Mackinaw City teams lead way at home invitational

MACKINAW CITY – Despite not having big numbers, the Mackinaw City cross country teams have major goals this fall.  

Like winning conference championships … multiple conference championships.  

But for now, the Comets just want to keep building for those crucial meets by improving against quality competition at their other events.  

On Thursday, the Comets were thrilled to once again be hosting the Mackinaw Club Invitational, which featured a plethora of teams – both big and small schools – competing on the Mackinaw Club Golf Course.  

“We love our meet, we love hosting it, and it’s a nice, flat and fast course,” said Mackinaw City coach Heather Huffman. “The kids really enjoy it and thankfully the weather is even nicer to make it a great fall day. It’s nice to run with some of the faster schools in the area so that way we’re preparing for regionals, the bigger meets, the really important ones with conference championships coming up, too, as well as the Class D state finals.” 

It ended up being a huge day for the Mackinaw City boys, who captured the small school division title with 47 points. The Comets beat out the Ellsworth Lancers (78), who took second.  

Fueling Mackinaw City was senior Lars Huffman, who ran his second race since returning from a knee injury that barred him from competing in last spring’s baseball season and much of this fall’s cross country campaign. Huffman’s season-best 18:43 time was good enough for a first-place finish in Class D. 

“It feels pretty good to run again, but I am pretty sore,” said Lars Huffman, who took seventh overall. “I really like this course, and it was pretty nice today, like perfect conditions with it being sunny and 60 (degrees), light breeze."

The Comets were also paced by Cooper Whipkey (19:09), who finished sixth in Class D, while Noah Valot (19:54) was ninth, Trystan Swanson (20:08) earned 10th, and Ben Strittmatter (20:08) placed 21st. Jeffrey Siebigteroth (24^th, 22:58) and Isaac Valot (26th, 24:19) rounded out the Comets. Overall, Whipkey was 13th, Noah Valot was 21st, Swanson was 24th, Strittmatter was 43rd, Siebigteroth was 46th, and Isaac Valot was 53rd.

On the girls side, Mackinaw City (103) earned third place in the small school division, finishing behind runner-up Engadine (97) and first-place Gaylord St. Mary (52).  

Senior Larissa Huffman finished second in Class D and eighth overall with a 22:18 time, while Madison Smith was eighth in Class D after clocking a 23:52 time. Julia Sullivan (24^th, 27:56) and Cynthia Thompson (31^st, 32:58) also raced for the Comets. Overall, Smith was 21st, Sullivan was 53rd, and Thompson was 63rd.

“She’s (Larissa Huffman) been dealing with a little pain in her legs, but she really worked hard,” Huffman said. “Madison (Smith) snuck in for a medal there, too, so we’re doing really well. She (Smith) has done well and she’s only been doing it since the beginning of September. She’s an athlete so that just helps overall. She (Sullivan) joined to help out with the team, and she’s a very dedicated and hard worker as well.” 

Cheboygan teams go third, fourth in big school division  

In the big school division, the Cheboygan girls (78) finished in third place behind Boyne City (41) and Harbor Springs (23).  

Samantha Harke (23:19) led the Chiefs with a 16^th-place overall finish, while Alexia McCarthy (25:24) took 32^nd, Addison Ptasnik (27:48) was 50^th, Jillian McKinley (27:51) registered 51^st, Zelia Hill (27:53) posted 52^nd, and Avery Jones (37:28) recorded 69^th.  

On the boys side, Cheboygan (100) finished in fourth, as Carson Kiefer (20:04) led the way by taking 23^rd individually. Andrew Kiefer (21:36) was 29^th, Alex Hudson (23:09) took 50^th, Braxton Esper (23:42) placed 51^st, Steven Ramsby (23:57) recorded 52^nd, and Evan Blaskowski (25:32) finished 59^th.  

Harbor Springs (15) took first in the big school division and Boyne City (61) was second.  

Overall, Harbor Springs' Cal Benjamin (16:30) earned first in the boys race. Boyne City’s Ava Maginity (19:40) took first in the girls event.  

Engler, McMullen fuel I-L teams  

For Inland Lakes, Lannah Engler (23:42) led the girls with a 19^th-place showing, while Lauren Fenstermaker (23:44) took 20^th. Hanna Hinman (28:16) and Ashley Murray (30:16) finished 55^th and 59^th respectively.  

Logan McMullen’s 26^th-place time of 20:32 fueled the I-L boys, who also received a 38^th-place finish from Connor Wallace (22:18). Remi Bollinger (25:47) was 61^st and John Myers (33:26) took 68^th.  

“We are very pleased with what happened today,” said Inland Lakes coach Sarah Furman. “We had many athletes either hit season bests or personal bests today. We are slowly increasing the volume and intensity of what we are doing and they are responding. We are starting to look ahead at what the end of the season might look like for us. 

“Our middle school runners blew the doors off of today's race and every single one of them ran a personal record. They were a barrel of excitement after the race and that was fun.” 

Mix, Crull set pace for Cards  

The Onaway boys were led by Jadin Mix, who took 16^th at 19:37, as well as Nate Betke, who clocked a 35:51 time to finish 69^th.  

Ellie Crull (23:58) took 24^th and Madilyn Crull (27:43) was 49^th for the Onaway girls.  

Middle schools runners also compete 

Following the high school meet, a two-mile middle school race took place. It was an impressive showing from the Cheboygan boys (33), who earned first as a team.  

Russell Abernathy’s fifth-place time of 11:41 led the Chiefs, while Gavin Smith (11:56) took seventh, Harold Polzin (12:02) was eighth, and Carter Hudson (13:05) earned 10^th. Ben Groya (18^th, 13:49), Abram Preston (25^th, 14:17), Collin Mersch (30^th, 14:24), Nolan Eustice (33^rd, 15:42), Jose Castro III (34^th, 15:50), Duncan Spies (43^rd, 17:53), Payton Wiley (45^th, 21:45), and Taegan Custard (47^th, 25:12) also raced for Cheboygan.  

For the Cheboygan girls (59), who earned second behind Harbor Springs (21), Cloee Rupp (13:56) was 12^th, Lucy Coleman (14:07) took 13^th, Briahna Campbell (14:14) placed 16^th, Isabella Hingston (14:17) finished 17^th, Ella LaRocque (14:42) registered 19^th, and Adele Schulz (14:43) recorded 20^th. Rounding out the Cheboygan girls were Nadia Chandler (33^rd, 16:38), Makayla Abernathy (39^th, 17:22), Adelyn Schalau (40^th, 17:27), Ava Schalau (42^nd, 17:30), Ava Hayden (45^th, 19:31), and Bella Schoolcraft (52^nd, 21:01).  

For the Mackinaw City boys, Kyla Valot (13:06) finished 11^th and Wesley House (16:22) was 35^th.  

The Inland Lakes girls were led by Elizabeth Furman, who took second with a 12:51 time. JoJo Furman (10^th, 13:46), Maggie Newman (14^th, 14:09) and Miley O’Boyle (17:29) also raced for I-L.  

Zander Robinson’s 12^th-place time of 13:10 paced the I-L boys. Lance Biesel (14:11) earned 23^rd and Jack Fayssoux (25:07) took 46^th.  

For the Onaway girls, Natalie Hyde (13:06) earned fifth and Ava Wolgast (20:41) took 49^th.  

Matt Marzolo (13:32) took 16^th and Casey Kindt (16:33) was 38^th for the Onaway boys.