Local Sports Journal

Great running weather greeted the Muskegon Community College Jayhawks as they hosted their home cross country meet on Friday at University Park Golf Course.

The Second Annual Jayhawk Invitational included eight full teams and individual runners from other teams.

Some unattached runners were from Michigan State University, the University of Michigan, and Central Michigan University.

Sharing the day and the course on Friday were the runners from the Greater Muskegon Athletic Association City Meet.

Men

The Jayhawk men finished third out of eight teams.

Four Jayhawk runners – Mathias Waterstradt (North Muskegon HS), Kyle Starr (Grant HS), Alex Drew (Coopersville HS), and Christian Seaver (Montague HS) – all ran faster than former MCC runner and NJCAA All-American Matt Kring’s home course time of 26:40 from last year.

Also, Waterstradt’s time of 25:36 set a new MCC school record, breaking Matt Kring’s school record of 26:05 and was good for 13th among 90 finishers.

“I don’t know what it was today – the great weather, the training, running at our home course, or a combination of the three – but the Jayhawk men had their best combined 1-5 8k time in school history,” Coach Dan Fishel said.

Fishel also lauded the efforts of Alex Drew, who started out with the lead pack and stayed there throughout the race.

Mitch Clark (Whitehall HS), Lucas Johnson (Mona Shores HS), and Matt Almond (Holton HS) rounded out the top 7.  Lucas and Matt broke 30 minutes for the first time.

Coming up for the Jayhawks is a regional meet in Lansing on Oct. 27.

Women

The women’s Jayhawk cross country team ran their best overall meet of the season.

Many Michigan community colleges, Hope College and Michigan State University attended the meet along with Sault College from Ontario, Canada and several unattached runners also from Michigan colleges.

The women took fourth in the eight-team field.

KT Truman (Kent City HS) led the team with a 19th place out of 81 runners and a time of 19:40.  Kaytlynne Kerwin (Kent City HS), Alexis Yost (Coopersville HS), Jessica Sevarns (Ravenna HS), Jessica VanDyke (Reeths Puffer HS), and Erica Douglas (Muskegon HS) all ran personal best times on Friday.

Krista Brandel (Muskegon HS), Meagan Lavin (Hesperia HS), and Courtney Collins (Orchard View HS) also ran solid races and were seconds away from personal best times.

“I would say Kaytlynne Kerwin had the best women’s race today,” Dan Fishel said  “KK (as we call her) usually starts a little slower and likes to pick off runners later in the race.  Today she had some major determination and ran a great first mile as well, and that’s why she had a lifetime best and broke 20 minutes for the first time ever.”

The Jayhawks travel to Lansing at noon on Oct. 27 for a regional meet hosted by Lansing Community College.