Area cross country teams have big days at Otsego Invite

OTSEGO — The Sturgis cross country team had a pretty successful Saturday in Otsego.

Several other local teams ran well and had success at Otsego as well. But for Sturgis, there were several lifetime best times recorded on the day. Berkley Holtz also set a new school record, finishing fourth and posting a time of 18:16.7 for her day.

There were thousands of student-athletes competing at Otsego on Saturday. Separate races for D1 through D4 took place in both varsity and junior varsity action. Bronson's girls won the D3 race with 58 points, Centreville's boys came in first in the D3 race as well with 61 points.

Sturgis ran in the Division 2 races. Following Holtz was Sydney Bir (17th) with a lifetime best run of 19:25 and Tessa Hatt (29th) with a lifetime best run of 19:41. Also logging a lifetime best for the girls was Eleanor Park (67th) with a time of 21:14.

For the boys, a pair of lifetime best runs were recorded. Nolan Park finished 21st at 16:33, Benji Morales came in 36th at 16:54.

Three Rivers was fourth as the boys were led by Sulley Zietlow in eighth at 16:01. Charlie Brauer came in 23rd at 16:35. The TR girls were led by Brynn Copenhaver in 73rd at 21:33 and Gabrielle Kilbourn in 82nd at 21:46.

For the Bronson girls, Ava Hathaway finished second (19:23) and Ashlynn Harris (19:52) came in third position. Alonna Goodsell finished seventh with a time of 21:44 and Lydia Wells finished 22nd at 23:33.

The Centreville boys were led by Will Hulin in second place at 17:34, Bryce Hekter ran to eighth position at 18:34 and Jayden Long-Hasse finished ninth at 18:36. Bronson's Adam Franks ran to 10th at 18:37, Centreville's Henry Sloat finished 13th at 18:45 while Tyler Wilber of Bronson ran to 14th at 18:45.

Mendon's Presley Allen finished third in the D4 race at 20:24. Rowan Allen ran to sixth position at 21:32. For the Hornet boys, Ben Iobe was fourth overall at 17:45 and Kyron Christner came in eighth at 18:52.

Colon was led by Dalton Williams at 19:58 (14th) while Brayton Thurston finished 18th at 20:52.

Earlier last week, Sturgis got a pair of Wolverine wins from the girls over Plainwell (25-31) and Three Rivers (20-35).

Holtz won the race at 21:27, Bir came in second at 22:04 and Hatt was fourth overall at 22:42. Eicher ran to eighth position with a time of 24:15.

For the boys, Park was fourth at 18:32, Morales came in sixth at 18:55. Zietlow won the race for Three Rivers at 17:26.

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: Area cross country teams have big days at Otsego Invite