The Wildcats Cross Country runners got themselves off to a good start on Sept. 7 at West Bloomfield as both the boys and girls took first place in Division 2.
‘Even though we’re a Division 1 school now they kept us in the Division two to try and keep a big enough pool of teams to race against each other,? said Head Coach Matt Johnson.
For the boys Logan Bruni took third with 17:48.27, Joey Ufolla placed fourth with 17:57.71, Brad Vandecar, fifth with 18:01.71, Noah Jenkins, 14 with 18:22.84, Christian Corrian, 22 with 18:31.88, Adam Kemp, 26 with18:47.19, and Matt Scheer, 45 with 19:39.97.
The boys faced OLSM, Divine Child, Carleton Airport, Lumen Christi, Seaholm B, Bloomfield Hills B, Ferndale, Sault Saint Marie, Avondale, Groves and Waterford Kettering.
For the girls Hannah Long took fifth with 21:05.47, Jenna Feeney followed in ninth with 21:24.27, Reily Squarcia, 11 with 21:34.74, Christiana Bruce, 15 with 21:47.27, Sabrina Smith, 17 with 21:58.17, Heather Czarnecki, 19 with 22:06.07 and Kristen Godwin 23 with 22:19.63.
The girls faced: Northville B, Seaholm B, Powers Catholic, Lumen Christi, Sault Saint Marie, Groves, Waterford Kettering, Avondale, Bloomfield Hills B, Carleton Airport and Ferndale.
‘Going into this race there were couple schools I knew were going to be close to us but I had a good feeling we were going to really run hard and win it? Johnson said. ‘If we would have been over in that D1 race it would have been a whole league showdown when you look at Rochester, Lake Orion, Clarkston, and Seaholm. We probably would have been fourth or fifth if we were pushed over there.?
While the Division 2 win isn’t really a good picture of the year, Johnson said it’s a ‘great boost? for the kids.
‘They raced well,? he said. ‘If we can continue to teach them to be strategic racers it’s going to help us.?