LCC harriers hitting mid-season stride

By Michael Leek
Sports Editor

As the cross country season gets well underway, the Stars continue to impress and improve.

The Stars’ last meet was the Grand Rapids Knight/Raider Invitational on Friday, Sept. 15.

The LCC men's team placed second out of 16 teams in the 8K race with a score of 72 points. The Stars fell short of Northwood University, which dominated with a score of 17 points.

The LCC women's team finished in fifth place out of 13 teams in a 5K run with a score of 145. Northwood University also won this race with a score of 36.

LCC Coach Jim Robinson was once again pleased with how his teams performed.

“I think both teams did well,” Robinson said. “For a few of our men's runners, it was their first time running an 8K.”

Sophomore Michael Dennis finished first for the men's team and eighth overall in the 8K with a time of 25:43.6. He has had a successful season and was recently named the NJCAA National Athlete of the Week.

Dennis said his success comes from his teammates.

“(It’s) the team culture,” Dennis said. “I’ve never had a team culture this good. We’ll stay at each other's places, make food together. It really just makes running fun and helps our team chemistry during races.”

Sophomore Liam Elder finished 12th in the men’s race. Sophomores Gabriel Phillips and Brian Keillor were close behind, placing 15th and 18th, respectively.

For the women, sophomore Jana Stiffler placed seventh overall in the Knight/Raider meet with a 5K time of 19:37.2.

The differences in courses can affect how people run and Stiffler said she is aware of that fact.

“It is so important to train for things such as hills and uneven footing, but mental strength definitely requires training, too,” Stiffler said.

The second Lady Star to cross the finish line was sophomore Alyssa Williams, who was 32nd.

The LCC women's cross country team runs during a recent practice.  Photo by Kaitlyn Delaney

 

For the next meet, Coach Robinson said the Stars will be considering it mid-season and ramping up the intensity of the races.

“We will be racing back-to-back-to-back weekends, so on the men's side we used last meet as a workout,” Robinson said.

The Stars’ next meet will be the Lansing Invitational at Grand Woods Park this Friday, Sept. 22. The meet will begin with the women’s 5K at 12:30 p.m. and the men’s 8K will follow at 1:15 p.m.

The Stars are excited to compete at home, but their mindset will be the same.

“The race will still be good competition like any other race, but we’ll just probably have more supporters and be more familiar with the course,” Dennis said.