The guys’ and girls’ cross country teams dominated their regional meet at Delta College, Saturday Oct. 30. 

This course is infamous for holding water. Unfortunately, for the Sharks, it rained nearly the entire week leading up to the race. Unwavered, the Sharks powered through, with both teams taking first and moving on to the state meet. Coach Puffpaff was especially proud with the attitudes of his teams, and stated, “We handled the mud extremely well; we had the right mindset about the conditions, and it showed in our performances.” The top three teams and top 15 individuals qualifying from each regional will progress to the final race of the competitive season, the Michigan Athletic Association State Finals at Michigan International Speedway Nov. 6. 

First for their team, and first in the region were Aaron Bowerman and Mikenna Borie. Regional runner-ups were Nate March and Libby Munderloh. The rest of the girls’ team was Jaiden Dickman who placed sixth, Sela Delgado tenth, Payton Kuhn who placed 31st, Jenna Abell who placed 32nd, and seventh for the girls was Monika Borie who placed 35th. The rest of the boys’ team was Ben March who placed third, Landon Pestrue placed seventh, Colin Kuhn eighth, Dylan Marr tenth, and last for the boys was Thomas Zackarko who finished 11th in the region. 

After the varsity race, Abby Dice, Natalie Lemert, and Craig Bebow ran an open race. Bebow ran in the worst conditions of the day in the last race and stated, “Have you ever been slapped in the face by a two-ton truck? That’s what finishing the race felt like. The race itself was almost similar to running waist-deep in pudding.” Bebow is the eighth runner, and will be moving on to the state meet with the guys’ team as a spare. The girls’ eighth runner is Laney Pestrue. The boy Sharks are looking to repeat their status as State Champs, while the girls are looking to move up from their fourth-place finish last year.