9-25-2024 5:44pm

CROSSCOUNTRY: Saline Wins Jamboree, Pacesetter Going into Final Meet

Tran Longmoore Editor

The Saline varsity girls cross country team is 2-for-2 in SEC Jamborees.

Saline placed all five scoring runners in the top 11 to convincingly win SEC Jamboree 2 Tuesday at Pioneer High School.

Pioneer's Natasza Dudek won the event in 18:04.

Freshman McKinley Jones was the fastest Hornet, finishing second in 18:28.

Senior Corynn Gady was fourth in 19:06.

Freshman Savannah Staton was fifth in 19:07.

Katarina Munson was ninth in 19:38.

Sophia Roth completed the scoring by taking 11th in 19:42.

Lillian Schlack was 15th in 19:59.

Grace Roth was 16th in 20:04.

Adelynn Turck with 18th in 20:16.

Abby Roth was 27th in 21:24.

Mackenzie Sellenraad was 30th in 21:32.

A full gallery can be found here.

Coach Derek Stern said Saline beat a strong Pioneer team.

"Today was amazing. We did exactly what we needed to do. We were up against a strong Pioneer team. We needed to do certain things to be ahead of them and everybody executed and did exactly what they needed to do," Stern said.

Saline's depth was unbeatable. You could replace Saline's ninth and 10th-place runners with the 15th and 16th-place runners, and Saline would still have won.

"We are very fortunate to have a deep, talented team," Stern said.

Jones continues to run at an elite pace. Stern said he's already tracking as the second-fastest runner in the program's history. Staton, also a freshman, had another strong race for the Hornets.

Gady, a senior, was the second fastest Hornet. She got stronger throughout the race, just as she's improved throughout the season.

"A couple weeks ago, she negotiated herself into a race, and that was a big, pivotal point for her. From that point forward she just has not looked back," Stern said.

Saline is sitting in great shape in the SEC standings - but there's no sitting back.

"We will face the purple team often, so we cannot rest," Stern said.

Stern said the team matches up well with some of the top teams in the state.

Junior Varsity Takes First

In the reserve race, the Saline girls finished first with 35 points - 25 ahead of second-best Pioneer.