The cross country teams ran at the Dwayne Rau Memorial Invitational in Ogemaw Heights on Thrusday, August 31, 2023. The schools were divided into 4 divisions based on school size, with the Blazers racing in the O'Connor division. You must have five runners to score a team, and if teams tie, you compare the finishing place of each team's sixth runner. The team with the sixth runner across the finish line first wins. 

The courses had some hills, and the day was warm. There was a significant climb in mile two, then athletes ran about 300 meters on the track before attacking mile three. Personal bests were hard to come by, but this was a day where you just had to race. 

The girl's had 153 runners finish, and the boy's race had 207.  The O'Connor division had 50 girls and 64 boys competing. 

Katie Berkshire of Gaylord won the girl's race in 19:29 and the winner of the boy's was Caleb Palmreuter of Gladwin in 16:40. 

The girls won the O'Connor division with 41 points. Lake City and Tawas were in second and third place. 

Myah Little was first of 50 in this division, and 15th overall with a time of 23:09. Anna Martin was 2nd, 24:28, Courtney Borden was 7th, 25:24, Keria Curneal was 12th, 26:00, and Kara Olds was 20th, 27:23 to complete Kalkaska's top 5. Ava Ivkovich was 26th, 29:28, Kylee Reust was 29th, 29:41, Abby Minion was 30th, 29:43, a new personal record, and Jenna Raboun was 40th, 33:15. 

The boys placed 3rd in the O'Connor division with 55 points. Lake City won the division after winning a tie with Pine River. Both teams scored 50 points. 

Gavin Guggemos won the division, which had 64 runners, with a time of 17:27, and was 10th overall for the day. Camden Moore was 3rd, 18:17, Coltrane Paryani was 9th, 19:20, Jackson Shetler was 16th, 20;53, and Ephraim Conway was 26th, 22:20, to round out our top five. Tre' Bromley was 31st, 23:28, Dylan Hunt was 34th, 23:56, and Mason Doehring was 55th, 27:12, a new personal record. 

The top 30% of the total runners in each grade won medals. Little, Martin, Borden, Curneal, Guggemos, Moore, and Paryani went home with hardware. 

After a long weekend and some miles, the Blazers will race again on Saturday, September 9th at the Charlevoix Mud Run.