The Lansing Catholic girls cross country team found its way back to the top spot of the podium at Michigan International Speedway.
Behind top-10 finishes from Josie Bishop and Grace Wonch, the Cougars finished as the Division 3 state champions with a score of 69 points on Saturday, Nov. 1. Lansing Catholic finished 110 points ahead of runner-up Pewamo-Westphalia while capturing its second straight state title.
Bishop took sixth overall with a time of 18:38.40 and Wonch was seventh in 18:38.70. They were among four Lansing Catholic runners to have all-state finishes in Division 3. Anna Drauer finished 11th and Isabelle Currie placed 17th at the state finals for Lansing Catholic.
Alyssa Kramer led Pewamo-Westphalia to its runner-up finish by placing fourth with a time of 18:27.50. Also finishing in the top 30 to achieve all-state status for P-W was Calista George, who was 22nd.
Leslie’s Hailey Creisher led the placers in Division 3 from Greater Lansing and was the individual runner-up with a time of 18:11.20. She finished just over 4 seconds behind state champion Samanta Schroeder from Jackson Lumen Christi.
Olivet’s Tiya Feldpausch was fifth and teammate Lily Britton finished 24th to also finish as all-state.
Division 1
Okemos’ Rachel Smith capped a strong sophomore season by finishing as the runner-up in the Division 1 race. Smith had a time of 17:04.70, while Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Natasza Dudek was the state champion with a time of 16:09.50.
Smith was one of two Okemos runners to earn all-state honors. Senior October Harns placed 15th in 17:57.30 for the Wolves.
Division 2
DeWitt was the top placing area team in Division 2 and finished eighth with 294 points.
The area had two all-state runners with St. Johns junior Ava Schafer leading the way and placing seventh with a time of 18:05.60. Eaton Rapids’ Remie Ellis placed 26th.
Division 4
Lansing Christian’s Adrienne Mitchell was the lone area all-state finisher and placed 26th with a time of 20:08.70 in the Division 4 race. She helped Lansing Christian place 12th as a team. Fowler’s Zoe Fabing was the next best area finisher and just missed being all-state by placing 31st.
BOYS
Division 3
Lansing Catholic finished as the team runner-up with a score of 138. The Cougars finished seven points behind state champion Charlevoix.
Lansing Catholic achieved its team runner-up finish despite not having a runner finish as all-state. Lucas Gates led the Cougars in 32nd.
Bath’s Owen Poppema had the top performance of area runners and finished eighth in 15:46.60. Other all-state runners included Ithaca’s Jacob Mankey (15th) and Landen Styka (22nd) and Stockbirdge’s William Gancer (21st).
The all-state finishes by Mankey and Styka helped Ithaca finish fourth in the team standings.
Division 2
Alma had two runners place in the top 10 while finishing third in Diivsion 2 with 161 points.
Thomas Larson was third with a time of 15:20.90 and Ezekiel Baltierra was sixth in 15:29.10 to lead Alma in its top three finish,
DeWitt’s Aiden Marple also was all-state and placed 28th and had a time of 15:59.30.
Division 1
Okemos senior Ian Morgan was the lone all-state finisher and placed 13 th in the Division 1 race with a time of 15:19.90.
Grand Ledge finished 10th in the team standings.
Division 4
Webberville’s Nathan West led the area runners in Division 4 and finished 30th in 16:49.90 to earn all-state honors. Portland St. Patric’s Timothy Chamberlain placed 32nd.
Portland St. Patrick was 12th and Webberville was 13th in the team standings.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Cross country state finals: Lansing Catholic girls repeat as Division 3 champions
Reporting by Brian Calloway, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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