Harke, Kiefers lead Cheboygan; Furman, McMullen fuel Inland Lakes at East Jordan XC invite

EAST JORDAN – The Cheboygan and Inland Lakes cross country teams opened their seasons at the East Jordan Invitational on Wednesday.

For the Cheboygan girls, who finished fifth in the big school division with 102 points, Sammy Harke clocked a 22:10 time to take 16th individually while teammates Cloee Rupp (22:51) and Breahna Campbell (22nd, 23:04) earned 21st and 22nd respectively. Addison Ptasnik (30th, 23:39), Isabella Hingston (33rd, 23:54), Mallory Ekdahl (46th, 24:59), Nola Ecker (49th, 25:08), Ella LaRocque (52nd, 25:45), Ava Hayden (70th, 29:54), Makayla Abernathy (71st, 29:56) and Bailey Blaskowski (80th, 34:40) also raced.

Carson Kiefer (18:34) finished 24th and Andrew Kiefer (18:44) earned 27th to pace the Cheboygan boys (172), who placed seventh. Other Cheboygan runners competing included Russell Abernathy (44th, 20:06), Alex Hudson (50th, 20:29), Collin Mersch (76th, 22:30), Evan Blaskowski (83rd, 23:10) and Jose Castro III (91st, 25:08).

CURRIE VOTED PRESEASON RUNNER OF YEAR: Mackinaw City's Braylon Currie voted Tribune's 2024 preseason XC runner of the year

AREA XC RUNNERS TO WATCH: Who will be the Cheboygan-area cross country runners to watch in 2024 season?

Sault Ste. Marie’s Gabe Litzner (15:26) won the boys race and Traverse City St. Francis’ Betsy Skendzel (18:10) finished first for the girls. Both TC St. Francis teams earned first.

The Inland Lakes girls were led by Elizabeth Furman, who finished 14 ^th at 22:32 in the small school division. Margaret Newman (38 ^th , 26:05) and Francis Bunker (45 ^th , 28:16) also raced for the Bulldogs.

For the I-L boys, Logan McMullen (20:17) placed 19 ^th , Terence O’Boyle (24:29) was 34 ^th and Austin Friske (24:54) claimed 35 ^th .

Winning the girls individual title was Johannesburg-Lewiston's Allie Nowak (18:00), while Petoskey St. Michael’s Cody Bradley (16:21) was the boys winner. Winning the team titles were the Harbor Springs boys and girls.

Contact sports editor Jared Greenleaf at jgreenleaf@gannett.com . Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @sportsCDT

This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Harke, Kiefers lead Cheboygan; Furman, McMullen fuel Inland Lakes at East Jordan XC invite