It was a beautiful day in Portage. Idyllic racing weather, maybe too nice for the liking of some of those on our team. Though when you are standing around for a long day it’s great to be warm and dry. Plus I got to put the tent away dry, it’s so nice not to have to fill the garage with tent stuff as it dries.
The team made another step forward. Finishing 24th of 40 teams is not great placing, but we did manage to beat some teams that had been ahead of us in the last 2 weeks at Jackson & CC-C. So we’re seeing improvement and some individuals are seeing a lot of it. They had great races, as Portage usually offers.
The Varsity started things off. Remember that there wee 40 teams in the race, and few that are tough weren’t there. Jonah Laursen ran a great race, and led the way for the team this time. Posting a 50 something second PR. Looking back on his splits; he ran very smart and ran the 2nd & 3rd miles very strong. Definitely a young team member that is coming on strong and showing what can be done.
Ray Innis was next and he had a PR as well, knocking off around 30 sec. he was able to make another steady improvement in this race. Heath Bristol had been sick this week, made the day on Tuesday at the BNC and rebounded pretty well here in posting a top time for himself.
Matt Laylin was sick as well in the last week and it hit him hard on Tuesday, but he ran a solid race in this one. Miles Ullenbruch put his best forward, and ran a smart race, doing very well tactically, but I suspect that he found that he just didn’t have as much in the tank as he had hoped. He’d played most of 3 soccer games the previous week, incl. Thurs. & Fri.
Sebby Kucera toughed thru a hamstring that gave him fits to be the 6th man. Ian Butler ran a strong and getting stronger race as the 7th man of the day. Ian had been one who made a huge difference to the team on Tuesday as well.
Ann Arbor Pioneer won with 67 points (!) Bay City Western was 3rd with 120, Rockford 4th- 217, Pinckney 5th- 246, Howell 12th- 377, Grand Haven 13th-429, East Kentwood- 438, TCC- 17th-484, TCW 24th- 605, Portage Northern 27th- 698, Hudsonville 30th- 792
1- Ben Miller – Warren De La Salle 15:24
86- Jonah Laursen 17:03 ( Top Freshman athlete of the day of both V & JV races!)
96- Ray Innis 17:09
132- Heath Bristol 17:28
142- Matt Laylin 17:33
148- Miles Ullenbruch 17:36
173- Sebby Kucera 17:50
188- Ian Butler 18:01
The JV race had even more competition than I had anticipated. A team that I believe to be from Ohio (Lyons Township) took the first 3 places and then 12 & 14 to seal the deal. That gave them 32 points in a huge 505 man race, what an awesome team! Especially given that their Varsity finished in 2nd for the day! Rockford was second – 93, (Ohio) Dundee Crown was 3rd- 119, Easy Kentwood 4th- 177, 5th TCW with 238, 6th- Grand Haven 278.
Some strong racing by many in the JV ranks made for a great day, and many PR’s. Top performances were turned in by Ben Dean, Ryan Ness, Alex Hawke, Joe Yancho, Trent Hibbard, Chris Chargo, Ryan Schaef, Max Verellen, Joey Vanderbosch, Nick Callahan, (first race at Portage as a Senior!) Trevor Painter, Dan Schmidt, John Troost, Eric Brefka, Tyler Stephens, Brad Allen, Ethan Poirier, and Devin Wennersten. That’s a lot of guys having a standout day, great job guys!
43- Ben Dean 17:58 (bumps his way back on Varsity for the conf. champs)
46= Ryan Ness 18:01 Big PR – strong race!
48- Alex Hawke 18:03
52- Joe Yancho 18:06
58- Dylan Snider 18:13
59- Trent Hibbard 10:13
65- Brad Clark 18:17 (strong front running- but wasn’t his day)
73- Jack Lyon 18:20
83- Addison Brown 18:22
99- Chris Chargo 18:29
123- Erik Wilson 18:42 (able to complete the race even though trampled and getting sick, yeah!)
134- Hunter Swogger 18:47 (got messed up early in the shoving, but toughed it out)
136- Ryan Schaef 18:48 (good run!)
137- Max Verellen 18:49
139- Russell Carter 18:49
142- Joey Vanderbosch 18:50
149- Alex Goldsmith 18:53
156- Nick Callahan 18:54 (PR by a minute or so!)
160- Sam Messina 18:56
197- Trevor Painter 19:13
211- Dan Schmidt 19:18
252- John Troost 19:39
263- Eric Brefka 19:44
264 – Forrest Verellen 19:45 (sick all week)
330- Kasey Goss 20:19
357- Tyler Stephens 20:41
358- Brad Allen 20:41
368- Ethan Poirier 20:49
369- Devin Wennersten 20:52
452- Sam Yancho 22:34
490- Ben Yancho 24:56
This was a good day. Even the charter driver was great! (I was concerned about that after the Rochester episode) Now we have a week off. We train, with adjustments; for the end of the season to help bring everyone up to their best performances. Keep your focus, we just don’t have to travel. We relax, then take on the BNC championship next week. Remember that the Elk Rapids Invite is coming up, and that means that the pot luck party at my place will be happening after=no matter what the weather. More info. on that later- for those that are new to the team.