Gavin Guggemos is the last Lake Michigan Conference Champion!

Congratulations to Gavin who placed first in the Lake Michigan Conference meet on Tuesday, October 10th in Harbor Springs. The course was soggy, but the rain held off for the races. Guggemos finished in 16:33.6, and the boys team finished 3rd overall, which is a strong finish for the Blazers. Traverse City St Francis won the meet, and Charlevoix was 2nd, ahead of the Blazers by 4 points.

Betsy Skendzel won the girl's race in 18:49.2, leading Traverse City St. Francis to a first place victory. The Blazers finished 7th of the 8 teams attending. Myah Little led the Blazers, placing 33rd in 22:50, Anna Martin was 46th, 23:49. Kara Olds filled the 3rd runner spot for the first time this year, running 24:14, finishing 51st. Courtney Borden was 52nd, 24:19, and Keira Curneal was 56th, 24:56, to round out the scoring five. Abby Minion was 62nd with a new PR of 26:13, Ava Ivkovich was 64th, 26:24, Kylee Reust was 67th, 27:10, Jenna Rabourn was 75th with a new season record of 29:40, and Angela Rodriguze finished 81st in 34:07, just a few seconds away from a new PR.

Guggemos earned All Conference Honors and led the Blazer team of Adam Williams, who placed 12th in 17:33 and earned All Conference Honorable Mention, Camden Moore who placed 15th, 17:38, and was on the team with Guggemos the last time Kalkaska placed 3rd in 2021 (which is pretty darn good for us), Coltrane Paryani, 32nd, 18:47, and Jackson Shetler, 43rd, 19:23. Tripp Wagner placed 50th, 20:03, Ephraim Conway was 58th, 21:07, Cade Ponstein was 70th, 23:25, Dylan Hunt was 72nd, 23:34, and Issaic Fisher was 77th, 25:25.

The middle school girls placed 3rd in their race. Hailee Bertels of Boyne City won the race in 13:29, and S.E.A.S. was the number one team. Aaliyah Hillier was 3rd in 13:48, and also scoring for the Blazers were Izzy Wegener in 7th, 14:04, Kylee Jenkins, 11th in 14:50, Payton Bonofiglio, 20th in 16:03, and Aila Stayla in 32nd, with a PR of 17:46. Andrea Banken set a new PR of 17:52, and Violet Susinko ran 21:45.

The Kalkaska boys were 2nd, behind Harbor Springs. Grant Corlew of Harbor Springs won the race in 11:28. Owen McGlone led the Blazer boys in the middle school race, placing 3rd, in 11:38. Kaden Fischer was 11th in 12:53, Alex Lopez was 16th, 13:31, Kellen TenHopen was 21st in 13:49, and Griffin Anderson was 25th in 14:13 to fill out the scoring positions. New PRs were set by Seth Storm, 14:13, Owen Shetler, 15:00, and Brandon Martin, 19:45. Joe Morris finished in 14:33, Asher Guggemos was 14:57, James Martin ran 15:36, Afton Staley ran 17:43, Will Morris was 20:00, Thomas Anderson ran 26:22, and Brayden Vanderloop finished in 26:46.

Great job Blazers! The teams will race again on Saturday in East Jordan.