Three Rivers boys cross country claims Big Hill Invite title; Sturgis starts at St. Joseph

THREE RIVERS — The Big Hill cross country invitational was held on Tuesday in Three Rivers as schools began their seasons.

The Three Rivers boys ran to first place as a team with 37 points in the 18-team invitational. Marshall (second, 61) and Plainwell (third, 105) finished in the top three while local schools Centreville (seventh, 211), Constantine (ninth, 238), Bronson (10th, 242) and Colon (15th, 374) also competed.

For the girls, Plainwell won at 45 points. Three Rivers ran to sixth at 123 and Centreville was ninth overall at 222.

Individually, Ashlynn Harris of Bronson paced the field with a time of 21:31 to win the race.

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Three Rivers finished with five runners in the Top 15. Sulley Zietlow led the Wildcats with a second-place finish at 16:12 and Charlie Brauer was sixth at 17:35. David Kore ran to eighth place at 17:48 followed by Reece Howes in 12th (18:21) and Jonah Zietlow was 14th (18:32).

"We had a lot of great performances tonight and our for our boys team to win against some expected state qualifying teams was awesome to see," Three Rivers coach Jason Muckel said. "If they have set a high bar early and we are excited to see what they can continue to do."

Leading the Three Rivers girls was Lillie Kerr in 15th at 23:20. Gabrielle Kilbourn posted a time of 24:04 (21st) and Savannah Headley finished 28th at 24:57. Brynn Copenhaver ran to 33rd (25:25) and Rylea Summer finished 46th (27:24).

Ethan Miller led the Centreville boys in 21st (19:03). Will Hulin's time of 19:57 was 32nd, Oliver Mildenberg came in 51st (21:11), Ben Truckenmiller ran a time of 21:26 for 54th and Henry Sloan finished 58th at 21:39.

The Centreville girls were led by Ellie Reed in 29th at 24:58. Addison Johnson came in 49th (27:31), Avaline Blum ran a time of 29:19 for 63rd, Autumn Schabes finished 65th at 30:01, Olivia Spanski came in 66th at 30:17.

The Constantine boys were led by Alessandro Avila in 15th at 18:33. Robbie King finished 37th (20:20), Logan Patmalnieks was 41st (20:32), Landon Hayes finished 73rd (23:28), Cole Bates finished 81st (24:12) and Brennan Piper's time of 25:41 was 86th. The Constantine girls were led by Everlee Carpenter in 32nd (25:15), Payton Featherstone finished 50th (27:45) and Emma Schnepp was 60th (28:33).

The Bronson boys for a 35th place finish from Tyler Wilber at 20:16. Adam Franks placed 38th (20:23), Brayton Cosby finished 53rd at 21:24, Jason Greenfield ran to 66th (22:23) and Matthew Anderson (23:43) placed 78th. Following Harris, the Bronson girls got a 34th position at 25:32 and Lydia Wells was 35th at 25:41. Abbi Ferry (28:03) ran to 56th.

Dalton Williams led Colon in 42nd at 20:41 and Chandler Lafler finished 82nd at 24:20. Brayton Thurston (85th, 25:24), Dane Borgert (94th, 27:46.6), Kayden LaClair (95th, 27:46.7) and Emmitt Schumacher (102nd, 34:58) also ran for the Magi.

Sturgis runs at St. Joseph Invitational

The Sturgis cross country teams opened the season earlier this week at the St. Joseph Invitational. This event has a freshmen-sophomore and junior-senior race for both the boys and girls, ultimately they combine the scores in each to come up with the order of finish.

Otsego came in the top overall spot with 24 points. The Bulldogs finished in the first position in all four races as a team. Behind the Bulldogs was St. Joseph (61) and Sturgis in third with 69 points, with 11 teams competing.

The Sturgis girls finished second overall behind Otsego, the boys were fifth overall.

Berkley Holtz led the Sturgis girls with a lifetime best run of 18:55, that was good for second place overall. Sydney Bir's time of 20:41 was good for fifth and Tessa Hatt posted a time of 22:24 to finish 14th. Hannah Garbine (23:51, 21st), Kenzie Eicher (24:22, 25th), Juliet Mendoza Rangel (24:25, 27th), Emma Garbine (24:48, 29th) and Kylie Brooks (24:59, 30th) all ran as well in the junior-senior race.

Eleanor Park placed eighth in the freshmen-sophomore race at 22:46 and Carolina Garcia ran to 16th at 24:01. Olivia Green's time of 24:45 was 23r, Graycee Cloutier came in 50th at 30:35.

For the boys, Nolan Park's time of 17:58 placed him 14th. Benjamin Morales was 19th at 18:43 and George Ebert finished with a time of 20:51 for 29th. Gage PeDue posted a time of 22:45 (49th) and Trey Pant was 54th at 24:46.

The younger race saw Micaiah Arreola lead Sturgis in eighth place at 19:32. Caleb Hohn ran a time of 20:19.9 for 14th, Henry Ebert was 15th at 20:19.9 in the race. Dechlan Fieberkorn's time of 20:51 was 18th. Ben Moses had a time of 21:39 (25th), Harper Morgan ran a time of 22:26 (29th) and Niko Morales was 30th at 22:40.

Contact Sports Editor Brandon Watson at bwatson@gannett.com . Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @BwatsonSJ.

This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Three Rivers boys cross country claims Big Hill Invite title; Sturgis starts at St. Joseph