BROOKLYN — Big North Conference champion Charlend Howard capped off a fine cross-country career Saturday, leading the Gaylord boys with a 24th-place finish that earned him All-State status at the Division 2 Finals at Michigan International Speedway.

Howard’s time of 15:54 was the seventh fastest Finals finish in school history. It landed him on the podium, a fitting end to a great season.

“His 600-mile summer, his coach ability and his stubborn, determined race effort are what led him to this honor,” said Gaylord coach Jeff Kalember. “He has the ability to run at any Division 2 school in the state and is currently looking over his options.”

As a team, the Blue Devil boys placed 21st, with contributions coming from Nate Fischer (121st, 16:51), Sterling McPherson (166th, 17:15), Collin Monusko (177th, 17:24), Ian Callison (204th, 17:41), Chris Ryan (218th, 17:53) and Ian Rudel (221st, 18:02).

Kalember said he will have fond memories of a decorated senior class that includes Howard, Fischer, Callison, Ryan and Rudel. This was Gaylord’s fourth consecutive trip to the boys’ State Finals.

The Johannesburg-Lewiston girls also qualified for the Division 4 race as a team and placed 19th overall. It was a promising first trip to the State Finals for freshman Maddy Showerman, who finished 72nd overall with a time of 21:04.

Also contributing for the Cardinals were Nadine Peterson (128th, 21:55), Chloe Johnston (136th, 22:00), Katie Kierczynski (141st, 22:11), Samantha Baganz (221st, 25:00), Samantha Morehouse (239th, 27:23) and Hannah Donajkowski (240th, 29:08).

Andrew Morehouse was an individual qualifier for the J-L boys and had a tremendous showing, placing 55th with a time of 17:14. It was a personal best and a new school record.

“Andrew set a goal for himself, went for it and achieved it,” said J-L coach Kevin Kennedy. “I’m very proud of all of my athletes — it was another fantastic year.”

St. Mary senior school record holder Christina Smith also competed in the Division 4 race and took 103rd overall with a time of 21:29. It capped a fantastic senior season for Smith.

“It probably was not what she was hoping for, but still a solid performance,” said St. Mary coach Richard Goepp. “Overall, she had a great season by becoming the Ski Valley champion, the school record holder and Academic All-State. But, more importantly, she is just one classy young lady.”

CENTRAL LAKE — For the third year in a row, the Johannesburg-Lewiston girls cross-country team punched its ticket to the Division 4 State Finals meet.

The squad earned third place in Saturday’s regional finals after scoring 85 points, just behind second-place Mancelona with 84. Harbor Springs ran away with the race, scoring their top five runners in the top 11 places, completing the meet with 32 points.

A couple of other local runners also qualified for the State Finals as J-L’s Andrew Morehouse took third overall with a time of 17:30 and St. Mary’s Christina Smith placed sixth with a time of 21:02.

Cardinal coach Kevin Kennedy was pleased with the finish of his girls’ team.

“I told them just to run your best,” he said. “They all ran better than their best, and I couldn’t ask for more than that.”

Freshman Maddy Showerman led the charge, pulling in fifth place with a time of 20:58.

Nadine Peterson finished 15th (21:40), followed by junior Chloe Johnston in 17th (21:49) and Katie Kierczynski in 24th (22:52). Samantha Baganz placed 44th to finish the scoring for J-L.

Showerman and Baganz are joined by Samantha Morehouse and Hannah Donajkowski as four freshmen getting their first taste of Michigan International Speedway on Saturday.

“They won’t all be competing, but I am taking five freshmen to the State Finals meet,” Kennedy said. “It will hopefully will pay off in the future.”

Showerman will be the focus of the future, and Kennedy voiced his confidence in the youngster.

“She has a lot of potential, but she also has a lot of heart to go with it,” Kennedy said. “She is a competitor.” Morehouse continued his strong junior season by placing third among 93 runners. Dimitri Capers finished 57th (21:16), Chad Garton 59th (21:19), Nick House 66th (22:34) and Wesley Olds 67th (22:34).

Adam Makarewicz was the top finisher for the St. Mary boys by taking 17th (18:29). Also for the Snowbirds, Dylan Masko was 26th (19:01), Nick Masko was 28th (19:06), Levi Milan was 58th (20:52), and Michael Masko was 79th (22:38).

For the girls, Bekah Masko turned in her top time of the season by taking 30th (23:20). Alysse Masko reached a personal best with a 45th-place time of 24:34. Also for the Snowbirds, Savannah Sullivan was 53rd (25:08), Ashley Switalski was 61st (26:17), and Natalie Burzynski was 66th (26:37).

Both St. Mary teams placed seventh in the region.

Back to Top

GAYLORD — Teams took the opportunity for one last Regional tune-up at Tuesday’s Gaylord Rotary Invitational, held at the Gaylord Country Club.

Andrew Morehouse of Johannesburg-Lewiston proved he is primed and ready for the postseason by placing second in the boys’ race with a time of 17:40.

Morehouse caught Traverse City Central runner Jordan Query in the final half mile for the silver medal. Josh Wojan of East Jordan finished first.

J-L placed ninth as a team with Wesley Olds taking 39th (20:26), Chad Garton 64th (22:00), Nick House 70th (23:00) and Dimitri Capers 75th (23:41).

Gaylord used its final home meet to get the junior varsity runners their final work of the season and placed just ahead of J-L in eighth.

Zack Pasternak finished in 29th (19:46) with Matt Sullivan 34th (20:09), Harrison Quaal 36th (20:11), Jacob Henley 58th (21:24) and Nick Hamilton 60th (21:24).

The Cardinal red showed up three times in the top 10 on the girls’ side of the meet, propelling J-L to first overall.

Maddy Showerman impressed during the final invitational of her freshman season with a fourth-place time of 21:54.

Chloe Johnston (22:38) and Nadine Peterson (22:50) finished eighth and ninth, respectively, while Katie Kierczynski (23:04) was 12th and Samantha Baganz (25:04) was 39th.

The Lady Blue Devils were led by Emily Lemon (23:52) and Megan Stempky (23:56) in 23rd and 24th, respectively.

Cindy Fiser finished close behind in 26th (23:59) with Erin Borgeson in 29th (24:14) and McKenna Goodale in 31st (24:24).

The Gaylord girls placed fourth as a team.

CENTRAL LAKE — Snowbird senior Christina Smith powered through the elements in Wednesday’s Ski Valley Conference Championship meet in Central Lake to capture the first-ever conference gold for the Lady Birds.

Smith defeated Mancelona freshman, Amber Harrington by almost seven seconds, crossing the line with a time of 21:29.

“She powered past her in the last 400 meters and her time was almost a minute faster than she ran three weeks ago on the same course,” said St. Mary coach Dick Goepp.

Bekah Masko also finished all-conference with a 15th place time of 23:51. Savannah Sullivan finished 21st (25:28), Alysse Masko 22nd (25:37) and Ashley Switalski (26:54) 27th. As a team, the Snowbirds finished in third.

Bringing home the first place team trophy for the fourth consecutive year, the Johannesburg-Lewiston girls squad stuck close together and made it a true team victory.

The Cardinals edged out second place Mancelona, 42-47.

Maddy Showerman finished in sixth (22:19), followed in seventh by Nadine Peterson (22:32) and Chloe Johnston in eighth (22:33).

Senior Katie Kierczynski finished 14th (23:48) and freshman Samantha Baganz finished 19th with a time of 24:36.

J-L junior Andrew Morehouse was the lone area boy to make first team all-conference, finishing third (17:46).

Second team all-conference honors went to Snowbird runners, Dylan Masko in 11th (19:14), Adam Makarewicz at 12th (19:17) and Nick Masko in 13th (19:19).

Back to Top

MANCELONA — The Johannesburg-Lewiston girls’ cross-country team finished second to Traverse City St. Francis in the 14-team Mancelona Invitational Wednesday.

St. Francis scored 57 points with J-L at 93. Charlevoix came in third place with St. Ignace, East Jordan and St. Mary following behind.

Maddy Showerman took seventh place for the Cardinals, completing the 5K in 21:06. Nadine Peterson finished ninth (21:32), Chloe Johnston 16th (22:05), Katie Kierczynski 29 (23:21) and Samantha Baganz 32nd (24:00).

St. Mary senior Christina Smith set another Snowbird course record, finishing in eight place with a time of 21:16. Bekah Masko finished 31st (23:51), Savannah Sullivan 39th (24:56), Natalie Burzynski 46th (25:45), with Alysse Masko finishing right behind in 47th (25:48).

Ashley Switalski finished just outside the points in 50th (26:34).

J-L’s Andrew Morehouse highlighted the boys’ race, finishing in third out of 71 runners. His time of 17:17 put him one second behind Bellaire’s Troy Clovis.

The next to cross the finish for the Cardinals was Wesley Olds in 33rd (19:45), Dimitri Capers in 58th (22:03), Chad Carton in 61st (22:43) and Jace Radke in 64th (22:58).

For St. Mary, Adam Makarewicz finished 18th to lead the way with a time of 18:50. Nick Masko and Dylan Masko were close behind in 22nd (18:56) and 28th (19:23).

Levi Milan was next in 53rd (21:22) and Mike Masko completed the Snowbird scoring in 59th (22:23).

Back to Top

BOYNE FALLS — With optimal temperatures, Saturday’s sunny conditions led to fast times and high finishes for Otsego County runners at the Boyne Falls Logger Invitational.

The course acted most kindly toward the Mancelona teams, which swept both the boys’ and girls’ races.

The J-L girls were not far behind in second, and the St. Mary girls came in sixth.

Cardinal runners leading the charge were freshman Maddy Showerman in third place and Nadine Peterson in sixth. Chloe Johnston finished close behind in 10th place.

Samantha Baganz (15th) and Hannah Donajkowski (45th) rounded out the scoring.

St. Mary senior Christina Smith set another Snowbird course record, finishing seventh with a time of 21:47.

Savannah Sullivan finished 30th, and Ashley Switalski placed 35th. Bekah Masko took 40th, while Natalie Burzynski came in 44th to complete the Snowbird scoring.

Sullivan, Switalski and Burzynski finished with personal best times.

The St. Mary boys took fifth as a team with season-best times from Adam Makarewicz (12th) and Dylan Masko (14th).

Nick Masko ran just behind the group in 18th with Levi Milan at 37th and Michael Masko in 54th. Milan and Masko earned personal best times.

J-L ran two runners for the meet with Andrew Morehouse taking second with a time of 17:47. Morehouse finished in sight of first place, 12 seconds behind Mancelona’s Shayne Dingman.

Jace Radke finished the race at 63rd place.
Back to Top

ELLSWORTH — The Johannesburg-Lewiston and St. Mary cross-country teams competed at the Ellsworth House on the Hill Invitational Saturday.

J-L competed in the Class B-C division, with the girls taking fourth.

Nadine Peterson led the Cardinals with a 17th-place finish (22:22).

Also for J-L, freshman Maddy Showerman was 18th (22:25), Chloe Johnson was 19th (22:30), Katie Kierczynski was 34th (24:02), Samantha Baganz was 50th (26:46), and Samantha Morehouse was 51th (26:49).

The J-L boys were sixth with Andrew Morehouse serving as the top finisher with a time of 18:20.

Also for the Cardinals, Wesley Olds was 38th (20:35), Nick House was 59th (22:44), Dimitri Capers was 61st (22:48), Jace Radke was 63rd (23:18), and Orin Kierczynski was 68th (26:50).

The St. Mary girls competed in the Class D division, placing fourth out of 13 schools.

Medallists included Christina Smith and Savannah Sullivan for the girls, and Adam Makarewicz, Nick Masko and Dylan Masko for the boys.

Medallists for the middle school runners included Cal Gilling, Ian Milan, Brendan Delaney and Nathan Smith. Smith’s time for the course was a new St. Mary school record.

CHARLEVOIX — Area schools raced to serious hardware at the annual Charlevoix Mud Run Saturday.

Sprawled out across a farm, participants race through mud and over obstacles. Team scores are tallied by taking the top five times from each school, and individuals are divided into 9-10 and 11-12 grade divisions.

The Gaylord boys were the big winner on the day, finishing faster than any of the other 21 teams that competed in the meet.

Charlend Howard was the fastest overall finisher, winning with a time of 17:45. Nate Fischer placed fifth.

“I always know we have Charlend and Nate as front-runners for us, but our 3-4-5-6 guys are right there with them lately in races which is a great sign,” said Blue Devil coach Jeff Kalember. “Collin Monusko, Sterling McPherson, Josh Green and Ian Callison had great days in those positions for us today to ensure the win.”

Monusko took third individually in the 9-10 grade division.

Johannesburg-Lewiston’s Andrew Morehouse placed 20th in the 9-10 boys’ meet.

In the girls’ 11-12 race, Katelynn Dreyer of Gaylord finished 11th, two places ahead of Christina Smith. Ellen Seidell of Gaylord finished 15th, with teammates Geena Duff in 18th and Maria Warren in 19th.

Freshman Maddy Showerman finished in 10th place as the top Cardinal.

Back to Top

JOHANNESBURG — With the departure of Johannesburg-Lewiston standout Meridith DeLuca to the University of St. Francis (Ill.), one might expect it to be a rough rebuilding year for the Lady Cardinals.

However, the goals remain similar for longtime coach Kevin Kennedy.

“We’re going to be right up there,” Kennedy said about his hopes for another Region crown. “I would like to see another conference title. Mancelona thought they were going to get us last week (at the Ryan Shay Memorial Invitational), but we held them off.”

The Cards continue to reload with a freshman toward the top of a group of runners that stick pretty close to each other. Maddy Showerman enters her first year of high school as one of the squad’s top speedsters.

“She’s got a good stride will be very good for us,” Kennedy said.

The team’s veterans have experienced the highs and lows and will help the youth get acclimated into Kennedy’s system.

Junior Chloe Johnston with seniors Nadine Peterson and Katie Kierczynski are accustomed to winning meets and will be relied upon to bring the youth up to speed which, of course, means plenty of laughs.

“They have fun,” Kennedy said. “Well, obviously, as you can see with all the goofing around. That’s what this is all about, having fun, working hard and the winning will follow.”

The boys will field a full team this year that features Andrew Morehouse in his junior year. Morehouse returns after qualifying for the State Finals in both cross-country and track in the 3,200-meter run.

The rest of the team consists of Nick House, Dimitri Capers, Jace Radke, Wesley Olds and Orin Kierczynski.

CENTRAL LAKE — The St. Mary and Johannesburg-Lewiston cross-country teams opened the season Saturday at the Ryan Shay Memorial two-mile race in Central Lake.

The J-L girls finished third overall, placing four runners in the top 20.

Freshman Maddy Showerman was J-L’s top finisher with a 12th-place time of 14:32. Also for the Cardinals, Chloe Johnston was 14th (14:47), Nadine Peterson 15th (14:48) and Katie Kierczynski 19th (15:01). Freshman Samantha Baganz was the team’s other scorer, with a 38th-place time of 17:29.

Christina Smith led the St. Mary contingent with a 10th-place time of 14:26.

Also for the Snowbirds, Savannah Sullivan placed 30th with a time of 16:05.

Harbor Springs took first overall while East Jordan’s Kayla Keane was the top individual performer with a time of 12:31.

The St. Mary boys placed sixth and the J-L boys eighth.

For St. Mary, Adam Makarewicz was 18th (12:11), Dylan Masko 25th (12:31), Nick Masko 27th (12:33), Levi Milan 40th (13:35) and Michael Masko 52nd (15:02).

For J-L, Andrew Morehouse was ninth (11:49), Wesley Olds 45th (13:54), Jace Radke 56th (15:28), Dimitri Capers 60th (17:38) and Orin Kierczynski 62nd (17:39).

Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart finished first as a team, while East Jordan’s Josh Wojan’s time of 10:51 was good for first individually.

J-L Sporting Event Ticket Prices

It's a Great Day to be a Cardinal Shirts

Adults ~ $4.00
Students ~ $3.00
Family ~$10.00

Back to Top

Home

Updated 11/6/12