Munising junior Danny Goss is starting the 2023 cross country season hot, winning the Larissa Vartti Memorial Invitational on Tuesday, Aug. 22 at Valley Spur.
Goss dominated the field with an 18:01.77 for the 5k, defeating runner up Ben Gilroy of Manistique by almost 50 seconds and beat third place Cavan Mulligan of Kingsford by over a minute. The junior traversed the hilly trails further dampened by rain less than an hour before the start of the race.
Unfortunately for the Mustangs, taking the top spot did not translate to a team win as Kingsford was able to take the top spot in a competitive field. The Flivvers beat downstate Cheboygan 80-95 for the victory.
Superior Central took third, edging out Munising 134-140. North Central took fifth with a score of 142.
Youth is the story for the Cougars this year, who only brought a boys team to the invitational.
Freshman Will Spranger took tenth overall with a time of 20:00 while underclassmen Cody Moore, Cole Ozoga and Carter Korpi all finished in the top 30.
Munising also relied on youth with two freshmen finishing in the top 30. Nolan Dolaskie was 21st with a 21:01 and Blake Lakosky was 24th with a 21:27.
On the girls side, downstate Cheboygan had a strong showing, amassing a score of 57 for their top five runners.
That beat second-place Stephenson by 32 points and was less than half of Escanaba, who took third. Munising took fifth place with a score of 153, sandwiched between fourth-place North Central (148) and Kingsford (163).
The Mustangs were led by Olivia Cotey and Kate Mattson, who finished 13th and 16th respectively. Avery Seymour also took a top 30 spot with a time of 27:12.
Cheboygan’s Sammy Harke won the race with a time of 22:05.
The Larissa Vartti Memorial Invitational is one of two home meets for the Munising cross country teams each season. They will host the El Harger Invitiational on Tuesday, Sept. 26 at Pictured Rocks Golf Course. Up next for the Mustangs will be the Wildcat Invitational at Northern Michigan University on Saturday.
GIRLS: Team Results: 1. Cheboygan 57 2.
Stephenson 89 3. Escanaba 139 4. North Central 148 5. Munising 153 6.
Kingsford 163 7. Manistique 166 8. Rapid River 179 9. Menominee 192 10. Norway 194 11. Forest Park 208 12. Ishpeming 229 13. Gwinn 247 Individual Results: 1 S.
Harke (CHE) 22:05 2.
A. Marbie (ESC) 3. W.
Brandt (MEN) 4. M.
Carlson (MAN) 5. K.
Putnam (STE) 6. C.
Rupp (CHE) 7. F. Cappaert (STE) 8. B. Campbell (CHE) 9. T. Clark (FP) 10. H. Varoni (NC) 11. L. Korpie (ISH) 12.
J. Kuntze (STE) 13.
Olivia Cotey (MUN) 24:44 14. I. Holt (KING) 15. K. Baldwin (NOR) BOYS: Team Results: 1. Kingsford 80 2.
Cheboygan 95 3. Superior Central 134 4. Munising 140 5. North Central 142 6. Stephenson 170 7. Escanaba 182 8. Manistique 184 9.
Rapid River 188 10.
Menominee 193 11.
Gwinn 194 T.12 Ishpeming 217 T12. Norway 217 Individual Results: 1.
Danny Goss (MUN) 18:01 2. B. Gilroy (MAN) 3. C. Mulligan (KING) 4. G. Brown (KING) 5. B. Smith (ESC) 6. W. Knauf (NC) 7. C. Kiefer (CHE) 8. C. Kuntze (STE) 9. T.
Jenkins (GWI) 10. Will Spranger (SC) 20:00 11.
N. Levi (ISH) 12. A.
Juntila (ESC) 13. J.
Lundholm (KING) 14.
G. Smith (CHE) 15. A.
Kiefer (CHE)
