Romeo rolls to Macomb County girls and boys cross country championships

Romeo’s cross county season started slowly, but it appears that the Bulldogs boys and girls teams are hitting their stride at the right time.

“I was proud of how they ran today,” coach Mike Buslepp said after Romeo won the boys and the girls team championships Saturday at the Macomb County Invitational at Freedom Hill. “They ran tough. We had a really, really rough start this year. We don’t necessarily preach winning. We preach character building more on our team and it usually comes together at the end.

“We had sickness and injuries and we didn’t get the training we would have liked in September, but they’ve stuck with each other and rallied around each other. Now we’re free and clear from what we’ve dealt with in late August and early September. You obviously want to be running well in October.”

The Bulldogs won both races decisively. Romeo’s boys team, the defending Division 1 state champion, put the first four runners across the finish line and had 19 points to 115 for runner-up Eisenhower and 124 by third-place Utica.

The girls race wasn’t quite the runaway, but it was close. Romeo had 44 points, Utica was second with 95 and Dakota, who had the first two runners in Jayden Harberts and Mariah Belmont, was third with 103 points.

Romeo’s boys were led by Jack Kelke, Owen Sharnas, Connor Clor and Jack Wallace. Bryce Goodsell came in 10th to complete the Bulldogs’ scoring.

“They’re arguably the top four in the state right now,” Buslepp said of his top four runners. “They’re competing with some very upper echelon teams. Our three seniors have a lot of experience. Connor has always been a fighter and a grinder and he has turned into someone special. He’s fearless.

“Our five ran amazing today. On paper people will look at times but the course is challenging, the footing was a little rough and the grass was long and wet. The times weren’t going to be fast. Bryce was predicted to finish 30th and he went out and threw down a top 15 in a very competitive county.”

Romeo’s girls were led by Madison Clor, who finished third behind the two Dakota runners, Violet Hrabovsky and the Felstow triplets. Amanda, Rachel and Emily Felstow all earned all-county honors along with Romeo teammates Clor, Hrabovsky and Brianna Wiegand.

Buslepp shakes his head admiringly when he thinks of the Felstows.

“I have twins and I don’t know how they raised triplets,” he said. “Twins are hard but triplets have to be crazy hard. They’re just good kids. They support each other and they approach it the right way. It’s really easy to compare yourself to another sibling but they’re all really good at supporting each other’s accomplishments.

“They work to get themselves better, rather than comparing themselves to each other. They’ve done a great job for four years and I’m going to miss them so much after this year. I’m just going to try and enjoy these last three weeks with them.”

Romeo’s girls team will suffer some heavy graduation losses this year, but Clor will return for her senior season.

“Madison is running strong right now,” Buslepp said. “Like her brother (Connor) she’s learning how to race. I think she’s going to be one of those kids that’s going to keep improving every year. She approaches the sport the right way. She appreciates the purity and the grind of it. We lose a lot of seniors but we’ll be in good hands next year.”

There weren’t any trophies given out for the winners from the Division 2,3 and 4 schools, but Armada finished first among the boys teams and Regina was fourth overall and top among the smaller schools in the girls race.

“I thought we ran very well, but that’s how we’ve been running all year,” said Saddlelites coach Gregg Golden. “We were fourth overall, which is where we thought we would be. We were hoping we could move up and get Dakota or Utica but they ran extremely well today, too.

“We gave it a try. I was happy with the fight we had. Everybody was racing hard at the end. This year’s group has a good attitude and works hard. We had two make all county and another near miss.”

Grace Zdankiewicz, who finished ninth overall, said that the team has come a long way since she was a freshman.

“It’s great to see the progression from my freshman year,” she said. “We won our region by a point and we went to state and got last. Hopefully, this year we can be one of the top 10 schools in Division 2. It’s something we’ve worked really hard for.”

Armada had to do some retooling before the season started and the Tigers seemed to have filled the holes left by graduation.

“We lost two important pieces from last year so we had to have people step up,” said coach Rob Blume. “Drew Sniesek joined us from soccer and he’s made a huge difference as what we refer to as the X-factor. We’re stronger. We’ve focused on some things to get stronger and I think that showed today, especially the two guys who were all-county.

“Riley (Meadows) was 40th between the mile and two mile. He said ‘I’ve got this,’ and wound up 17th. We’ve run hard courses. That’s why our times might be a little slower. When you go head to head that’s when you find out what you can do. That’s why I love coming to this meet against the bigger schools. You’ve got to compete against them. You can’t cower.”

Camden Khon was fifth, the first non-Romeo runner to hit the finish line.

Both Utica teams did well. Addison Johnson led the Chieftains girls with fifth place overall. Logan Davis led the boys with a ninth place.

Eisenhower’s runner-up boys team was led by Anthony Vinson, who was 15th.

BOYS TEAM SCORES: Romeo 19 points, Eisenhower 115, Utica 124, L’Anse Creuse North 166, Anchor Bay 195, Dakota 199, Armada 208, Fraser 210, Chippewa Valley 225, De La Salle 240, Lakeview 262, Lutheran North 315, Warren Woods-Tower 336, Richmond 359, Michigan Athletic Club for Homeschoolers 385, L’Anse Creuse 389, Cousino 444, Stevenson 448, Warren Mott 547, Austin Catholic 553, Roseville 574.

GIRLS TEAM SCORES: Romeo 44, Utica 95, Dakota 103, Regina 114, Fraser 167, Eisenhower 207, Anchor Bay 228, Armada 255, Lutheran North 279, Chippewa Valley 326, Michigan Athletic Club for Homeschoolers 352, L’Anse Creuse North 356, Ford 375, Richmond 387, Warren Woods-Tower 405, Lakeview 433, Sterling Heights 448, Stevenson 460, Warren Mott 471, L’Anse Creuse 508, Austin Catholic 565.