Jackson

It's time for our annual journey to the always competitive Jackson Invitational.  This meet always shapes up as one of the premier meets in Michigan.  This year the organizers enhanced the course by adding mile and kilometer markers, as well as a dedicated area for awards.   The beautiful weather also helped to make it a great weekend.  

Open Race:

In the open races, we had 13 PR's and 4 season bests.  That's amazing work by these athletes.  Unfortunately, we don't have pictures from this race (if you have some, please upload them to our shared locations).  This is going to be a little text heavy. 

The first PR of the night was turned in by Ben Zapawa.  Ben trains with our program and races with the boys.  It's a great collaboration between our teams. One thing any observer of a meet will know, listen for the loudest cheers from the Saline girls team and you will find Ben close by. Ben ran a 21:10 - a 39 second PR. 

In the girls' race, the top 7 all set PR's.  6 of those top 7 are freshmen.  The results look amazing: 

• Maddie Cummings - 21:07 - a 90 second PR

• Addie McGee - 21:48 - a 20 second PR

• Ella Myers - 22:02 - a 52 second PR

• Catherine Kniffin (a junior) - 23:05 - a 19 second PR

• Ellery Toth - 23:06 - a 21 second PR

• Piper Rognes - 23:14 - a massive PR of 2 minutes and 15 seconds!!!

• Vivienne Millward - 23:37 - an almost 90 second PR

These 6 freshman and Catherine were impressive in their scoring positions in the JV race.  But wait, we're not done with PR's!!  There are a lot more to talk about. 

• Isy Driver - 24:03 - a 57 second PR and her first trip sub 25. 

• Seraphina Newton - her hard work this summer is paying off.  She ran a 25:29 - a 1:05 PR!

• Kylie Musser - 26:42 - a 30 second PR

• Anneka Faber - 28:04.  This senior took a chance on a new sport.  That chance is paying off.  This was a PR of 3 minutes and 40 seconds!!!  Woah!!!

• Grace Patton - 29:33 - her first time sub 30 with a 30 second PR

The team had a lot of fun on Friday.  They finished 3rd overall in an impressive field.  They also asked that me mention their lyrical skills in the race notes - a song has been created to cheer on other runners (ask the freshmen, they will be happy to sing it for you).  In addition to this song, we were assigned box 22 evoking references to Taylor Swift's song of the same name.  On our way to the starting line, the Dexter coach (Seana Larson, a good friend) asked for our box number - the entire team serenaded her with the answer.  It was a great night full of laughs and fast times!

Varsity Race

The varsity was in action on Saturday morning.  Like Friday, it was a beautiful day for a race.  Of the 10 athletes who ran, 6 had either a PR or a season best. 

Kate was followed by Addie Turck in a season best 19:02 (just a few seconds shy of her 19:00 PR).  Closely behind Addie was Savannah Staton in 19:09.  Senior/Captain Sophie Roth turned in a solid performance, finishing 4th for the team in 20:52.  She was followed closelly by Lauren Tomaszewski in 20:56.  Sophie and LT did a nice job of working together late in the race.  Caroline Cotner was the 7th Hornet across the line in a season best of 21:10.

Senior/Captain Payton Aagesen ran a 22:35 - not too far off her season best.  She's had a busy weekend as part of the homecoming court and was still able to turn in a solid effort for the team. 

As a team, we finished 14th of 36 teams.  While it was not the best we have done at Jackson, these types of races show us the opportunities for improvements we can make as we get closer to the post season.  It's good to understand those areas early so coaches can make the necessary adjustments.  

Jambo 2 is up next.  We will be at Willow Metropark for the first time this year.  Varsity races at 5pm and JV at 6:15pm.