Harriers start season with fast times

By Joey Schwindt
Sports Writer

The LCC men’s and women’s cross country teams started the season off with a 5K Friday, Aug. 30, at the Jeff Drenth Memorial hosted by Central Michigan University.

Both teams displayed toughness by competing well in humid conditions.

“There is always some anxiety running your first college race, even as a coach to see how your team’s going to perform, but both teams performed very well,” LCC Head Coach James Robinson said.

“It was a hot, muggy day. That course, which is normally fast, I don’t think was as (fast) because there was a lot of rain this summer and the ground was not as hard as it is going to be later in the season.”

The men’s team finished in fourth place; losing only to the three NCAA Division 1 teams in competition: Michigan State, Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan, the latter of which won the meet. The other two colleges in action were Cornerstone and Alma.

The freshman Stars were on full display, as eight of LCC’s top 10 male finishers were freshmen.

“We have a small strong group of returners, but the bulk of our team are freshmen,” Coach Robinson said.

 Leading the pack were Nate Carmody, Logan Zahn and Jesse Carson. Carmody finished 15th overall with a time of 15:32.5. Zahn and Carson picked up 22nd and 25th place finishes respectively with times of 15:46.2 and 15:49.5.

“I thought it was a pretty good performance, but I need to do a lot more work (to) get to that higher level,” Carmody said.

The LCC women opened competition finishing sixth overall in the meet following some stiff competition. Central Michigan won the meet on the women’s side, followed by Eastern Michigan and Michigan State.

Faith Swenor (left) and Lily Kogut (#170) of LCC compete in the meet at CMU. Photo by Danny Smith

Despite the result, there’s plenty for the Stars to be excited about after a couple standout performances from freshmen Daisy Speet and Paige Kloha. Speet took 31st overall, coming just a few seconds shy of breaking 19 minutes with a time of 19:04. Kloha finished in 62nd with a time of 20:27.1.

“Daisy had an outstanding time for her first collegiate race and Paige showed a lot of potential, so I think we have the pieces on both teams to do really well by the end of the year if we keep working hard,” Coach Robinson said.

Speet commented on her showing.

“I think I went out a little too fast and I was hoping for a faster time,” Speet said, “but I got a personal record so I’m happy.”

LCC will be competing next in the Spartan Invitational at Forest Akers in East Lansing on Friday, Sept. 13.