Cross country teams shine at home

By Joey Schwindt
Sports Writer

The LCC men’s and women’s cross-country teams hosted the Lansing Invitational meet on Friday, Sept. 20 at Grand Woods Park, west of Lansing. A total of 14 schools were in the field, including every team in the MCCAA Western Conference.

The meet was not only an invitational, but it also served as the championship meet for the six teams in the MCCAA Western Conference.

LCC got off to an impressive start in the women’s 5K race, as freshman Daisy Speet took first place with a time of 18:38.20. In addition, the Stars had another top 10 performance, with freshman Paige Kloha finishing sixth overall with a time of 20:00.80.

The LCC women's team prepares to start the Lansing Invitational on Sept. 20.  Photo by Jesse Blake

“On the women’s side, we have shown a lot of improvement, and we had the overall winner (Speet) with an outstanding time,” LCC Head Coach James Robinson said.

 “Each of the runners have improved by a substantial amount (since) their first 5K.”

Overall LCC took fifth place on the women’s side and were the MCCAA Western Conference runner-up. Ferris State won the meet overall, followed by Grand Rapids Community College, which earned the MCCAA Western Conference championship.

The dominant day continued for LCC in the men’s 8K. Freshman Jesse Carson and Nate Carmody finished one-two overall, with times of 26:08.10 and 26:10.80, respectively.

“Before the race I was praying, ‘God I need your strength’ and I was also asking for confidence,” Carson said. “The feeling during the race was pretty awful, but the feeling afterwards was well worth the effort.”

They were not the only two LCC freshman runners on display, as Logan Zahn and Aiden Janes picked up top 10 finishes of fourth and ninth places, respectively, with times of 26:25.90 and 27:03.80.

“I liked the way our team ran together,” Coach Robinson said. “We had a nice pack of three with (Carson, Carmody and Zahn) up front and then a good second pack.”

The Stars won the overall meet for the guys and are the 2024 MCCAA Western Conference Champions. Six LCC runners earned all-conference honors: Carson, Carmody, Zahn, Janes, Ben March and Koda Brandt.

Next up for the Stars is the Louisville Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 5 in Louisville, Ky.