With only one day separating two meets for the Ranger cross-country team, expectations were unknown for the West Ottawa Invitational. Although legs may have been tired on both the guys’ and girls’ sides, grit and determination were embraced for third place finishes.
“Since we raced two days ago, the plan was to not go all out, ” said assistant coach Dan Kasprowitcz. “Today was more of a glorified workout.”
The day started great for FHC with varsity girls racing first and landing two places in the top ten. Junior Anna Sybenga and senior Peyton Ludwig led the way for the lady Rangers with Sybenga placing seventh with a time of 19:40.20 and Ludwig placing tenth with a time of 19:57.20. The girls totaled up 102 points from five scoring runners, bested only by Grand Haven and Holland West Ottawa—both powerhouse teams of MHSAA Division I in current and past seasons. While the girls had three finishes in the top twenty, problems can happen when the rest of the team falls behind.
“I think we all need to work on sticking together,” noted junior Gwen Lamport. “When we push each other we can work harder on passing during the second mile.”
Lamport capped off the scoring for the FHC girls team with a time of 21:26.60 to secure the Rangers a third place overall finish. Normally a track sprinter, Lamport finds the higher milage of races harder than others but has strategies to help bring the team success.
“I stuck with my gold pace and [junior] Anna Krampe so we could push each other,” Lamport said. “I also kept passing people on my second and third miles.”
Next up was the boys varsity race, but this one was already lining up differently from the last. Joining the lineup for the first time this season, freshman Ben Romero ran a solid 17:16.15 for his first-ever high school race. Romero looks to make huge bounds this season, showing that he can be dangerous based on his 4:34 mile—the fastest in Michigan for eighth graders—from last track season. Leading the way for the FHC boys team was junior Sawyer Mccarthy, who achieved a top ten time of 16:35.45. Finishing right behind McCarthy was senior Parker Ludwig, who was pleased about how he raced his 16:43.26.
“I had good position throughout the race,” Ludwig said. “I’m glad I got out well and it helped to have consistent split times.”
The Ranger boys accumulated a total of 137 points, earning them a third-place finish as well. The boys ran incredibly well considering all scoring runners were in the top fifty and this was the second meet in three days. Race strategy is important to top runners, as one mile too fast or too slow can be the factor between a win and a loss against opponents.
“I wanted to go out slower and be more conservative,” Ludwig stated. “I’ve been losing it the last couple of miles in past races and I want to make sure I have a finishing kick.”
The FHC cross-country team shows outstanding potential considering the results of the Invitational. Even with key runners senior Clara James-Heer and junior Jacob Sanford missing for this race, the Rangers prevailed with sore legs to come out with a great result. Head coach Ryan Schipper is proud of the group’s effort but still believes that there are areas to work on.
“They need to work on controlling their first-mile pacing and being strong on their second mile,” Schipper said. “But this team fights for every blade of grass.”
