Last Saturday, on a day that had mixed results for the Mustangs, the middle school cross country girls were the big team winners at the Rapid River Cross Country Invitational. The team defended their team title from last year with an eight-point win, 47-55, over runner-up Vulcan Middle School. Emma Concklin again led the way for the team by capturing third place in a time of 13 minutes 45.9 seconds. Following Emma was Karter Goings (7th, 14:14.8), Lennon Livermore (11th, 14:53.9), Maddie Kulppi (13th, 15:12.1), Kahlan Ramsey (17th, 15:21.2), Ava Prunick (44th, 17:35.3), Payton Brey (48th, 17:55.5), Peyton Dyer (49th, 18:01.9), Miika Michelson (51st, 18:58.2), and Amber Defrancesco (57th, 19:58.3). For the boys’, Evan Kelto placed ninth in 12:52.3 and Trey Defrancesco was 52nd in 17:24.0.
After the meet, Coach Bob Wing told us, “The kids were outstanding today. I was a little concerned because they had a very hard week of practice with unseasonably warm temperatures. However, I didn’t need to worry as each and every one of them brought their A game today. We are looking forward to continuing our success when we run at the Soo on Saturday”.
Unfortunately, the varsity team didn’t fare as well. As Murphy’s Law states, “If something can go wrong, it will”. That was the kind of day it was for the Mustangs. They had to deal with a sprained ankle, a wrong turn on the race course, out of town athletes, and no girls team competing due to dual sport athletes. However, there were some positives that came from the boys’ race. For the second year in a row, Danny Goss was a repeat winner covering the 3.1 mile course in 17:20.6. After Danny were Trevor Nolan (12th, 20:16.1), Nolan Dolaskie (22nd, 21:58.2), Nate Petersen (24th, 22:29.8), and Dylan Adkinson (25th, 22:38.9). Even with all of their misfortunes, the team finished second with 60 points, just four points behind Stephenson with 56.
“The day didn’t go quite as expected for our varsity boys’ team. We had some unfortunate events that kept us from bringing home a trophy, but the team still ran hard on a hot day and a challenging course”, said head coach Mark Kinnunen at the end of the meet. “We’ll take it as a warm up for Tuesday which will be our first true test of the season. Also, I couldn’t be more proud of our middle school runners who continue to show us that the future of our program is bright”.
The Mustangs competed in the El Harger Invitational this past Tuesday. The results of that meet and their race at the Elks Invitational in Sault Ste. Marie on Saturday will be in next week’s article. The complete meet schedule can be found at munisingathletics. com
