Cedar Springs runner dominates the field at the Sparta Invitational

The Grand Rapids Press

SPARTA -- Landon Peacock moved from the Morley-Stanwood district into Cedar Springs before his junior year, meaning he had to sit out the entire 2004 cross country season because he transferred.

Peacock is making up his lost time in a hurry.

It is only three weeks into the current season, and Peacock's time is already the envy of many across West Michigan. He ran 15 minutes, 31 seconds at the 42-team Sparta Invitational on Saturday, shaving off seconds from his previous best.

There's something about the Sparta landscape that agrees with Peacock, as he ran 15:14 during this summer's Flavorbest Apple 5K. With times like those, it is no wonder colleges are already clamoring for a moment of his time.

"I've gotten a lot of notice already from schools, I even got something from Harvard," Peacock said. "Lots of Ivy League letters have come my way, and I plan on contacting Michigan and Michigan State."

Peacock's time was the fastest of the day by far, as he was the only runner to break 16 minutes. He was just 14 seconds off the old record of 15:17, set by Caledonia's Tim Ross in 2001.

Peacock's performance dominated the individual landscape, but several area teams weren't too far behind him.

West Catholic boys win

West Catholic, the Division 3 state runner-up from a year ago, got its season off to a strong start with a victory in the White Division boys race. Its dominant score of 22 points was way ahead of South Haven (81) and Grant (90).

"These guys put in a solid summer of training," said West Catholic coach Denny Scully, who watched his top four runners take second through fifth behind Grant's Trent Denhof.

"Andrew Bissonette took a couple weeks off and then went to work, he lowered his miles and made a slow climb up to 65 per week. Our entire team had a good summer working out, and now we're chasing some very formidable teams like Williamston."

This year's Sparta races were reminiscent of 2004, as seven of the eight varsity divisions had repeat champions. Only Sparta, led by juniors Eric Stouten (16:36) and Brad Dauber (17:09), was a newcomer to the winner's circle. The Spartans unseated previous champion Grand Rapids Christian, outscoring the Eagles 60-79 for the win.

The feeling of d  vu was a pleasant one for the winning coaches, putting them one week closer to a goal of qualifying for the state finals Nov. 5 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn.

Take the case of Grand Rapids Christian's girls, who kept on a smooth path towards state by holding off Unity Christian for the Gold girls title.

"I wasn't too surprised to see Unity behind us," Christian coach Doug Jager said. "The girls ran pretty well today, and Unity also has a solid team."

Christian's Jessica Koster won the Gold girls race with a time of 19:12.7 finishing 21 seconds ahead of Sparta's Magan Antor.

West Ottawa coach Chris Knoll was also happy, considering his boys scored 37 points to down Jenison (63) for the championship.

"We really, really focused in on Jenison because they are in our regional, and our guys just ran so smart," West Ottawa boys coach Chris Knoll said. "We were mentally tough and mentally smart, we used our heads and did our job."

West Ottawa's Amber Brunmeier also repeated as a winner, along with South Christian senior Lori Burgess.