Andover, Lahser, Country Day Cross Country Teams Get It Done at Regionals

Both Andover and Lahser high school cross country teams will be well represented in the the state finals meet next week after strong showings in regional competition Saturday.

The Lahser girls varsity team finished first overall, claiming their third regional title since 2007. Five runners placed in the top 14, including Junior Elena Miller, who  finished second overall at 18:48. She was just ahead of freshman teammate Jackie Bredenberg (18:50), who knocked a minute off her personal best time. Junior Alana O’Mara, who also finished 6th with a personal best (19:28), Junior Mara Gueli (11th-season best 20:11), and Isabel Fontana (13th-personal best
20:18) rounded out all-region honors.

The Lahser boys were also prominent in Saturday's competition, finishing second overall. The Knights were led by Junior Michael Gawlik's 3rd-place finish at 16:42. Junior Zahir Allarakhia (7th-17:12), and Junior Nick Graves (12th-17:28), Sophomore Ben Koehler (14th-17:29) were also all-region finishers.

They finished just one point of regional winner Detroit Country Day.

"Definitey, when you know it's right there for you it hurts a little more because it was an opportunity, but the consolation is that we're still competing in the state finals," Lahser Coach Nick Stration said.

"Each season, our number one goals is to get your teams to the state finals and to get there with both teams is a great accomplishment," he continued. "Although it's been a regular thing around here lately it is a hard thing to do."

Bold Barons

The Andover girl's varsity cross country team finished third and qualified for the finals at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn for the second straight year.

Lexi Sinclair (4th-18:56), Mackenzie Gammons (5th-19:15), and Lise Devits (14th-20:28) earned All-Region honors. Also scoring for the varsity team was Isabella Lackner (20th-20:53), and Rebecca Sorgenfrei (26th-21:27).

Sinclair, already 2nd on the Top 10 record board at Andover, improved her time by 8 seconds, and Gammons moved from 5th to 3rd on the board.

Two Barons on the boy's varsity team qualified individually.

Jarred Bratley (1st-15:53) was the Region Champion and ran the fastest time for any boy in either Division 1 or Division 2 for the day. Charlie Ailsworth was also named All-Region and finished 13th(17:28). Bratley moved from 4th to 2nd on the top 10 board after running the fastest time for an Andover boy in more than two decades.

Other Local Schools

As mentioned, Country Day's boy's varsity took the regional competition with 59 points. They were led by juniors Nick Ott (5th-17:09), Austin Price (6th-17:11) and senior Eddie Ye (11th-17:27).

Junior Monica Babcock qualified for the state finals by finishing 7th (19:36) for the girls, who finished fourth overall.

The Marian High School girls finished 7th overall and did not qualify for the finals.

Thanks to Andover Cross Country Coach Beth Sinclair and Lahser Coach Nick Stration for contributing to this report.