Lakeview's Frank credits rival runner for pushing her to the win at All-City Championship

BATTLE CREEK - Lakeview's Lilamae Frank won the All-City girls cross country meet. But she said she couldn't have done it without a little help, in the form of one of her rivals from another team.

Frank and Harper Creek's Julia Faber ran much of Tuesday's All-City event nearly stride for stride. In the end, Frank finished first, but gave a nod to her opponent at the finish line.

"We did it. ... We did it together," Frank said to Faber moments after the race in a unique show of sportsmanship.

It was an emotional win for Frank, a junior who won this event as a freshman, but had a health scare last year and didn't contend.

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"I have been going through so many struggles, so this was the piece for me that was missing. I was just so glad I could pull through," Frank said. "I am so thankful for my competitor Julia, because I would never have run so well without her. She pushed me throughout the whole thing. She is such a great runner.

"This kinda proves something to myself that I could do this again after I won it my freshman year."

Frank helped the Lakeview girls win the team title at All-City Cross Country Championship Meet, held at Pennfield High School on Tuesday. The Spartans had 29 points to finish first. Harper Creek was second with 40 and Pennfield third.

Getting five runners in the top 10 was key for the Spartans in taking home the team trophy for the girls.

Besides Frank, Lakeview's Evelyn Calow was fourth overall in 22:47 with the Spartans' Amelia Kraemer taking seventh (23:16), Elayna Guadamuz eighth (23:16) and Georgia Micklewright in ninth (23:18).

"It's a good feeling to win this. This was one of our team goals and it feels good to accomplish one of our team goals. I think getting our third, fourth, fifth girls near the top for us was key in us ultimately securing this title," said Lakeview girls coach Jerry Haadsma.

Also earning All-City honors in the girls race was second-place Faber of Harper Creek in 21:27, with the Beavers' Rylee Zumer taking third (22:39) and Layla Sikworth taking fifth (22:56). Pennfield had two runners earn All-City as well with Peyton Rhoades taking sixth (22:59) and Ellie Bowen in 10th (23:30).

The Lakeview boys also won the city team title in a tight race with Harper Creek as the Spartans had 27 team points with the Beavers getting 30.

But the overall city champ was Harper Creek senior Dominic Lowrie, who finished second last year.

"This is pretty sweet, I'm not going to lie," Lowrie said. "This was a big goal for me. This was a challenging course. Every single turn we were making was at least a 90-degree angle, it seemed. It was very hard on your knees, very hard on our ankles and the times weren't great this year."

Lowrie finished first in a time of 17:28, ahead of second-place Jonah Bills of Lakeview in 18:00.

The Spartans had six runners in the top 10 to push Lakeview to the team title with freshman Karson Lewis taking fourth (18:10), Alex Rogers in sixth (18:23), Jackson Duval in seventh (19:21 and Parker Miller in eighth (19:27). Also earning All-City honor for Lakeview was Carter Hughes in ninth place.

"We had a really good race. we ran smart. We knew it was going to be close, but we ran a real disciplined race and I was really proud of them for that," Lakeview boys coach Jake Zimmerman said.

Besides Lowrie, Harper Creek had three other runners earn All-City honors, including Cooper Gardner, who took third (18:06), Christian Ayres in fifth (18:12) and Jordan Lindauer in 10th (20:02).

Bill Broderick can be reached at bbroderi@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on X/Twitter: @billbroderick.

This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: Lakeview's Frank credits rival runner for pushing her to the win at All-City Championship