Harriers sweep at Kirtland Invitational

By Julie Newell
Editor in Chief

The LCC cross country teams dominated in the Kirtland Invitational on Friday, Sept. 23 in Grayling, with both teams placing first.

“We did really well,” LCC Head Coach Jim Robinson said. “We won both the men’s and women’s races.”

Robinson said he decided to hold out some of the top runners on both teams for this meet.

“I think we held out our top eight guys and our top six women,” Robinson said. “That gave the runners who don’t normally score in the top five a chance to compete and count in the scoring, and we still won. I’m really proud of how our runners stepped up and won the meet.”

LCC sophomore Gabrielle Metzger placed third overall in the women’s 5K, registering a time of 20:51. Behind her, sophomore Morgan Hetherington placed sixth with a time of 21:16. Freshman Alyssa Williams placed eighth in 21:24.

In the men’s 8K race, sophomore Kalyb VanWormer placed fourth overall, registering 27:12. Behind him was freshman Aaron Bowerman, placing sixth overall with a time of 27:23. Freshman Uriah Armendarez placed 13th in 28:04.

“I’ve been saying this all year long; we have really good teams, we’re really deep and this just proved it,” Robinson said.

The Stars are scheduled to compete in two meets on Friday, Sept. 30 at the Lansing Invitational at Grand Woods Park in Lansing, and the Oakland Community College Invitational in Sterling Heights.

According to Robinson, the teams are going to be split in order to compete in both meets.

Despite the split, Robinson said he thinks LCC will do well at both meets.

“I want as many of our runners as possible to have a chance to run on our home course, particularly the sophomores,” Robinson said. “So, we’re not sending as strong a team to Oakland, so we may not win both the men’s and the women’s, but I bet we’ll still score pretty well.”

Action at the Lansing Invitational starts at 12:30 p.m. with the women’s race. The men follow around 1:15 p.m. All are welcome. There is no fee.