Practice is making perfect for Oxford High School’s cross country teams, as both the boys and girls finished near the top of the Sept. 20 Detroit Catholic Central Invitational.
The boys? team finished second out of 19 schools while the girls placed third out of 10 schools.
Each runner did well enough to earn a team medal, while the top 40 finishers in the races earned individual medals.
For the boys, they finished as follows:
Chase Tucker, seventh place, 18 minutes and 32 seconds; Dylan Smith, ninth, 18:45; Eric Joergens, 10th, 19:03; Zach Kelly, 21st, 19:43; Shane Kerbelis, 25th, 19:53 and Alex Smith, 27th, 19:58.
For the girls, they finished as follows:
Shannon Seeley, third, 21:23; Taylor Dewey, eighth, 21:50; Olivia Hernandez, 31st, 23:48; Megan Seeley, 32nd, 23:49; Jillian Walker, 33rd, 23:50; Jennifer Taraski, 47th, 24:30 and Mallory Skilling, 52nd, 25:28.
‘This was definitely the best performance of the year in a team event,? said cross country coach Ray Sutherland. ‘We’re going to work on getting stronger and faster, and it’s all a matter of endurance. The more you run, the stronger you get.?
The coach plans to have the team focus on distance runs, hill work and speed.
A few days earlier, both the cross country girls and boys came away with wins at the Sept. 16 duel meet at Kearsley High School meet, with the girls improving their Flint Metro League record to 3-1 and the boys earning their first FML win on the season to go to 1-3.
The Wildcats had two runners who took first place honors ? Shannon Seeley and Joergens, both in their races against Clio.
The girls won both of their matches, defeating Kearsley 21-38 and Clio 19-42.
The boys won their first match against Clio easily, 15-49 but lost a close race to Kearsley 29-28.
In cross country, the lower score wins.
Seeley finished second against Kearsley, finishing her race with a time of 21:42; seconds. Dewey was third against Kearsley and second against Clio with a time of 21:44. Kate Wolanin was fourth in both with a time of 22:23. Megan Seeley was fifth in both with a time of 22:36 and Walker was seventh in both 23:40.
Against Clio, the boys took the first six spots. Joergens? time was 18:29, Tucker finished second at 18:39, Dylan Smith third at 18:54, Kerbelis fourth at 19:36 and Alec Smith fifth at 19:40.
Nolan Salani, despite getting injured towards the end of the race, finished sixth at 19:42. Kelley finished behind him at 20:09.
Against Kearsley, Joergens was third, Tucker fourth, Dylan Smith fifth, Kerbelis eighth and Alec Smith was ninth.