1987 Girls Cross Country

Since winning its first state championship in 1981, the DeWitt girls cross country program was very close to winning a second state title with two runner-up finishes and two top ten finishes at the Class C state meet in the five seasons that followed.  In 1987, Coach Barry Kloenhamer and his sixth ranked team were poised to push through and win the program’s second state championship.  At the first invitational of the season in Carson City, DeWitt earned a 33-point victory over Mount Pleasant, which vaulted DeWitt to the top of the Class C rankings.  The girls opened league competition with three straight perfect scores versus Charlotte, Eaton Rapids, and Lakewood.  At the DeWitt Invitational, the Panthers sent a shock wave to neighboring rival and pre-season top ranked Bath with a convincing 30-62 victory before crushing Bronson 21-56 at the Olivet College Invitational.  The Panthers validated their claim to the Capital Circuit title finishing 6-0 with victories over Lansing Catholic Central, Okemos, and Mason.  The league meet would crown the Panthers champions for the third straight year as five runners would place in the top ten and crush second place Lansing Catholic Central by 52 points.  DeWitt secured its fifth regional title in eight seasons with a 37-point victory over second place Addison.  With seventh, eighth, and ninth place individual finishes at the state meet, the Panthers recorded a 78-127 victory over Burton-Atherton.  With a second state championship in hand and five top three finishes at the state meet in the decade, the DeWitt girls cross country program earned the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association (MITCA) award for Class C Team of the 1980s. 

The 1987 Girls Cross Country State Champions included the following members (front row L-R): Stacy Cook, Traci Ruiz, Missy Moloney (back row): Stacey Kemler, Teri Osborn, Maureen McBride, Barb Babcock, and Head Coach Barry Kloenhamer.