Union City, Quincy and Tekonsha all excel at Pittsford XC Invite

PITTSFORD, MI. — The Union City Chargers, Quincy Orioles and Tekonsha Indians all traveled to Pittsford on Saturday to compete in cross country invitational action.

The Pittsford Invite is unique in that rather than just teams facing off with each other, the meet is divided by age, with a Freshman/Sophomore competition and a Junior/Senior meet.

The format suits the young Charger squad just fine, as all but one member of each team is either a freshman or sophomore. That showed in the overall Freshman/Sophomore standings as both the Union City Men’s and Women’s Freshman/Sophomore teams took home the championship wins.

In the men’s portion of the younger age group it was Union City taking the championship with a score of 30 points. Morenci finished in second place with 42 points followed by Adrian Madison in third place with 50 points.

Union City’s championship effort was paced by the top two finishers, led by overall individual champion in freshman Ben Gautsche who took home the gold with a personal best time of 17 minutes, 47.34 seconds, the first time the young freshman has broken into the 17 minute realm. Not far behind was sophomore Jason Shoop who finished with runner-up honors, taking second place with a time of 18 minutes, 9.99 seconds.

Union City’s next three scorers finished within in the top 20, paced by Malachi Payne in ninth place with a time of 19 minutes, 54.21 seconds; Montana Connell in tenth place in a time of 19 minutes, 55.07 seconds; and Cohen Burdick in sixteenth place in a time of 20 minutes, 31.35 seconds.

Rounding out the overall Charger effort was Max Bigelow in twenty-ninth place and Jonas Burdick in thirty-seventh place.

Tekonsha had one runner in the Freshman/Sophomore competition as Bo VeenKant finished in twenty-fourth place in a time of 21 minutes, 46.79 seconds.

In the women’s Freshman/Sophomore competition it was Union City taking home the championship. No scores were made available for the team standings.

Leading the way for Union City was sophomore Skyler Fraley who finished in third place overall in a time of 21 minutes, 37.26 seconds. Also helping the Charger effort was freshman Murcie Wallen in seventh place in a time of 22 minutes, 43.49 seconds and freshman Elizabeth Arlt in tenth place in a time of 23 minutes, 54.59 seconds.

Quincy also saw a good deal of success in the women’s freshman/sophomore contest, led by sophomore Charlotte Crabbs who finished in sixth place in a time of 22 minutes, 38.12 seconds. Also adding to the Orioles effort was Elizabeth Craig in nineteenth place in a time of 26 minutes, 5.63 seconds; Kaylyn Brenner in twenty-first place in a time of 26 minutes, 31.19 seconds; and Abby Miller in twenty-seventh place in a time of 31 minutes, 47.93 seconds.

In the men’s Junior/Senior competition it was Quincy putting together a tremendous effort, taking runner-up honors as a team. Quincy’s effort was bolstered by two top 10 finishes and another inside the top 20. Leading the way for the Orioles was senior Rhett Reif who finished in second place overall in a time of 17 minutes, 36.30 seconds. Also turning in a top five finish was the second half of Reif squared as Jacob Reif finished in fifth place in a time of 18 minutes, 12.69 seconds. Rounding out the Quincy effort was Caden Troxtle in fifteenth place in a time of 21 minutes, 11.71 seconds; and Nathan Richer in twenty-fifth place in a time of 23 minutes, 45.60 seconds.

Union City had only one runner compete in the mens’ race as Maddox Miller finished in seventeenth place in a time of 21 minutes, 20.23 seconds.

In the women’s Junior/Senior competition it was Tekonsha’s Dani VanLente leading the way for the local contingent of runners, finishing in second place overall in a time of 21 minutes, 27.11 seconds. Also running well for Tekonsha was Carissa Shedd in tenth place in a time of 24 minutes, 30.54 seconds and Isabella Voltattorni who finished in twenty-eighth place in a time of 36 minutes, 32.77 seconds.

Union City’s effort was led by Kyla Burdick who finished in fourth place, completing the 3.1 mile course in a time of 23 minutes, 11.50 seconds.

Quincy had three runners put together a solid meet, led by Sadie Miller in sixth place overall in a time of 23 minutes, 31.08 seconds. Also running well for Quincy was Libby Butchart in twentieth place in a time of 26 minutes, 6.37 seconds and Kailey Allman in twenty-fourth place in a time of 28 minutes, 3.72 seconds.

This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Union City, Quincy and Tekonsha all excel at Pittsford XC Invite