The running gods gave our West runners beautiful weather on Tuesday, October 15 for the Middle School Cross Country League Meet. The League Meet took place at the Cass Benton Park in Northville, MI. Our West Bulldogs pulled off of another League Championship, coming in first as a team. West finished first with 178 points, Pioneer 201 points, Liberty 258 points, Discovery 402 points, and East 430 points (low score wins in cross country races).

The weather was cool, the sun was shining, and the course was dry. Eighty-seven West runners ran their fastest times of the season. Coach Horvath said, “Cass Benton is very hilly. It is a true cross country course. The course goes through the woods, has muddy parts, uneven parts, and lots of up steep hills. The finish is even uphill,” Cass Benton is a high school cross country course. Many of the high school cross country coaches were there to scout future runners for their teams.

The 7th and 8th-grade girls team finished first with 46 points. The top ten finishers for West were #2 Ellie Newman (13:02), #6 Sydney Meyer (13:36), #7 Gracie Tarquinto (13:37), #14 Claire Hammill (14:03), #17 Georgia Bird (14:12), #21 Claudia Swenson (14:18), #23 France Walewski (14:23) , #24 Emerson Nordbeck (14:27), and #30 Marisa Haratsaris (14:53), and #31 Maya Mitts (15:01). There were a total of 131 runners in this race. The 7th and 8th-grade girls raced 2 miles.

The 7th and 8th-grade boys finished second with 63 points. The top ten finishers for West were #2 Luke Osburn (11:32), #10 Evan Higgins (12:23), #14 James Maitland (12:36), #15 Aaron Burns (12:39), #23 Clark Madden (12:55), #29 Joeseph Dettore (13:12), #44 Cole Triffle (13:32), #49 Bradan McCorry (13:45), #50 Ben Clark (13:45), and #52 Luke McClain 13:46. There were a total of 264 runners in this race. The 7th and 8th-grade boys raced 2 miles.

The 6th-grade girls finished first with 31 points. The top ten finishers for West were #1 Camryn Huhn (9:45), #4 Alexis Lazar (10:27), #6 Ainsley Mayer (10:40), #8 Anna Byrnes (10:49), #12 McKinnon Nordbeck (11:01), #13 Sarah Gumber (11:09), #15 Maddy McCarthy (11:13), #19 Annabel Sweet (11:37), #22 Ashlyn Kuhn (11:43), and #31 Maddi Brown (11:51). There were a total of 104 runners in this race. The sixth-grade girls raced 1.5 miles.

The 6th-grade boys finished second with 38 points. The top ten finishers for West were #1 Dane Gatmaitan (9:26), #2 Jake Newman (9:29), #9 Brandan McGlynchey (10:00), #11 Noah Tarquinto (10:10), #16 Alexander Lemon (10:27), #26 Sajan Amin (10:52), #28 Enzo Boata (11:00), #42 Carson Buck (11:30), #44 Owen Enser (11:37), and #48 Jake Zale (11:47). There were a total of 143 runners in this race. The sixth-grade boys raced 1.5 miles.

It is impressive that all four of our teams placed either first or second. Consistency counts in cross country! Congratulations to all runners. We can’t wait for next season. Coach Horvath encourages runners to “Run! Run this winter, run this summer! Just keep running!”

Run. Bulldogs. Run.