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• November 5, 2015 • Oceana’s Herald-Journal
Pirates to state a legitimate chance to win a championship. “The girls worked very hard these past weeks in hopes of making the return trip to the state finals,” Hart coach Terry Tatro said. “Sierra and Alayna spent a lot of time on the bikes and in the pool to maintain their fitness levels while recovering from stress fractures. The rest of the team stepped up, running and racing their best.” Tatro also pointed out strong performances by his team’s two other scorers. Brooke Hodges finished 23rd while slicing nearly a minute off her time at the same course a week prior, and Kayleigh Gordon ran a personal-best time of 22:19.5 to take 29th. Shelby’s girls finished up their season with a 10th-place finish, with Abby Bahena and Grace Parsekian leading the Tigers by placing 32nd and 37th overall respectively. Hesperia’s girls, which have struggled with numbers all year, had a full team and took 11th place. Hannah Sperry and Brooke Schooley, both seniors, closed their careers by finishing backto-back, in 39th and 40th place respectively. MHSAA DIVISION 3 GIRLS REGIONAL MEET RESULTS HART SCORERS: 1-Ad. Ackley 18:22.9, 9-Albus 20:16.8, 18-Al. Ackley 21:32.0, 23-Hodges 22:00.9, 29-Gordon 22:19.5. SHELBY SCORERS: 32-Bahena 22:26.1, 37-Parsekian 22:36.7, 59-Luz Andrade 24:21.6, 86-Murah Olmstead 28:02.8, 90-Natalie Fox 29:04.6. HESPERIA SCORERS: 39-Sperry 22:50.4, 40-Schooley 22:54.8, 78-Darby VanAvery 26:47.3, 82-Dana Schaffer 27:16.3, 95-Desta Jordan 30:14.7.
In the Division 3 boys’ race, no county teams qualified for state, with Hesperia’s boys coming closest, finishing in fourth place. The Panthers were 29 points behind Mason County Central, who snagged the final qualifying spot. “We would’ve liked to run better on race day, but I think we had a fairly positive sea-
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D-4 runners succeed
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MHSAA DIVISION 4 GIRLS REGIONAL MEET RESULTS WALKERVILLE FINISHERS: 1-Merten 20:04.6, 64-Achterhof 27:26.4, 70-Hood 28:59.3. PENTWATER FINISHERS: 12-Wagner 21:41.3, 51-Adams 25:11.7, 61-Nyberg 27:08.1.
David Bossick • Shoreline Media
Hesperia’s Arik LaFave (left) leads a group of runners after passing the one-mile mark at the Division 3 regional cross-country meet at Manistee National Golf Club Saturday. LaFave finished second overall and is headed to state for the 4th time in a row.
son,” Hesperia coach Doug Baird said of the boys’ team. A pair of individuals did, however, qualify: Hesperia’s Arik LaFave and Kyle Venne. The senior LaFave finished just over three seconds away from a regional title, finishing in second place with a time of 16:17.3. LaFave will be making his fourth straight trip to the state meet to close out his career. Venne took 15th place to grab the final individual qualifying spot, earning a time of 17:39.8. “Arik is a returning all-stater, and he hopes to get into the top 10,” Baird said. “Kyle is seeded out there, but he would like to get into medal contention, pop off a great race and be Hesperia’s next all-state crosscountry runner.” Veteran runners Collin Nielsen and Logan Eaves also raced well for Hesperia. Nielsen finished 21st and posted a time of 18:01.4, while Eaves concluded his varsity career by coming in 31st place, with a time of 18:16.9. The Hart Pirates’ boys finished in seventh place. Freshman William Schlaack had the biggest performance of the day
The Walkerville boys crosscountry team came close to qualifying for state in the Division 4 boys’ race, but had to settle for sending two Wildcats to the finals after coming in fourth place, just nine points behind qualifier Frankfort. “We had been working towards having our best race of the season at regionals, and we did,” Walkerville coach Michelle Sweet said. “We knew we’d have to get Frankfort and we came up a bit short, but we are proud of how hard they all worked the race.”
Perrin Kirwin will make his second trip in a row to the finals, having finished third in the regional meet. His time was 17:18.9. Teammate Tyler Sheehy will join him. Sheehy had a great run and finished fifth in the meet, with a time of 17:41.95. Shane Achterhof nearly made it three Walkerville runners at the state meet, but he finished 5.17 seconds behind 15th-place Denver Cade of Buckley, in 16th. Achterhof, an eighth-grader, is a good bet to reach state in coming seasons. “We are expecting (those) who moved on to really stretch their legs on Saturday and show what Walkerville and the WMD can do at the state level,” Sweet said. Pentwater couldn’t post a boys’ team score, but got a
for Hart, leading the team for the first time all season, in 26th place, and setting a new personal best of 18:08.5. Senior Devin Whitney followed closely behind, taking 29th in a time of 18:15.7. Jonah Gale also stood out in his final varsity race, setting a personal best of 19:06.0. He placed 49th. Fellow senior Braxton Platt was close behind, in 50th, to earn Hart’s fifth scoring spot. Dylan Towne led the young Shelby Tigers, who ended up in 14th place, by running a time of 20:24.1. He was 64th overall. Will Kidder and Dylan Berens followed, placing 74th and 75th respectively. MHSAA DIVISION 3 BOYS REGIONAL MEET RESULTS HESPERIA SCORERS: 2-LaFave 16:17.3, 15-Venne 17:39.8, 21-Nielsen 18:01.4, 31-Eaves 18:16.9, 46-Zach Young 18:59.8. HART SCORERS: 26-Schlaack 18:08.5, 29-D. Whitney 18:15.7, 43-Andrew Whitney 18:50.9, 49-Gale 19:06.0, 50-Platt 19:17.7. SHELBY SCORERS: 64-Towne 20:24.1, 73-Kidder 21:35.4, 74-Berens 21:35.9, 94-Charles Martel 26:58.4, 95-Jonah Scouten 27:00.8.
solid run from freshman Max Stoneman, who placed 23rd with a time of 19:15.96. Stoneman and teammates Julien Nyberg and Jake Quinn all had personal best times. Quinn shaved 30 seconds off his previous best time. “That is pretty remarkable given the course and weather conditions,” Fatura said. “I have do doubt that (Max) will be working hard next year to break into the top 15.” MHSAA DIVISION 4 BOYS REGIONAL MEET RESULTS WALKERVILLE SCORERS: 3-Kirwin 17:18.9, 5-Sheehy 17:41.95, 16-Achterhof 18:34.0, 55-Calvin Chase 21:11.7, 69-Diego Rivera 22:18.0. PENTWATER FINISHERS: 23-Stoneman 19:15.96, 66-Nyberg 21:54.1, 70-Quinn 22:18.7.
Andrew Skinner • Oceana’s Herald-Journal
Hesperia’s Mark Workman (left) shakes off a tackle from Saugatuck’s Keegan Carper during Friday’s pre-district game at Hesperia. Workman had the Panthers’ lone touchdown in a 42-7 loss.
Panthers fall next two possessions to keep Hesperia at bay. Workman led the Panthers’ offense, with 79 yards on 16 carries. Overall the Panthers were held to 184 offensive yards, by far their lowest total of the season.
Despite the sour ending, Sims said the season was a huge success for the Panthers and added that his team will be working all off-season to continue that success next year. “It was a great season,” Sims said. “We had a fun ride that
from Page 1b both the players and the coaches enjoyed. A lot of this group started the first Monday after last season, and rarely missed a workout. We will take the same approach...to become better athletes. We all know there is a lot of work yet to do.”
Hart JV Football Team & Coaches on an Amazing Undefeated Season! from your friends at Open Hearth Grille
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