Sunday, September 14, 2003

By Steve Ungrey
The Grand Rapids Press

Grandville's boys cross country team has come close to finishing first in plenty of tournaments over the last several years, but each time the Bulldogs have been denied a championship trophy.

Saturday's Sparta Invitational broke the long drought.

Grandville's boys won the Blue Division championship, scoring 61 points and finishing ahead of Lowell (81) and Rockford (85) for the tournament title. Grandville competed in the highest of four divisions in the 53-team tournament, with divisions split by school size.

Grandville coach Jim Leonardo believes the last time a cross country team of his won a tournament title was the mid-1990s.

"We have a group of guys who understand what their mission is this season, and it's a long haul," Leonardo said. "We can't get too up and we can't get too down. We've always been in the hunt for titles and today we got one."

Thanks to senior Luke Chrusciel's winning time of 16 minutes, 37.7 seconds, the Bulldogs came out on top. So did Chrusciel, who won his first-ever individual title.

"I won, but what was better was our team won," Chrusciel said. "I worked a lot on my stride before this year and I know if I keep this up I'll only get better."

The Gold Division race was the first showdown between Grand Rapids Christian and East Grand Rapids, two of the stronger boys programs in the area.

The showdown didn't materialize because East's Mach Mach was injured and unable to run. That enabled the GR Christian to score a convincing victory, outdoing Catholic Central 53-101 for the title. EGR finished third with 102 points.

Pete Clemo was Christian's top runner on Saturday (16:51).

Cedar Springs standout Dan Cramer (16:29.1) was the division champion, beating Kenowa Hills' Peter Samuel (16:34.3) by five seconds.

West Catholic regrouped from the mid-week loss to GR Christian, taking took the White Division title with 35 points. The Falcons finished ahead of Stockbridge (63) and Otsego (102).

West Catholic's Sam Passenger was the highest area runner, coming in second (17:28.5) behind Stockbridge's Kyle Shropshire (17:11.2).

By Steve Ungrey
The Grand Rapids Press

Laura Malnor rocketed up in the standings at last year's Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 2 girls cross country finals, improving from 80th as a freshman to second place behind Allen Park's Jackie Gaydos.

The only thing left for Malnor to do at the state level is finish on top, just like she did in Saturday's Sparta Invitational.

The East Grand Rapids junior overwhelmed the Sparta field in 18 minutes, 26.1 seconds. Her closest challenge came from teammate Nikki Brown, who was nearly a minute behind in 19:23.4.

"It wasn't the best time I've ever had, but it was all right," Malnor said. "I got a personal record at the Bath Invitational (last weekend, with an 18:02) so I believe I'm ahead of schedule from where I was last year."

East coach Nick Hopkins has watched Malnor's improvement.

"I'm sure she's a little disappointed with that finish, but if you compare her times she's obviously ahead of last year," Hopkins said.

Although Malnor and Brown provided the top-two finish the Pioneers, Grand Rapids Christian came away as Gold Division champion. The Eagles scored 44 points to EGR's 77, while Catholic Central (101) was third.

"We're very happy with where we're at," said GR Christian coach Doug Jager, who had five runners in the top 11. "We just need to keep on preaching the pack mentality."

Carrie Hoogland led Christian with a sixth-place showing (20:10.3).

In the Blue Division, Rockford's team won the championship by scoring 26 points.

Andi Owens led Rockford with a second in 19:28.4. Grandville junior Kelsey Bristol won the division in 19:19.8.

In the Silver Division, Allendale's Jaime Watson easily cruised to a championship, running 19:44.3 to finish 36 seconds ahead of Kent City's Mollie Ringer (20:20.7).

Watson finished second last year behind Kelloggsville's Nicole Bush, who did not participate in the tournament (the Rockets were to compete at the Holly Invitational instead). That left Watson out in front of the pack.