Gutsy performance for Haven XC teams

Mon, Nov 2, 2009    to del.icio.us

Plagued by injuries and illness throughout the past several weeks, the Grand Haven girls cross country team needed its healthy girls to run a stellar race at Saturday's Division 1 regional if the Buccaneers hoped to reach the state meet for the 12th time in 13 years.

For the Bucs, the mission was accomplished.

Catherine Keegin raced to a sixth-place finish, Karen Lomeo was eighth, and Cristina Perez — who has been hampered recently with muscle injuries — placed 11th, helping the Bucs placed second overall and advance to Saturday's state finals. East Kentwood won the regional with 47 points, followed by the Bucs' 62, and Grandville's 75.

The field featured six individual all-state athletes and two state-ranked teams, making Grand Haven's accomplishment even more special.

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"This says a lot about the girls," said Grand Haven coach Greg Russick, who led the Bucs to back-to-back runner-up finishes at state the past two seasons. "They are competitors and lay it on the line no matter what. I am very proud of their accomplishment."

Russick also saw Julia Stock run her most competitive race of the season, as she placed 14th and further boosted the Bucs' standing. Laura Addison, who battled the flu four days prior to the meet, gutted out a 23rd place finish to round out the Bucs' scoring.

"I can only imagine what we could have done if we were all at 100 percent," Russick said.

Grand Haven's boys coach, Tom Laughlin, had to wonder the same thing, as his squad was severly hampered by the flu bug, resulting in a fifth-place showing, missing out on a trip to the state meet.

East Kentwood, Caledonia and Portage Central were the top three teams at the meet and advanced to the state finals.

Junior Joe Duff completed a bittersweet day by qualifying individually for the state finals with a second-place finish at 16:17. It marks the second-straight season he'll compete at Michigan International Speedway. Freshman Will Swain ran a personal best time of 17:07, good for 16th place, but unforuntately, it was one place from a medal and a trip to the state finals. Senior Cory Pfeffer also had a strong showing, finishing 45th at 17:57.3.

"It's no coincidence that those three members had good races, since they were the only ones who were not trying to recover from bouts with the flu earlier in the week," Laughlin said. "Ryan Duff, Schalk VanNiekerk, and Dylan Tarr each had missed a couple of days earlier in the week and with high fever and the flu, and Taylor Piotrzkowski started showing flu-like symptoms just before the race.

"They are all great competitors, but it just wasn't enough to overcome some very good competition."