By Travis Smola
“Our freshmen have been very strong on both teams but we’ve also had some really good senior leadership,” Head Coach Chris Kato said after the girls ran at the Kalamazoo Christian Comet Invitational. “Our captains have just been phenomenal this year.”
At this race, weather was cool and crisp. Many personal records (PR) were set. Senior Phil Stafford, sophomores Carson Flynn and Jacob Troyer and freshman Simon Sheen all set new PRs for the boys. Junior Ian Edwards and Ben Sampley set season records.
On the girls’ side, freshman Annika Peterson was the top finisher for the Eagles, running a 22:13.36, a new PR for her. Also setting new PRs were junior Morgan Pace, sophomore Emily Springer and senior Lily Hendershot.
Kato credits the team’s success to a good middle school program, his assistant coaches and the attitudes of the runners.
“Our mantra all season has been ‘all in,’ and that’s just racing with everything you have but also racing together as a team at all times,” Kato said. “The kids have really gotten behind that.”
