The St. Louis High School cross-country teams qualified for the state finals during the regional meet Oct. 27, 2023, at Shepherd High School.
The guys crushed their competition beating the second-place team by 25 points, which was their fifth regional title in a row! At the meet, senior Ben March was crowned as the repeat regional champion with a time of 16:02.4. Runner-up went to Landon Pestrue with 16:08.0. Additionally, Hayden Shattuck came in 14th place with a time of 17:23.9, Alex Rodriguez finished 17th with a time of 17:36.9, and Colin Kuhn came in 18th place with a time of 17:38.8.
Pestrue stated, “I think our team did really well. And I think our performance at regionals will show how much better we will be at states this year.”
Additionally, the girls also made it to the state finals finishing third on the day. For the team, the fastest time of the day came from senior Jaiden Dickman. She took fifth place with a time of 19:53.7. Abby Dice took 22nd running a time of 21:55.4, Natalie Lemert placed 24th with a time of 22:02.7, Lilly Mann took 29th running 22:28.1, and Aeralyn Leonard came out in 38th place with a time of 23:03.1.
Dickman commented, “I think regionals went really well for our team. We took third place, and a lot of the girls ran really well. It was great to see everyone running well and competing when it mattered. I am very excited for states this upcoming week and to see what both of our teams are able to accomplish.”
Some other performances on the guys’ side included Jacob Erskin taking 70th running a 20:32.3 and Gavin Yarnell taking 74th running a 21:07.6. On the girls’ side, Halle Hoyt took 41st with a time of 23:38.4, and Annah Hess ran a 24:40.9 taking 53rd.
Be sure to mark the calendar for Nov. 4, 2023, where the Sharks will be competing in the state championship meet at the Michigan International Speedway.
