Erin Finn Wins Spartan Invitational Cross Country Meet

EAST LANSING — continued to dominate the cross country landscape for West Bloomfield and across the state, crossing the finish line first in the Spartan Invitational meet at Forest Acres Golf Course in East Lansing with a personal best time.

Finn's 17:16 time was a full 22 seconds faster than second-place finisher Hannah Meier of Grosse Pointe South and better than her previous best finish of 17:22.5 just three days earlier in the OAA White Division Jamboree meet.

Finn, who finished fourth in the state last season, has finished in front of the pack in all three meets so far this year.

said that Finn's times should not be looked at as peaks in her junior season, but as signs of continued excellence from the star runner.

"Hopefully it's a sign that we're doing something right (in training) and that her times will continue in the right direction," said Belill, a first-year head coach. "We definitely want our team to go out and win every race, but our plan is to have them run the best races in the regional and state meet."

Belill said that with regard to the rest of the team, Saturday's meet was a "good barometer" of where the Lakers wanted to be at this point before the season started.

"It's good to see several times coming down," Belill said, pointing to personal bests by Finn and Megan Eiswerth on the girls' side, along with a season best by Zoe Kaufman.

On the boys' side, Belill pointed to personal best times for Bjorn Kempf and Ben Griessmann as setting the standard for what he hopes to be a core group of four boys, along with Brandon Burton and Luke Bersche,to lead the team. "What we're going to work on is getting times down for that pack of four," Belill said.

Belill said that having experience being a "big race environment" would help his entire team, largely made of underclassmen, as the season continues. "All the way down to the (junior varsity) side, we're seeing marked improvements, and that's what you want to see from a young team. We're in it for the long haul," Belill said.

West Bloomfield Girls (Elite)

1    Erin Finn    17:16       
166    Megan Eiswerth    21:07       
233    Zoe Kaufman    23:33     
 
West Bloomfield Boys (Elite)

70    Bjorn Kempf    16:39   
94    Ben Griessmann    16:56     
144    Brandon Burton    17:23    
158    Luke Bersche    17:30    
242    Jalen Hatcher    20:10   
244    Sankeereth Garapati    20:40      
245    Murtaza Hussain    20:40