The Wildcats were both mentally and physically ready for the MHSAA regional meet on Saturday. They came with a mission; to head back to the MHSAA state final meet as a team again. Mission accomplished!
Lauren Kiley started fast and never let up as she won the meet with a career PR of 17:43.1. Londyn Swenson wasn’t far behind with a 4th place finish and a season PR of 18:24.5. The rest of the Wildcats knew they needed to push and they took care of business with all 7 placing in the top 30 spots:
Mariella Ma (Fr) 19:50.8 (19th place)
Lindsay Ripple (Jr) 19:52.6 (21st place)
Erin Trombly (Jr) 19:58.9 (23rd place)
Paige Cristea (Jr) 20:14.0 (28th place)
Sasha Fox (So) 20:17.9 (30th place)
Coach Ahearn’s comments:
“I was so proud of the girls and the way they rose to the occasion today. While we waited a prolonged period for results to be confirmed, I knew that they had given me their best no matter where we ended up placing. The top 5 teams were very close and I wasn’t able to count athletes while they were running to definitively say that we would be one of the top 3 teams that gets to go to the state finals.
I’ve had a couple of conversations with Lauren (Kiley) that she would have to race against herself if she wants to get faster and realize her goals. She did that today and had an outstanding race. She will be ready for the tougher competition at the state finals meet. She’s put herself in a great position to race there. Londyn (Swenson) is such a great competitor and really wanted to beat Salem’s Millen. She knew she had to get ahead earlier than the last 3-400 meters and that is just what she did. Mariella (Ma), Lindsay (Ripple) and Erin (Trombly) all earned sub 20 status for their races; that is, a race under 20:00 which is a big deal in girls cross country. Perfect timing in the season as well since the state finals are next week. I like the way things look for the whole team going into our final race.”