Jambo 1 & Huron Invitational

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. 

Jambo1: 

We started the week with Jambo 1 on Tuesday.  We've been looking at this date for a while knowing that we have one of the toughest conferences in the state.  TTUN is definitely a state title contender and Skyline has built a strong program that was 2nd to them on Tuesday.  Saline finished in 3rd a place to which we are not accustomed to finishing.  We ran well, we just ran against some tough competition.  

As she has for the last few races, Savannah Staton led all Hornets to the finish.  She was 7th overall in a season best 18:42.  She was followed by Lilli Schlack in 19:50.1 (17th).  Addie Turck took the 3rd spot in 19:50.5 (19th).  Caroline Cotner was 26th overall in 20:41 and Sophie Roth rounded out the top 5 in 31'st place with a 20:56. 

Payton Aagesen (22:46) and Mia Washington (23:22) were the final Saline finishers in the varsity race.  

In the open race, the Saline team finished 4th overall.  Freshman Ruby Giddings was the first Saline finisher in a PR of 22:31.  She was followed by Senior Captain Claire Oberski who ran a 22:51 PR.  Claire has PR'd in every race she has run this year.  Claire was followed by two other captains - Riley Provost (22:52) and Hannah Gritzmaker (23:05).  In 22nd place, sophomore Michelle Jiang ran a 23:19.  She was followed by the twin power of Kennedy Lange (23:35) and Lola Lange (24:00).  Lola has also PR'd in all of her races this year.  

The next three runners were a trio of Isabelle(a)'s - Routson (25:12), Calati (25:21) and Driver (25:22 - her first race of the year).  Shyla Smith finished in 25:38, a season best.  Emma Allis also ran a season best in 26:49.  They were followec by three freshman - Ellie Rodriguez, Seraphina Newton and Gloria Jambon (PR of 29:21).  Moira Laundree ran a 29:33 followed by Jenna Sweet in a PR of 30:50.  Olivia Lewis ran a SB of 31:05 and she was followed closely by Grace Patton.  Janaye Sifuna set another PR in 31:29 and was closely followed by Kylie Musser in 31:29.9.  Natasha Hatlem ran a 32:51.  

New Boston Huron Invitational: 

It was a great day at the New Boston Huron Invitational!  It's always nice when you come away as champions in everything that you do.  Saline High School Girls Cross Country are the champions of the varsity and open races.  

We also had individual championships from Savannah Staton in the varsity race and Senior Captain Hannah Gritzmaker in the open race.  Hannah ran a PR of 22:15 - 47 seconds faster than she has run this year and her fastest time since she was a sophomore.  Impressive!!

The good news does not stop there.  In the varsity race, Saline finished in the top 3 spots.  Lilli Schlack was second in 19:13.  She was followed by Addie Turck in 19:34 - I'm still trying to figure out how Addie finished 4 seconds in front of the 4th place runner.  When she came by me with about 400 meters to go, she was about 2 seconds behind the athlete that she beat.  I credit our sprint coaches (and Addie of course) for this incredible finish.  Caroline Cotner (20:20) and LT (20:45) both PR'd on this amazing day.  Sophie Roth (20:48) was the next Hornet and she was followed by Mahalia Staton in a sub 21 PR of 20:50.  Ruby Giddings made it a clean sweep for freshman PR's in the varsity race running 22:08.  Claire Oberski PR'd again! The Captain ran 22:44 and was followed closely by Mia Washington in 22:46.  6 of the 10 varsity runners ran either a PR or a season best.  They set the stage for what was to come in the open race. 

In the open race, we had 21 athletes compete.  Of those 21, 16 ran either a personal best or a season best.  That's impressive running!  We already mentioned Hannah's championship.  She was followed by Kennedy Lange in 2nd and Marissa Salazar in 5th - both ran season bests.  Jenna Hardy ran a PR of 23:28 before jetting off to a soccer match in Ann Arbor.  Isabelle Calati and Lola Lange rounded out Hornets finishing in the top 10 (7th and 8th) with Lola running a PR of 23:54.  Lola has PR'd in every race this season.  Not to be outdone Bella Routson finished in a PR of 24:33 and Isy Driver ran a PR of 25:00.  Shyla Smith, Hayley Hummel and Emma Allis all ran season bests and finished in 21st, 25th and 27th.  Freshman Ellie Rodriguez, perhaps motivated by a parental promise of Ugg's with a PR, did just that clocking 27:03.  She was followed by fellow freshman Seraphina Newton in a PR of 27:23.  Moira Laundree ran a PR of 27:59.  Kat Szura finished in 62nd place in a season best 30:25.  Grace Patton cross the line after Kat.  Elizabeth Giles, motivated by the presence of her dog Lolo, ran a season best 31:31.  She was followed by Heidi Reimold finishing her 2nd 5k of the week in a PR of 31:58.  Olivia Lewis, Teagan Dzagulones, Natasha Hatlem and Dylan Erickson also ran impressive races for the Hornets.  

Credit for all of these photo's goes to Laura Washington and Kathy Gage.  They have done a great job capturing many key moments in our season.  We appreciate their work! 

Coaches are very excited by what we have seen this week.  Training has ramped up and we ran some fast times on tired legs.  We're next in action at the Jackson Invitational on Friday (open) and Saturday (varsity).