Michigan High School Sports - MLive.com
Carman-Ainsworth basketball star Glenn Cosey has rapidly become one of Flint area’s top cross country runners

Bill Khan | The Flint Journal, September 30, 2009 9:15 p.m.

FLINT TOWNSHIP, Michigan - What Glenn Cosey is doing isn’t normal.

New runners with a low mileage base and no racing experience simply don’t walk onto a cross country team late in the summer and start mixing it up with the big boys.

They don’t have particularly big goals, like qualifying for the state meet or making top-10 records boards at their school.

They simply adapt the best they can to the demands of the sport in a short amount of time and hope to lower their personal bests from back in the pack.

Then there’s Glenn Cosey.

Perhaps because Cosey is a star athlete in his primary sport, basketball, the Carman-Ainsworth senior hasn’t settled for mediocrity in a sport he never attempted until late August.

In the fifth race of his life, Cosey placed fourth with a time of 16:40 in a strong field of 125 runners in the Linden Classic last Saturday.

Midland Daily News > Sports > Cross country: Another close finish between Mount Pleasant’s Montgomery, Dow High’s White > Tri-Cities > Michigan
Cross country: Another close finish between Mount Pleasant’s Montgomery, Dow High’s White
By Fred Kelly
fred.kelly@mdn.net
Published: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 1:51 PM EDT
Allison White’s best wasn’t quite good enough Tuesday.

The senior cross country standout from Dow High ran an 18:49, her personal-best time this year, at the second Saginaw Valley League Jamboree at Stratford Woods Park in cold, blustery conditions. But archrival Ashley Montgomery of Mount Pleasant pulled away from White at the end to win the girls’ race in 18:46.

“To be honest, I thought I had her, but she turned it on (at the end),” said White, who ran with Montgomery neck-and-neck for almost the entire race. “I stuck with her the best I could, but it happens. I did the best I could.”

White and Montgomery were still in a dead heat approaching the final 200 yards, but Montgomery inched ahead at that point and held on from there.

It was the fourth close finish between the two runners in recent days. A little over a week ago, White edged Montgomery by a fraction of a second to win the Spartan Invitational at Michigan State University. In the days leading up to that race, Montgomery had narrowly beaten White twice.

“My whole goal when I get out there is to do my best, and if that means that I run (side-by-side) with someone, that’s fine,” White noted. “She’s really great to run with, because she’s really fast, and it feels good to have someone to pace off of.”

Montgomery’s first-place finish propelled the Oilers to a first-place finish as a team with 41 points. Dow, led by White, took second with 55 points, while Bay City Western was third (61), and Midland High fourth (84) despite the fact that the Chemics were missing their top two runners — Megen Rapp and Katy Pekala.

Rapp was ill, while Pekala did not compete for disciplinary reasons.

“The girls all stepped up, and they all ran a PR (personal record),” Midland coach Marty Hollenbeck said of his team. “Five of them ran a PR for a lifetime, and all seven of them ran a PR for the year.

West Michigan News from the Grand Haven Tribune a Michigan Newspaper
Cross country: Laker girls win Fremont jamboree

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India Peek Jensen was the top overall finisher at Tuesday’s Lakes Eight Conference cross country jamboree at Fremont, helping Spring Lake’s girls take first place at the event.

The Lakers scored 22 points, well ahead of second-place Ludington, which scored 68. Grant was next at 82, followed by Fruitport with 107 points.

“I was happy with our performance on a very difficult Branstrom Park course,” Lakers’ coach Aaron Andres said. “Our key was working the hills as a team and finishing strong. We knew the hills were a huge part of running a strong race. Both Spring Lake boys and girls spent last week hitting hill workouts in Grand Haven and PJ Hoffmaster State Park.”

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Michigan High School Sports - MLive.com
Kentwood Girls Finish Fifth at Jackson; Girls Cross Country

Advance Newspaeprs, September 29, 2009 6:14 p.m.
KENTWOOD GIRLS FIFTH AT JACKSON: East Kentwood cross country coach Ray Antel was smiling after the Jackson Invitational on Saturday at Ella Sharp Park because of the team’s fifth place finish in a 20-team field that featured some of Michigan’s top runners.

Saline won the event with 89 points, while Troy was second, 15 points behind. Ann Arbor Pioneer (128 points), Livonia Churchill (134) and East Kentwood (138) rounded out the top five schools.

“I am very pleased with our performance today,” said Antel, who is in his third year as head coach. “We have everyone back from a team that finished third in the state last fall. We have beaten Traverse City Central, who won the state last year, and also Grand Haven, who placed second at state, but there are some other schools that are very good as well. We’re getting better and better every week. We need to close the gap between our third, fourth and fifth runners. It is what it is but we’re not nervous. Our girls are working very hard and they have a goal in mind. The temperature was 62 degree at Jackson but the humidity was 92 percent. We’ve run in all kinds of conditions.”

Returning all-state junior Alyssa Williams led the way for the Falcons as she ran a 18:48.3 and placed seventh overall. Senior Krista Parks was eighth with an 18:48.8 effort. Parks was all-state as a freshman and has her sights set to a return to prominence in her final season. Junior Leah Shepherd placed 19th with a 19:18.2 effort, senior Jessica Dippel placed 50th with a 20:12/0 effort. Sophomore Erica Parks, Krista’s sister, was 54th with a 20:21.0 performance, while senior Byrn Nadziejka also performed.

“The senior leadership from Krista, Jessica and Bryn has been outstanding,” Antel said. “We feel that this is our year. The girls are great leaders and we’re ready to take it to the next level.”

TUESDAY PREP TENNIS, CROSS COUNTRY WRAPS | hometownlife.com | the Observer & Eccentric Newspapers and Hometown Weeklies
– Salem’s girls defeated Novi, 22-39, led by first-place Victoria Tripp (19:29) and third-place Jordyn Moore (20:04). Other Rocks in the top-10 included Kelly Kerwin (6th, 20:36); Autumn Burin (7th, 20:51); Kara Booms (8th, 21:03) and Ade Jepperson (9th, 21:10).

– Canton nipped Plymouth 28-29, with Bianca Kubicki of the Chiefs taking first with a time of 20:03.

The Chiefs took places 4-6 as follows: Emily Southern, 21:01; Rachel Rohrbach, 21:04; Katie Grimes, 21:05. In 12th was Rachael Brunk (22:10). No Plymouth results were available as of press time.

– On the boys side, it was Plymouth prevailing over Canton, 24-33 behind the 1-2 punch of Joe Porcari (16:38) and Warren Buzzard (16:47).

Canton’s Keith Zech took third with a mark of 16:52, but the Wildcats grabbed places 4-5 thanks to Matt Neumann (16:58) and Derek Gielarowski (17:03).

1964, ‘65 cross country teams get ‘Fame’ at Western Michigan | Western Michigan Broncos - - MLive.com
When members of the national championship teams of 1964 and 1965 found out they were being inducted into the WMU Hall of Fame on Oct. 16, they resounded with a collective “It’s about time.”

Ludington Daily News - News
Spartans run to victory in Oakridge Invitational

LDN Staff -

Monday, September 21, 2009
MUSKEGON — Placing four runners in the top 12, the Mason County Central boys cross country team won the nine-team Muskegon Oakridge invitational on Saturday.

The Spartans totaled 46 points to nip the Class A Muskegon Mona Shores Sailors, who had 54 points.

The Hart Pirates came in seventh place.

“I’m glad we won but it just seemed like we ran with heavy legs today,” said Central coach Ed Sanders. “We ran on Tuesday and then we ran on Thursday up in Kingsley against Benzie. It’s hard to run three races in one week. And it’s hard to get a practice in there, too.”

Senior Jared Lauber paced the Spartans by taking second place in a time of 16 minutes and 55 seconds. Junior Dan Deller was right behind him in third place in 17:01. Senior Jake Hernandez took seventh in 17:33. And senior Chris Conrad finished 12th in 18:00.

BOYS TEAM RESULTS: Mason County Central 46, Mona Shores 54, Middleville-Thornapple-Kellogg 98, Muskegon 132, Muskegon Orchard View 141, Oakridge 151, Hart 165, Shelby 236, Ravenna 286.

Michigan High School Sports - MLive.com
Dexter girls, boys cross country sweep SEC White jamboree

AnnArbor.com Staff, September 29, 2009 11:25 p.m.
Dexter High School walked away from the demanding Simpson Trail with a pair of cross country titles on Tuesday.

The Dreadnaughts’ boys and girls teams both finished in first place at the Southeastern Conference White Division jamboree held on the campus of Ypsilanti High School.

Dexter finished 1-2-3 in the girls race, led by senior Kristen Yarow’s individual title, to win in a runaway. The boys got a little push from rival Chelsea, which got a first-place finish from junior August Pappas, but prevailed by placing its five scoring runners among the top 12.

“Our guys did a great job of packing up and knowing where they had to be,” said Dexter boys coach David Testa. “They’re really stepping up and doing what has to be done to be successful.”

Yarow won the girls race in 20 minutes, 16 seconds and was followed across the finish line by teammates Caci Dishman (20:30) and Emily Pap (20:59).

Michigan High School Sports - MLive.com
East Grand Rapids Runners Continue Improvement; Boys Cross Country

Advance Newspapers, September 29, 2009 5:42 p.m.
EAST GRAND RAPIDS RUNNERS CONTINUE IMPROVEMENT: The East Grand Rapids boys’ cross country team continued their improvement this season with a second-place finish at the most recent conference jamboree and a strong finish at the Jackson Invitational.

The Pioneers finished second Wednesday at the O-K White jamboree at Lowell. Junior Robbie Smith led the way as he placed seventh in a time of 18:01 while junior Aaron Bunker placed 11th in a time of 18:11.

“We also finished second in our first jamboree of the season at Greenville,” said East coach Larry Fisher. “We had a number of other kids run good races including junior Jesse Pascall who ran a phenomenal race.”

On Saturday the Pioneers made the trip south to Jackson where they placed ninth out of 17 teams at the Jackson Invitational. Bunker ran a new personal record of 17:51 while Smith turned in a time of 17:54.

“We had three freshmen that ran very well at Jackson,” Fisher said. “Owen Smith, who started out running 23 minutes, broke 20 minutes for the first time this year. Graham Pickett and Cole Surman also ran very good races. We took 13 kids to Jackson and five of them ran personnel bests. We’re a young team this year. We have 16 juniors out of our 30 runners. We are a work in progress.”

Michigan High School Sports - MLive.com
Caledonia Wins Cougar-Falcon Invite; Boys Cross Country

Advance Newspapers, September 29, 2009 5:48 p.m.
CALEDONIA WINS COUGAR-FALCON INVITE: The Caledonia boys cross country team got a big boost on Saturday, as the Fighting Scots had nearly every runner on their 39-member team run a season best time at the Cougar-Falcon Invitational at Calvin College. Caledonia won the Cougar Division with 38 points, well ahead of second-place Portage Central.

“I’m thrilled with the way we ran,” said Scots coach Ben Thompson. “We couldn’t be happier. We thought Rockford was going to be there, but they ran their JV team, and our guys just ran really well.”

Senior Kort Alexander led the way for Caledonia, finishing second overall and winning the Cougar Division with a time of 16:31. Junior Evan Zych and sophomore Mason Przybysz were both timed in 16:42 in fourth and fifth place respectively, and junior Brian Farhadi also cracked the 17-minute barrier with his time of 16:57, placing ninth. Junior Kieran Wyma (17:22) finished the scoring for the Fighting Scots in 19th place.

“We knew they were running both divisions (Cougar and Falcon) together and scoring them separately, so we wanted to race against (Falcon Division winner) West Catholic since we know they have a great team,” added Thompson. “Evan Zych was the guy who really stood out - he’s usually our third or fourth guy and he was leading the race at the 1-mileand just held on for a great time.

“This really sets us up well for Carson City and Portage (invitationals) coming up, and the big meets after that.”

Carson City is the next big invite on the docket for Caledonia this Saturday, as the Scots have the week off from O-K Gold competition.