Reed City High School hosted their first home meet since 2007 on Tuesday afternoon. The CSAA jamboree featured all 11 conference schools with Reed City boys and Central Montcalm girls team earning victories.
"It was a really great atmosphere and Coyote Nation came out in full force to cheer on the runners," Head coach Rich Saladin said. "The kids, as well as coaches, were pretty nervous but settled down and ran a great race."
On the girls side, junior Kyah Hoffman of Central Montcalm took home the individual victory with an official time of 18:23 followed by junior Lila Volkers of Kent City (18:54) and senior Miranda McNeil of Morley Stanwood (19:43). For team scoring, Central Montcalm paced the race with a dominant 31 points, followed by Chippewa Hills (62) and Kent City (86). Reed City placed fourth overall (115) with Tri-County sixth (135) and Big Rapids seventh (165).
"The our top two girls, Clara Smoes and Caelynn London, both ran season best times today," Saladin said. "Carly Carlson, Marlowe Walcott, Ava Hammar, and Charity Rogers were fantastic. Miriam Hunt also had a PR with a solid run. This is a tough conference and we have a very young team. The girls did great."
For the boys side, it was senior Samuel Martini of Kent City who led the field at 16:20 with sophomore Gage Hoffman of Central Montcalm (16:29) and senior Anthony Kianus of Reed City (16:37) right behind. Reed City defended their home course for the first time, earning the team title with 47 points. Central Montcalm (62) and Big Rapids (63) finished second and third respectfully with Tri County in fourth (97) and Chippewa Hills seventh (193).
"Our boys are currently ranked 4th in D3 and we continue to get tested and challenged," Saladin said. "They keep rising up to championship effort and continue to see solid progress. Anthony Kiaunis was really strong. Gus is a little nicked up but had a very strong effort along with Ryan Allen. Those top 3 have been great. Isaac Clementshaw had a PR today and Paul Saladin had a phenomenal effort to hold off some runners. Aaron Allen, Izaiah Lentz, Elijah Lentz, and Brady Dozier really complement our top 5. Central Montcalm and Big Rapids have some great teams and I'm really proud of our boys today."
Many CSAA squads will see each other next Saturday in Shepherd for the Blue Jay Invite, known as one of the fastest courses in the state of Michigan.
"We have 11 days off and won't race again until September 30th," Saladin said. "There will be a lot of the top teams (at Shepherd) and another test for our kids. I'm hoping the fans got a great taste of the excitement of cross country and continue to come out and cheer us on."
For more results and information, visit athletic.net.