how the girls performed. They ran hard and continued to push each other in the race to move up as it went on. We had a lot of them reach their lifetime PRs and that’s great! The course was pretty fast. We were hoping for a better place but honestly they went out and did what they were supposed to do. I’m very excited for this program. There is so much talent and they work hard, now we just have to keep applying it in the competitions more and more as we go. I’m so proud of them, they’ve really come more together as a team,” said Coach Melinda Stressman.

The boys will travel to Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn on Saturday, November 3, and compete at 1:30 p.m. Let’s go Red Hawks!