Harriers race at Spartan Invitational

By Joey Schwindt
Sports Writer

LCC’s men’s and women’s cross country teams raced at the Spartan Invitational on Friday, Sept. 13 at the Forest Akers East golf course in East Lansing.

The men's team competed in its first 8K of the season and finished ninth overall out of the 13 teams in the field. LCC was the top NJCAA program at the meet.

“It was topflight competition, and I thought we did very well,” LCC Head Coach James Robinson said.

Michigan State won the men’s meet with 23 total points, followed by Grand Valley and Saginaw Valley.

Top finishers for the Stars were freshmen Logan Zahn and Jesse Carson, placing 69th and 73rd respectively; with times of 26:49.1 and 25:53.9.

“It felt smooth honestly, with just being able to relax and not over push it; while (running) the last miles faster,” Zahn said.

For the LCC women’s team, it was their first and only time this season racing a 6K. LCC took 12th place overall out of the 12 teams in competition.

Freshman Paige Kloha had a standout performance, finishing 75th overall with a time of 24:44.1. Other top finishers for the Stars include Lily Kogut and Faith Swenor, who had times of 26:52.8 and 27:07.1.  

“Our best runner we held out just being cautious, but our number two runner (Kloha), really stepped it up and did an outstanding job,” Coach Robinson said.

LCC's Paige Kloha (in blue) competes in the Spartan Invitational.  Photo by Danny Smith


Kloha gave her thoughts on her race at Spartan.

“I was fine with the pace I went because I was close to what I (ran) for my 5K,” Kloha said. “I want to break 20 minutes in the 5K, get into the 19s as far as I can and see where it goes.”

Both teams will be in action on Friday, Sept. 20 at the Lansing Invitational at Grand Woods Park in Lansing.  

“This meet counts as the (MCCAA) West Conference Championship, so there are six community colleges competing for that,” Coach Robinson said.

“I’m looking forward to seeing us step up our game, run some faster times, get better at running as a team and challenge to win the conference and maybe the overall meet.”