Local Sports Journal

The cross country teams at Muskegon Community faced its toughest tests to date on Saturday at the Spartan Invitational at Michigan State University.

Coach Dan Fishel said the course at Forest Akers Golf Course was relatively easy, the competition was not.

“Toeing the starting line with schools like MSU, University of Michigan, Ohio State and Northwestern of the Big Ten can be a bit intimidating, especially for our team comprised mostly of college freshmen,” Fishel said. “The MSU invite gives us a chance to run against D1, D2, D3, NAIA, and other NJCAA schools as well.”

WOMEN

For the third straight meet, KT Truman (Kent City High School) led the women with a 185th place finish overall and a fourth-place finish among NJCAA school runners.

Truman ran a time of 24:53 in the 6K race.

“Although a 6K is only about 0.6 of a mile farther than a 5K, it can be mentally tougher if you’ve always run 5k’s your whole life,” Fishel said.

One of the best women’s performances went to Jessica VanDyke (Reeths-Puffer), the team’s sixth runner.  Jessica ran a smart race, according to Fishel, and ended up passing several runners in the last mile of the race.

Rounding out the top seven at MSU were Kaytlynne Kerwin (Kent City), Alexis Yost (Coopersville), Jessica Sevarns (Ravenna), Meagan Lavin (Hesperia), and Krista Brandel (Muskegon).

MEN

Mathias Waterstradt (North Muskegon) led the men with a 175th place finish overall and a fourth-place finish among NJCAA school runners with a time of 27:37.

Fishel said the men had mixed results.

“The men’s team began the year with very consistent training, and the results showed at our first meet,” Fishel said. “Now a few injuries have caused us to temporarily reduce mileage and insert some off days to try to heal some of the guys.  A few guys raced at less than 100 percent on Friday and luckily will have a needed two-week break before our next meet to finish their recovery.”

Caleb Arends (Fremont High), the team’s nincth runner, had the biggest improvement on the team.

Rounding out the top 7 at MSU were Kyle Starr (Grant), Alex Drew (Coopersville), Corey Burt (Orchard View), Christian Seaver (Montague), Mitch Clark (Whitehall) and Lucas Johnson (Mona Shores HS).

MCC returns to action Sept. 28 at Grand Woods Park for the Lansing Community College Invitational.