Sunday, September 14, 2008
By Jeff Chaney
The Grand Rapids Press
SPARTA -- It was a race more for survival than speed.
A steady downpour Saturday morning turned the course at the Sparta Invitational into a soggy mess.
Jenison's Ariel Dempsey navigated her way through the mud and water to win the Blue Division race, finishing in 21 minutes, 39.4 seconds.
"The water was everywhere," Dempsey said. "There were spots where it was up to your shin for as long as 100 meters."
West Ottawa's boys won the Blue Division even though some Panthers slipped on the course.
"I told the guys, 'Some of you guys are going to fall out there, but just get up and keep going,' " West Ottawa boys coach Chris Knoll said. "Five of my top seven guys fell, but we still won with the power of the pack."
The East Grand Rapids girls won the Gold Division with a score of 47, while Cadillac followed to finish secondch was 74 points better than second place Cadillac.
Northview's Carly Plank was second individually in the Gold Division to Cadillac's Kaitlynn Patterson. Plank cited a bad strategy due to weather for her second place finish.
"(Patterson) ran around all the puddles, and I ran through them," said Plank, who came in with a time of 19:36. "That cost me some time and saved her some energy."
The Ionia boys wonwere thewinners in the Gold Division with a score of 40 points, 35 points better than Byron Center.
Ionia was paced to victory by Kyle Slaughter, who won the race with a time of 16:41.
The South Christian boys were the winners of led the White Division with 51 points, led by Michael Demann, who was third with a time of 18:25, nearly 30 seconds behindjust more than over 30 seconds behind champion Tony Schafer of West Catholic finished at 17:53 individually in the White Division.
"It was tough out there," Schafer said. "It was very wet and muddy. I was just glad to make it through. Times didn't matter today, I just wanted to make it though."
The Fremont girls team was strong in the White Division, winning with 44 points, 30 points better than second place Hamilton.
The Kent City boys and girls team did well in the Silver Division, as the Eagles' boysteam won with 46 points, just ahead of Hesperia. The Kent City girls finished behind Hesperia to take second. while the Eagles' girls team was second to Hesperia.
Alex Wilson led Kent City to the team title by winning his race with a time of 17:43.