Twice is nice for the Brandon girls cross country team.
The Blackhawks qualified for the Division 2 state finals for the second straight year by winning the Region 14-2 meet Oct. 29 at Marysville. The Blackhawks finished with 52 points, well ahead of St. Clair and Fenton, who each finished with 95 points.
The top three teams qualified for the state meet, scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 5 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn. It is the third time in school history the Brandon girls have reached the state finals.
Junior Kelsey Carmean and senior Kelly Wilson headed up the Brandon girls? efforts, with each placing in the top ten among all individual runners. Carmean finished third in 19:07, while Wilson was right behind at fourth place in 19:08.
The Blackhawks had two other runners place in the top 15, as senior Kayla Doan finished 13th (19:31) and sophomore Jamie Hendershott 14th (19:32).
Meanwhile, the Brandon boys cross country team held its own at regionals, finishing in the upper half of teams at the meet.
The Blackhawks finished eighth out of 17 teams in Region 14-2 action. Brandon compiled a team score of 228. The top three teams at regionals ? Flint Powers (53), Fenton (76) and St. Clair (77) ? earned the right to compete in the state finals Saturday, Nov. 5.
Senior Trevor DeWitt was the leading Brandon boys runner, finishing 24th among all runners with a time of 17:05. DeWitt’s performance placed him 16th among the top 20 all-time cross country performances in Brandon High School history.
Junior Steve Sanday was next up for Brandon with a 41st place finish (17:31), while sophomore Nicola Grupido finished 48th (17:37).
Junior Blake McLellan (57th, 17:58) and senior Jared Blunk (58th, 17:58) rounded out the Brandon scoring. Also running for the Blackhawks in regionals was junior Adam George (62nd, 18:06).
The Brandon girls will look to improve upon last year’s finish at states. On Nov. 7, 2004, the Blackhawks finished 13th out of 28 teams competing in the Division 2 finals, compiling a team score of 322.
East Grand Rapids won the girls Division 2 state championship last year with 92 points, while Grand Rapids Christian finished second (153) and Dexter third (211).
Four of this year’s Blackhawk runners also competed in last year’s state finals. Doan finished 89th (the best finish among all Brandon runners last year) with a time of 20:20.35. Carmean finished 93rd (20:22.5), while Wilson placed 99th (20:27.25) and Hendershott 137th (20:59).