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During this weeks race notes, we will cover 2 races - Jambo 1 and the New Boston Huron Invitational. Both meets were at Willow Metropark and the weather for both was high 70's/low 80's and sunny. We have not had rain here for several weeks so the course is in good running condition.
Jambo #1:
2014!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's the last time that our varsity group posted a win at Jambo 1. This is the first time we have faced our in conference rival TTUN (For those that are new to races notes, I refer to Ann Arbor Pioneer as TTUN (that team up north, it's an Ohio State/Michigan thing). This is done respectfully (their coaches are personal friends of mine) and we have nothing but respect for their team). As predicted, this came down to a race between Saline and TTUN. Our team bested them by 3 points!! We talk everyday about how every place matters. It definitely did in this meet.
McKinley Jones led Saline finishers with a PR of 18:39, good for second place overall and also placing her at #4 all time on the freshmen list and #19 of all classes.
Savannah Staton was 5th overall in a PR of 18:54 (#10 on the all time freshmen list). Most importantly, she was 5 seconds ahead of TTUN's #3, adding some key points to their score.
The Saline pack also made the difference in this race. Savannah was followed by Corynn Gady (20:00), Lilli Schlack (20:03) and Kate Munson (20:23) to complete our scoring 5. They all placed in front of the TTUN #4.
Grace Roth was the next Saline finisher. While her points did not count for Saline, they did for TTUN as she finished in front of their #5. Following Grace were Addie Turck, Mackenzie Sellenraad, Sophie Roth and Abby Roth. All 10 of these athletes ran quite well and, for the first time in a long time, can call themselves Jambo 1 winners. By the way, look for these jerseys at future Jambo 1's. This was a new thing for us and before the race, the younger members of the team decided these will be our Jambo 1 jersey's in the future.
In the open race, our team was amazing. They scored 22 points, 51 points better than Dexter (73). This was not often the case last year so it's nice to see our open athletes return to their winning reputation.
I'm not sure exactly what happened at the front of the open race. When Riley passed me just before 3 miles, she was in 2nd place and it was not very close. I was surprised to find her at the team tent and she told me she won!! That's right, Riley Provost was the CHAMPION of the open race at Jambo 1!!
Mahalia Staton finished in 3rd overall, followed by Lizzie Thibeault (5th) Carrie Schwartz (6th) and Kennedy Lange (7th). Jillian Hayes (10th) and Kylie Warner (13th) rounded out the scoring spots for Saline.
As mentioned earlier, it was a warm day on Tuesday (after a full day of school as well). That makes the season best 27:34 by Katie Reading (54th overall) that much more impressive. The same can be said for the all time PR's posted by Delaney Niven (27:41, 57th overall) and Dahlia Dell'Orco (30:15, 81st overall).
New Boston Huron Invitational
Before we get into the results of this meet, it's important we talk about the race results. There was one athlete on the team who was at the finish line Saturday for every single Saline boy and girl that finished, yet you will not see her name in any XC results this fall. Grace Oberski stepped under the timing tent to help DL Pro Timing with race results. She did this during track as well and she does a phenomenal job in a very high pressure situation. Grace is also the social media coordinator for our team and brings nothing but positive energy to our program. We cannot wait to see what she does in track when she is allowed to compete again!
On the course, our team showed up to compete. We did not plan to run all of the athletes at this meet but we also let the runners advocate for themselves.
Corynn Gady was one of the athletes who "negotiated" herself into the race. This future business/marketing major certainly has that skillset. We discussed the importance of not squandering the opportunity. She certainly did not, knocking off 51 seconds from her time on the same course in Jambo 1 - good for 19:09 (3rd overall).
Grace Roth (another of the negotiators) also ran a season best finishing in 20:27 (11th oveall).
Abby Roth was the 3rd Saline finisher (21:15, 21st overall). She ran her best race of the year and looked absolutely great coming to the finish line.
Mackenzie Sellenraad negotiated herself into the race and learned a little more about her running style. She finished in 30th place in 21:55. Mahalia Staton rounded out the Saline scoring at 39th overall. Riley Provost (51st) and Kylie Warner (53rd) were in the top 7 for Saline.
Kennedy Lange was the 8th Saline finisher, running a season best 23:29 and finishing 55th overall.
Lizzie Thibeault finished in 57th (23:32) and Mia Washington was 71st in 24:06. The varsity team was 4th overall to some very strong competition.
Saline was the best team in the open division. Saline scored 53 points, finishing ahead of Macomb Dakota and Grosse Pointe South.
Jillian Hayes was the first Saline finisher in the open race. She was 5th overall with a season best of 23:42.
Lucy Sweeney, who was flying through the 2nd lap of the course, was the 2nd Saline finisher in 24:12 (8th place).
This was not a particularly fast day, which makes the 3rd finisher, Marissa, all the much more impressive with her 24:32 PR, good for 12th place overall.
Carrie Schwartz, Ruthie Bonfiglio, Peyton Aagesen (who we share with the golf team) and Lola Lange (yes, Lola of sprint fame in the spring) rounded out the top 7 in the open race.
Isabella Routson continued her mission to PR at every opportunity with a PR of 28:07 (67th place).
Kat Szura finished the race with a smile on her face and a time of 33:07. We really enjoy having Kat on the team. She is one of the 5 freshman that have joined us this year and we're really happy she is here!
Congratulations also to the Saline Middle School XC teams that won every race in which they participated yesterday. The future is bright!!
Our next race is Friday (open runners) and Saturday (varsity runners) at the Jackson Invitational. This will be the first time that the open runners have been at Jackson in many years. We're excited to see everyone back in action.
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