Seven Region teams, 24 individuals qualify for state in cross country

Cassandra Roupe has been digging through the history of New Boston Huron’s boys cross country.

She can’t find any regional championships for the Chiefs.

As a matter of fact, the last time she can find her team qualifying for the state finals is 1979.

The history books will need a re-write after Huron won its Division 2 regional Saturday to earn a spot in the state finals at Michigan International Speedway on Nov. 2.

“It’s very exciting,” Roupe said after guiding her team to the regional title at Lake Erie Metropark. “It’s been a long time.”

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Huron and Flat Rock both won boys regional championships Saturday.

They will be headed to the state finals along with the boys teams from Bedford and Erie Mason and the girls squads from Airport, St. Mary Catholic Central and Summerfield.

The Region also had 24 runners qualify individually.

DIVISION 1

GIBRALTAR – Bedford’s boys grabbed the third and final state-qualifying spot, but the girls just missed for the Mules in fourth place.

The boys had 89 points to finish behind Saline and Ann Arbor Pioneer.

Bedford made it with Dane Hieronimus seventh, Cameron Varner 11th, Maddi Duke 22nd, Nick Balla 24th and Logan Thomas 25th.

Myles Bray (16) and Parker Bomia-Laberdee (21) qualified individually for Monroe.

Bedford’s girls placed fourth, and Gibraltar Carlson was fifth in a meet where the top three times move on to the state finals.

Individual qualifiers were Iva Ravindra (9) and Sophia Johnson (21), Giada Fioritto (19) and Livia Boucher (26) of Carlson and Anna Coury (22) of Monroe.

DIVISION 2

GIBRALTAR – Huron’s boys scored 64 points to finish 6 points ahead of runner-up Chelsea.

“We came in slates as No. 1,” Roupe said. “We just tried to keep the guys nice and relaxed. We just had to come in and do what we’ve done all season. … They all stepped up.”

Lucas Kuhn and Luke Dulecki placed second and third, respectively, for Huron, which also got strong performances from Cameron Crane (13), Kyle Biller (18) and Tanner Kuhn (28).

Dundee’s Isaak Rubley placed fourth and will be joined at state by William Dobbertin (11) and Callum Bell (15) of Airport.

Airport’s Courtney Bovair won the girls race in 18:11.60 and led her team to the third and final state-qualifying spot. She was supported by Ella Baker (9), Brenna Baker (21), Emily Sell (23) and Jaelynn Greene (33).

Monroe County Region individual qualifiers were Avery Turk (4) and Falyn Doss (11) of New Boston Huron, Amerie Wilson of Milan (5), Kaylee Hovey (13) and Allison Ost (19) of Dundee.

DIVISION 3

NEW BOSTON – Flat Rock’s boys cross country team won its first regional championship since 1991 last fall.

The Rams enjoyed it so much that they decided to do it again.

Flat Rock repeated as champions Saturday, winning the Division 3 regional at Willow Metropark.

“We raced five times at Willow Metropark five times this year,” Merkel said. “That was on purpose. We wanted them to be very familiar with that course.”

That familiarity was evident

Jacob Stanislawski (16:12.7), Nathan Vargo (16:18) and Lucas Taraszkiewicz (16:18.7) took the top three sports, and Adam and Brayden Brodie finished 14th and 24th, respectively, to round out the top five for the Rams.

“The Brodie bothers have been running four and five for us all year,” Merkel said. “They know that a lot is riding on them. They really stepped up today, like they have been doing all season.”

Flat Rock wound up with 43 points.

“The boys ran really well,” Flat Rock coach Dave Merkel said. “As you say, they were locked in, all business.”

Erie Mason took second with 89 as Austin Sulier, Parker Campbell, Caleb Healey, Weston Albright and David Mills ran 7-9-22-23-31.

“Mason has a good young group of runners coming up,” Merkel said. “It’s good to see another Monroe County team go to state.”

Qualifying individually were Cristian Craanen of St. Mary Catholic Central (4), Luke Stanley of Ida (10) and Luke Masserant of Jefferson (13).

SMCC’s qualified for the fourth straight year by placing third behind Blissfield and Grass Lake in the girls standings.

Bella LaFountain led the Kestrels in third place. She was supported by Juleigh Hughes (15), Claire Lisker (22), Leona Knudsen (24) and Makayla Markgraff (26).

“I told the girls that today it is all about goals over pain,” SMCC coach Keaton Marks said. “They all ran amazing and executed their plans perfectly. They ran hard and left it all out on the course. I couldn’t be more proud of these girls.”

Individual qualifiers were Megan Woelkers of Flat Rock (4), Mia Schroeder (7), Claie Miller (14) and Kim Miller (16) of Jefferson, Elizabeth Lambert (11), Alaina McClain of Whiteford (12) and Julia Hughes of Ida (15).

DIVISION 4

JACKSON – Summerfield’s girls are headed to the state finals for the first time in school history after placing third in the Division 4 regional at Ella Sharp Park.

Five of the seven Summerfield girls had personal-best times with Makenzie Wolfe (sixth), Grace Raymond (10th), Abby Raymond (16th), Shylee Iott (28th) and Claire Franzen (37th).

“We knew we had a chance,” Summerfield coach Corey Shipe said. “We were ranked fifth or sixth all season, but we wouldn’t have made it if the girls didn’t run those personal bests.”

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Seven Region teams, 24 individuals qualify for state in cross country