On September 3, the Munising cross country teams traveled to Gwinn to compete at their invitational on a tough 5k course. Due to dual sport athletes, neither varsity team had full rosters taking part. For the girls, Kate Mattson was the lone Mustang runner in the girls’ race. She placed 6th in a time of 27 minutes and 39.8 seconds. In the boys’ race, they were missing three of their starters; however, Danny Goss (18:32.3) and Trevor Nolan (19:13.8) dominated with a onetwo punch, capturing first and second place. They were followed by Blake Lakosky (14th, 21:21.2), Nolan Dolaskie (18th, 22:07.5), and Nate Petersen (25th, 25:07.0). As a team, they placed second with 57 points, behind the team winner Gladstone with 32 points. Orin Shalom ran in the JV race and finished in second place with a time of 24:50.0.

For the middle schoolers, it was their first race of the season. There are only two boys on the team, but both ran very well. Evan Kelto led the way with a runner up finish, narrowly missing first place. He covered the two-mile course in 13:53.3. Trey Defrancesco captured 12th place with a time of 20:51.6. On the girls’ side, they completely dominated the race, taking ten of the first eleven places: Emma Concklin (1st, 14:53.4), Karter Goings (2nd, 16:12.7), Maddie Kulppi (3rd, 16:38.1), Lennon Livermore (4th, 16:59), Payton Brey (5th, 18:05.9), Kahlan Ramsey (6th, 18:35.2), Ava Prunick (8th, 20:44.7), Peyton Dyer (9th, 20:52.8), Amber Defrancesco (10th, 20:56.7), and Miika Michelson (11th, 21:26.4). They had a perfect team score, winning with 15 points.

Following the meet, head coach Mark Kinnunen told us “The kids got a great workout on a tough course. Getting the challenging races out of the way in the beginning half of the season really helps us grow. We are getting into the heart of the season when it’s time to increase the intensity to prepare for what we will face at the UP Finals”.

Next up on the schedule for the Mustangs is the Manistique Cross Country Invitational at the Stoney Point Golf Course on Wednesday, September 11. Then on Friday they will travel downstate to compete at the 56th Holly-Duane Raffin Festival of Races in Davisburg, Michigan on Saturday. The complete cross country schedule can be found at munisingathletics.com