Amber Therrien of Glen Lake and cross country teams from Suttons Bay and St. Mary both achieved "firsts" at the Mesick Invitational held Thursday, Oct. 11.

GLEN LAKE’S Amber Therrien
leads the pack en route to her
win at the Mesick Invitational
Oct. 11.

Therrien shattered the record at the Mesick course by 30 seconds with her first-place time of 19:22, and the Norsemen boys earned their first trophy of the year and dedicated it to a teammate who was hurt in a car accident. St. Mary’s girls’ squad also took home hardware for the first time this year,

“Amber has broken the 20-minute barrier several times this season,” said Glen Lake coach Pete Edwards, adding that she’s “on track” to go under 19 minutes at the state championships at the Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich., on Nov. 3.

The Norsemen boys, meanwhile, dedicated the Mesick race to teammate Mark Jasinski, who was injured in a car accident on Wednesday, Oct. 10. Jasinski, Suttons Bay’s No. 2 runner, suffered a broken jaw and other facial injuries in the accident.

“We have not brought home a single team trophy this year and the boys wanted to take a trophy to the hospital when they visited him after the meet,” said Suttons Bay coach Mark Smith. The Norse responded by finishing just two points behind first-place Manton, and captain Tom Pritz took the runner-up trophy with him when the team visited Jasinski, Smith said.

“It was great to talk to Mark as he was cracking jokes in the hospital,” Smith said.

“Although he seems to be fine now, it was pretty scary for a while and he has an ordeal ahead of him.”

Jasinski’s teammate, sophomore Ben Wynsma, won the boys’ race in 17:02. Other top-30 Norse runners included Chase Palmer (13th in 18:36), Juan Ryes (16th in 18:40), Pritz (25th in 18:55) and Sawyer Lawler (26th in 18:55). Also running for the Norse were Travis Smith (20:18), Marco Brambini (21:10), Nathan Blue (22:13) and Nick Collins (25:08).

Smith said the Norse girls also gave a strong showing. Cassandra Buffum posted her best-ever time to 22:06 and finished 20th. Elizabeth Adams was 26th in 22:36, and Rachael Farrell lowered her career-best time to 24:39 with a 39th-place finish.

The St. Mary girls’ team earned its first trophy of the year with a third-place finish. Kingsley won the meet with 42 points, with Manton (52) and St. Mary (99) following.

“We didn’t have a top-10 runner, but we stuck together and had three medal winners for finishing in the top 30 and that got us the trophy,” said Eagles coach Karen Kirt.

St. Mary medal winners included Allison Korson (14th in 21:35, her fastest-ever time), Breanna Korson (16th in 21:49) and Alyssa Korson (27th in 22:41). In addition, Kayla Kermode was 32nd in 21:50 and Laura Keller 34th in 24:02. The St. Mary boys’ squad, which did not post a team score because only four ran (five are required), was paced by Eric Smith (45th in 20:10), Aaron Helwig (54h in 20:25), Kienan Sutton (63rd in 20:55), and Christiaan Krombeen (78th in 22:13).

For Glen Lake, Cody Yeager posted her best time of the year and was the Lakers’ No. 2 runner. Kaley Smith and Karoline Griffard were Glen Lake’s third and fifth fastest runners, respectively, both with lifetime bests, while Abbie Clark was the fourth Laker across the line.

Leading the charge for the Laker boys was senior captain Mike Keim, who earned a medal. Glen Lake’s No. 2 runner was freshman Mike Grumley, who had a lifetime best time, while Danny Kornelis was the Lakers’ third-fastest runner.

Glen Lake also ran in the Mancelona Invitational on Oct. 4, with the boys’ team seventh out of 16 teams and the Laker girls ninth. Keim and John Lee won medals for the Lakes, with Kornelis and Brian Hoedeman setting lifetime bests. Therrien was third overall, and teammates Nadine Gilmer and Bonnie Ricord also earned medals. In addition, freshman Morgan Arrowood ran her fastest time ever in a 5K race.