Mackinaw City boys capture EUP cross country title
PICKFORD – The Mackinaw City boys cross country team can officially call itself EUP champions.
Fueled by four top-10 individual finishers, the Comet boys finished with 38 points and edged out runner-up Engadine in the final EUP meet held in Pickford on Monday.
“So incredibly proud of the boys,” said Mackinaw City coach Heather Huffman. “We’ve been second place by a handful of points for two years, they came up short last year at the final. In August, the boys put it on their list of season goals – to win the EUP. After taking second place for the first two meets this year, they had their eyes on the final. We looked at the times of our competition and figured out where we needed to be. The weather was terribly cold, the course was challenging, but they really stepped up. Kids ran faster and chased down opponents so they could win the meet.
“I think this might be the first time Mackinaw has ever won an EUP meet. I had kids running in pain, no one was going to give up. They wanted it that bad. This was a total team win.”
Among those top-10 Mackinaw City finishers was Lars Huffman, who took second overall with an 18:25 time. Finishing in fourth was Cooper Whipkey (19:25), while Noah Valot (19:43) took sixth and Trystan Swanson (20:18) was 10th.
Myran Thompson (16th, 21:36), Kyle Valot (19th, 21:56), Ben Strittmatter (30th, 23:15), Isaac Valot (37th, 24:45), and Jeffrey Siebigteroth (40th, 25:11) rounded out the EUP champion Mackinaw City boys.
For the Mackinaw City girls, Larissa Huffman finished third individually with a 22:49 time, while teammate Madison Smith raced a 23:59 time and took eighth. Cynthia Thompson (34:51) was 25th.
Mackinaw City will race in the Class D state finals at Shepherd at noon on Saturday, Oct. 22.
This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Mackinaw City boys capture EUP cross country title
