Local Sports: SMCC sweeps titles at 53rd Huron Invitational
NEW BOSTON − It was no big surprise when St. Mary Catholic Central's girls cross country team finished in first place at Saturday's 53rd annual Huron Invitational at Willow Metropark.
The Kestrels won their division last year, too, and returned mostly the same team.
Winning the boys race, however, was unexpected.
"That was a little more of a surprise for me," SMCC coach Liz Shafer admitted. "I was so excited for them. We had a lot of seniors graduate last year − a big core group of our team. But we were fortunate to get six freshmen this year and they're really stepping up.
"I like where this team is headed."
SMCC's boys were first with 41 points. Erie Mason was runner up with 45, followed by Whiteford (68), Allen Park Cabrini (87), Ida (132), and Detroit Voyageur (179).
The Falcons' top seven all set personal or season-best times. Simon VanderVlucht placed second with a PR of 16:31. Luke Foster (10th), Max Foldvary (11), Caleb Totten (12), Henry Wickenheiser (15), and Jacob Smith (19) all finished in a tight pack.
Mason's Jackson Ansel was the champion, running a personal-best 16:23.2. Ryan Joyce (8), Parker Campbell (9), Parker Sorg (18), and Jackson Carner (22) also ran well for the Eagles.
Keegan Masters paced Whiteford, placing fourth in 16:46.1 − another career best. Elliott Rodgers was seventh (17:30.3 PR), Zach Kahn 16th, and Brendon Masters 29th.
Ida was led by Jack Gelso in 20th.
Evan Suydam ran a PR of 16:53.9 to place fifth for Summerfield, and Earl Schramm was sixth in 17:12.5 for the Monroe Milers.
SMCC won the girls race with 22 points, followed by Mason (79), Cabrini (80), Ida (89), Whiteford (103), Monroe Milers (151), and Star International (210).
Bella LaFountain came in first in 18:55.3, with teammates Claire Lisker, Alex Wickenheiser, Sam LaFountain, Abby Lechy, Leona Knudsen, Cailynne Flint, Maureen Smith, and Juliana Classic all inside the top 20.
"We knew we'd do well in our division, but I even like to look at Division 2 and see how we stack up," Shafer said. "We would've been third in Division 2. This girls team is a really strong group, so I knew we'd place well."
Bailey Meiring was the top runner for Mason, finishing eighth in 22:21.9, while Elizabeth Lambert (12), Riley England (16), Mikaela Graves (19), and Gabbi Colburn (24) also stood out.
Ida's Katelyn Bydlowski was fourth in 21:33.2, Monroe Milers' Rebekah Gram took 16th, and Whiteford's Emily Rasor was 18th.
DIVISION 1
Monroe High's boys were second in Division 1 with 62 points. Grosse Pointe South won with 59.
Luke Butler was third in 16:24.0 and Kyle Hoffner fourth in 16:27.7. Maxx Adams (16), Andrew Foshag (17), and Myles Bray (22) also scored for the Trojans.
Gibraltar Carlson took 11th as a team, led by Jon Anderson in eighth (16:49.5).
Monroe's girls placed sixth. Viktoria Bloniarz finished sixth in 20:22.0, with Morgan Kay (23) and Corinna Aulph (29) also running well.
Carlson was 10th with Ashley Farnsworth in 59th.
DIVISION 2
Dundee's Isaak Rubley shattered his career-best for the second time this season. He ran 16:21.6 Saturday to win the boys race.
In the boys team standings, New Boston Huron was first with 44 points, followed by Flat Rock (64), Grosse Ile (83), Dundee (90), Redford Union (90), Airport (125), and Garden City (191).
Ryan Morris ran a PR 16:54.6 to finish fourth for Huron, with Griffin Mentzer (5th, 17:15.8), Abdul Ghennewa (6th, 17:23.2), and Lucas Kuhn (8th, 17:44.7) also carrying the win for the host school.
Flat Rock freshman Jacob Stanislawski was third with a PR of 16:48.9. The Rams also had a good race from Nate Vargo (10), Lucas Taraszkiewicz (11), and Adam Brodie (20).
Rubley was not the only highlight for Dundee. Zachary McMahan (7th, 17:25.0 PR) and Noah Nieman (16) also ran strong for the Vikings.
"Every boy ran to either a season or personal best time today," Dundee coach Craig Ringbloom said. "The conditions were perfect this morning, and our boys took advantage of it. There were some incredible performances in the field, capped off by a great battle by Isaak in the final stretch to take the win."
Seth Haliburda was 15th and Kenny Wingate 19th for Airport.
A tiebreaker helped Chelsea nip Tecumseh for the girls title. Both school scored 33 points, but the Bulldogs' sixth runner was the difference, finishing one place ahead of Tecumseh's sixth.
Dundee was third with 109, Huron fourth with 113, Dearborn Divine Child fifth with 122, and Grosse Ile sixth with 124.
Kaylee Hovey paced Dundee in eighth (21:24.9), and Huron's Molly Johnston took fifth (20:48.9). Flat Rock's Megan Woekler was sixth (21:00.9). Airport's Emily Sell finished 32nd and Sydney Mason 35th.
PREP VOLLEYBALL
Bedford takes title
WILLIS – Bedford’s volleyball team brought home the championship trophy from Saturday’s Ypsilanti Lincoln Tournament with a 5-0 record.
The Mules beat Belleville 25-20, 25-22 in the semifinals and Livonia Stevenson 25-12, 25-17 in the finals.
Victoria Gray had a big day with 28 kills, 13 blocks, 32 service points and a .447 hitting percentage. Other standouts were Rylee Haberland (54 digs), Kaylin Schroeder (86 assists), Taylor Destatte (37 points, 46 digs), Kadie Morse (.323) and Hannah Fausze (23 kills).
“We improved as the day went and served and received much better than we had been,” Bedford coach Jodi Manore said.
SMCC goes 3-1
LIVONIA – St. Mary Catholic Central beat Flushing, Romeo and Stoney Creek, but lost to Anchor Bay Saturday in the Power League at Schoolcraft College.
Leah DeSarbo racked up 91 assists and Mckenna Payne 21. Payne also led in digs with 32. Jessica Costlow had 41 kills, 29 digs and 9 aces.
Other standouts for the 12-4 Kestrels were Raelyn Turner, Mackenzie Niedermeyer, Lauren Conant and Madeline Dettling.
Spradling leads Whiteford
ONSTED – Allison Spradling rang up 19 kills and 17 digs as Whiteford went 1-1-2 Saturday in the Onsted Tournament.
The Bobcats beat Addison 25-23, 25-14 spilt with Adrian 19-25, 26-24 and Jonesville 20-25, 25-20., then fell 25-20, 25-14 to Addison in the Gold Bracket.
Ava Hillard (10 aces. 11 digs). Alyssa Ulery (24 digs) and Alaina andrews (43 assists) also played well for 5-6-2 Whiteford.
PREP SOCCER
Ida keeps winning
ADRIAN – Ida ran its record to 10-0 by beating Three Rivers 5-0 and Adrian 6-0 Saturday in the Adrian Invitational.
Jaxon Bolster scores four times for the Blue Streaks and Evan Schmidtz collected 3 goals and 4 assists. Davin Slater added two goals and Grantham Nelson notched three assists.
Other goals came from Connor Ramsey and Evan Tangler. Wade Johnston and Dustin Holycross had assists.
PREP FOOTBALL
Monroe freshmen win
WESTLAND – Monroe scored 72.5 of the 101 possible points to win the freshman portion of the John Glenn Rocket Invitational Saturday.
All five of the Trojan freshmen won at least one event.
Nicole Rykse (200 and 500-yard freestyles), Delani Willey (individual medley and breaststroke), Alice Hause (diving and 100 freestyle) all were double winners and Abby Dieckmann and Abby Macleod ruled one event each.
Junior Lauren Lahna won the butterfly and sophomore Katie Murphy swam well.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Local Sports: SMCC sweeps titles at 53rd Huron Invitational
