Pack of Hornets Leads Saline to 2nd Place Finish at Jackson Race

The Saline boys’ cross country team took second at the Jackson Invitation Saturday.

Grand Blanc’s top three runners finished quicker than any Saline runner, but the Hornets’ tight pack and depth nearly made up for it, as Saline finished eight points back, with 92 points.

Saline’s top five all received individual medals by placing in the top thirty of the overall race. 
The first Hornet to cross the finish line was senior, Anthony Lamus placing 12th overall with a time of 16:14. Right behind him was teammate and senior, Dylan Jennings in 13th with the time of a 16:17. Fellow senior, Grant Praschan covered the 5k course in 16:25 with an overall place of 16th. Also in his senior year, Andrew Kitto ran 16:36 to place 22nd overall. 

Head coach Carl Spina commented on the pleasures of having four seniors as their consistent top four runners.

“It’s fun having four seniors in the top five. I’ve had the chance to watch them work, dream, and achieve goals together,” Spina said.

For the second week in a row, sophomore Kevin Hall ran a personal best of 16:43, placing 29th to round out Saline’s scorers. 

“Kevin Hall is tough. He’ll be fine as our fifth man. He just wants to compete and run well and he can do that in tough situations,” Spina said.

Juniors John Dolsen and Sean Dew finished as the displacers for Saline running the times of 17:01 and 17:25.

The boys placed second in the overall team standings to Grand Blanc with the scores of 84-92.

Ann Arbor Pioneer was third with a score of 134.

“No one really goes to a race to get second so our team finish was a little disappointing. But in the big picture, Jackson isn’t the most important meet on the schedule. Our boys know that we are looking towards the conference, regional, and state meets. We can’t focus on the end and win every little meet along the way,” Spina said. “The important thing is that with guys like Hall, Elms, and Dolsen moving up, we’re getting closer to the team these kids want to be at the championship races.”

For the boys B team, they placed as a team 17th overall in the 23-team field, five of those eight teams being their school’s A team. Senior Matt Elms led the B team by cracking into the top 50 by taking 49th with a season best time of 17:04.

The day prior to Saturday’s race the reserve squad headed to Jackson for the JV race where the boys placed five in the top in route to an unofficial team victory with the score of 24. 

“It’s great to see all these younger guys run so well. We’ve got a good team this year, and the guys at Jackson on Friday night, they are the future. They’ll make sure Saline is a good team next year and the year after that,” Spina said.

Freshman Bryan Adamovicz took the individual top spot with of 17:47, a personal best for him. Second for the Hornets was Brett Braun placing fourth overall with a 17:51. One second behind him was Paul Chandler, placing fifth overall.

More News from Saline

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