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Crud!! We started getting the emails the week before and they started in earnest last Sunday. "Coach, I cannot make it to practice tomorrow/today, I'm home sick". The "crud" was moving its' way through our team. It's expected at this time of the seeason. The athletes have been in school for a few weeks, passing their germs to each other, it was only a matter of time. Truthfully, we'd rather have things move through the team now than when we are trying to help each athlete peak for their season.
We went into the weekend not knowing what to expect. Athletes that were sick and had to miss workouts or cut them short. There were days when the team meeting room sounded like a coughing competition. However, these athletes are resilient! They really did a great job this weekend and turned in some great performances.
The team was split again with part of the team at Monroe Jefferson and the other at the Jackson Invitational. For this week, we are going to cover the races in the reverse order of when they were run. It also happens to be the order of highest to lowest finish, but that is an aside. Freshmen and sophomore's on the Saline team had a great day!
In the Monroe Jefferson Invitational Open Race, the girls finished first (that means they won! and are champions) with 25 points to beat a very talented 2nd place Brighton squad that scored 37 points. The runners up front, Hannah, Kennedy, Ruthie, Mimi and Kailyn worked as a pack to dominate the competition. There was a 42 second spread from Hannah to Kailyn - impressive!!
Hannah Gritzmaker led the way for the Hornets in this race with a PR of 23:50. She placed 2nd overall and had a back and forth race for 1st place overall.
Mimi Staton also had a great race turning in a PR of 24:31. What's more amazing than that? Mimi is also on the SHS field hockey team. She does a nice job splitting her time and excelling at both.
Emma Allis put together another Hornet PR. This freshman has been showing constant improvement all season long. We're proud of the work she has been putting in and she is starting to see the results.
Freshman Elizabeth Giles had a fantastic day. She decided to PR in a big way. Her PR coming into the day was a 31:09. She decided to skip the "30's" and the "29's" and run a 28:58!! That's a massive improvement! Way to go Elizabeth!!
The Monroe Jefferson Invitational Varsity Race was a competitive race. Like Saline, Brighton (1st place) split their squad with some running at Monroe Jefferson and others running at Jackson. Monroe (2nd place) was full strength for this meet. The varsity girls took 3rd place overall - a very respectable finish.
As she has all year, Rebecca Rummel turned in another great time and led the way for the Hornets. She is an extremely consistent runner. Following Rebecca, were Ayla Stager, Kylie Warner, Jill Hayes, Katie Reading, Mia Washington, Neva Rognes and Mara McClellan. The spread from Rebecca to Neva (1-7) was 60 seconds - impressive!!
Ayla Stager turned in a season best 22:45 in the varsity race, good for 13th overall and 2nd for Saline.
Kylie Warner followed Stager to the line with a season best 23:22.
We've had the Jackson Invitational circled on the calendar for a while. Looking at the registered teams, we knew the meet was going to be good one. 4 of the top 5 teams in the state, with Saline ranked 7th, were going to be in the field. The field did not disappoint. Romeo ran a great race going 3-5 and took 1st place overall, besting Pioneer, Brighton and Northville. Saline finished 5th, 5 points behind Northville. For the first time this season, despite the illness going through the team, our top 10 runners all had good races on the same day! We also had the benefit of having Kathy Gage with us and she took some great pictures to help tell the story.
As she has all year, Laney Alig led the Hornets in 14th place overall with a season best 18:42. This time places Laney 11th on the all time senior list, one place behind her sister Lydia (lookout Lydia 😀)
Lilly Schlack was the next Hornet to cross the line in a PR of 19:13. The sophomore has some writing to do on Monday on our all time sophomore list of times as she has entered the list as the 17th fastest sophomore in Saline history.
Corynn Gady finished 3rd for the Hornets in a time of 19:21. She continues to be a major factor in each race.
Sophie Roth, shown here in full sprint mode while her proud grandpa cheers her on (Michigan shirt and hat) had a great day. The freshman PR'd by 34 seconds, broke 20 minutes for the first time, turning in a 19:30. We told you this was coming!
Mackenzie Sellenraad had a great day, running a season best 19:50 and executing the race plan we had for her to perfection. She was 54th overall. Mackenzie was our 5th finisher so the spread from 1-5 was 1:08 - the closest we have been in a while.
Nancy Gage was the 6th Hornet, 55th overall with a time of 19:51 - her first time under 20 minutes. You have to come out and watch this young lady run to truly appreciate her style. She methodically picks off runners as she works her way through the pack.
Nancy was followed by Abby Roth (20:02), Grace Oberski (20:07), Grace Roth (20:13) and Bailey Burt (21:42). All of these runners ran, or were close to, season records.
We're really proud of how this team ran today and very excited about what we have coming in the next few weeks.
We're next in action on Wednesday for Jambo 2 at Saline High School (yes, we have created a course on campus)! We will then travel to Lake Erie Metropark on Saturday for the Marauder Invitational.
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