No one was more excited about all the PR's at Willow and Bath than the youngest member of our team! In her custom gear (made by Mom) she urged the team on to some amazing performances.
The team was split this weekend between Rambling Rock at Willow Metropark and the Bret Clements Bath Invitational in Bath, MI. I'm not a big fan of splitting the team but logistics this year required that we do so. In the future, I hope to have everyone at the same venue.
Rambling Rock
We will start race notes with our runners at Willow Metropark. There were 30 Saline finishers in the open race. Of those 30, 17 ran a PR!! Those are incredible numbers and really speak to how hard the team has been working over the last few weeks. It also helped that we had some amazing weather for the meet.
Mia Washington was the first Saline finisher, finishing in 11th place overall with a 23:23. Mia is one of the hardest workers in our program and that work is showing some good results.
Mia was followed by Payton Aagesen in a PR of 23:49. Not only is she Saline's number one golfer, she's a pretty darn good runner too!! Carrie Schwartz was the 3rd Saline runner in a PR of 23:53.
Marissa and Gabby had a great day at Rambling Rock. They each dropped over 2 minutes from their previous PR's. That's really impressive!!
I've talked about Sienna and the positive energy she brings to the team. I'm not sure what words of wisdom she gave to her York Woods neighbor, Isabella Routson, but it worked. Isabella ran a 29:29 - her first time under 30 minutes and 3 1/2 minutes faster than she has ever run!!
There were so many PR's in this race that I cannot cover everyone here. Kat Szura, Moira Laundree, Olivia Lewis, Brooke Simon and Dylan Erickson were amongst others that dropped over one minute from their previous PR's.
In the varsity race at Rambling Rock, our team was up against some very tough competition. They finished 19th of 27 teams. Mahalia Staton led the team across the line, finishing in a PR of 22:24. Our next scorer was Riley Provost. Kylie Warner led a strong pack of Saline finishers (Hannah Gritzmaker, Lizzie Thibeault and Kennedy Lange) all finishing within 32 seconds of each other. Jillian Hayes rounded out the top 7 in the varsity race.
Bret Clements Bath Invitational
These 10 athletes were a little north of Lansing at the Bret Clements Bath Invitational. While there, they spent some time with Bret's family.
The good weather and fast times from the part of the team at Willow Metropark also extended north to Bath, MI. The rest of the team was there to do a workout as we prepare for Jambo 1. In doing so, they ran some very tough races and ended up being overall champions, ahead of a very talented Northville team.
McKinley Jones led all finishers as the individual champion. Her 18:46 places her as the 6th fastest freshman of all time at Saline (pushing Coach Creutz down the list a spot). She was followed by Savannah Staton who ran 18:55, good for number 10 on the all time freshman list. Savannah also decided to "skip the 19's" improving from a previous PR of 20:01 - that's impressive!! Kate Munson was the 3rd Saline finisher in a PR of 19:34 (more than a 1 minute PR from last year). Sophie Roth, Lilli Schlack, Corynn Gady, Addie Turck and Grace Roth executed the workout perfectly and all finished within 20 seconds of each other. It was great to see them working together on the course. They were followed by Mackenzie Sellenraad and Abby Roth also doing the work we asked them to do.
I also need to point out Addie Turck's PR. Her 20:33 is over a 1 minute improvement from last week at Puddle Jumper. It's fun to watch our freshmen runners learning how to run a 5k. Addie works hard in practice and at meets and it is clear she is going to continue to get stronger!
The team is next in action at Jambo 1 on Tuesday (at Willow Metropark) and then back at Willow on Saturday for the New Boston Huron Invitational.