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CROSS COUNTRY: Shrine, Liggett top D-4 regional field

Dan Stickradt | October 26, 2013 | Comments (0)

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BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

Twitter: @LocalSportsFans

NEW BALTIMORE — Novi Franklin Road Christian’s Jacob Weaver pioneered some new ground Saturday morning. The senior became the first runner in school history to claim an individual regional championship in cross country.

Under blustery conditions that featured stiff, biting, cold winds and even some occasional slow flurries, Weaver gutted through the cold temperatures to clock 18:05 and win the Division 4 regional title at New Baltimore Anchor Bay.

“I feel like I have had a good season and I wanted to keep it going,” said Weaver. “It feels great to win the regional. I wanted to do really well here. I have worked really hard, especially the past two years, and getting to the state meet as a senior was one of my goals all along.”

Grosse Pointe Woods University-Liggett qualified for the state finals, Nov. 2 at Michigan Speedway near Brooklyn, for the second straight season. This time the Knights advanced as a regional champion, scoring 71 points to lead the 16-school field.

“This is the first time in the seven years that I have been the coach that we have qualified in back-to-back years and the first regional title since I’ve been here,” said Liggett coach Trey Cassidy. “We did bring back a lot of kids and we did have some experience. But I think part of it was this group has worked so hard to be able to do this. Their goal was to qualify again this season and they were able to become regional champions because of their hard work.”

William Gilbert (fifth, 19:13), TJ Dulac (ninth), William Loner (15^th), Nick Brusilow (19^th) and Anthony Galea (30^th) contributed to Liggett’s winning total.

Royal Oak Shrine Catholic (83) was second in the boys race with 83 points, while Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest grabbed the third and final qualifying spot with 92 points. Auburn Hills Oakland Christian (95) and Marine City Cardinal Mooney Catholic (142) rounded out the top five.

Shrine Catholic’s girls won their sixth straight regional title, scoring only 45 points with the lowest point total of the day featuring all divisions. Oakland Christian was second with 62 points and Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes-Clarkston Everest Collegiate Unified claimed third (72) to also advance to the finals.

University-Liggett was fourth (100) and Madison Heights Bishop Foley was fifth (137) to round out the top five in the girls team standings.

Madelyne Luddy (seventh), Grace Nagle (eighth), Gabby Schmidt (10^th), Irene Dooley (17^th) and Clara Lichtenberg (18^th) led Shrine’s winning effort.

“Our girls have done really well the past several years and I felt that we had a shot at winning today,” said Shrine coach Wright Wilson. “Our top five girls all finished in the top 20. Anytime you can do that, you have a really good chance (of winning).”

Our Lady of the Lakes sophomore Tessa Fornari defended her regional championship with a 20:03 clocking, winning by some 1:27 over her nearest competitor, teammate Olivia Bennett (21:30). Lutheran Northwest’s Kira Haag was third (21:54), while Oakland Christian’s Megan Nichols (22:08) and Sterling Heights Parkway Christian’s Taylor Siegle (22:19) followed suit in the top five.

“I just had to stay focused because I was so far ahead,” said Fornari, who became the first Lakes runner to ever win back-to-back regional titles. “I didn’t have anything particular in my head to stay focused, but running alone is a lot different than running in a pack with other girls. It will be different next week (at the state finals). I would like to go after top-10, maybe top-five. I really just want to run my best race and see where I finish up.”

In the boys race, Lutheran Northwest’s Cameron Santangelo was second overall (18:41), followed by Southfield Christian’s Jon Behr (19:07) and Shrine’s Jake Miller (19:12).

“We are an up-and-coming team,” said Santangelo. “Our goal was to make it to (the state finals) this year. We ran a really good race and I think we’ll be (competing) for this in the future.”

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FOR MORE CROSS COUNTRY COVERAGE: http://northoaklandsports.com/?s=Cross+country&x=11&y=10

Have photos or video of this event that you wish to share? E-mail pertinent information to www.northoaklandsports.com Senior Editor Dan Stickradt at dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com or e-mail results@northoaklandsports.com.