Niles girls place fifth,
boys sixth

PORTAGE – St. Joseph placed six runners in the top 10 of the Big 16 West Division Jamboree Tuesday afternoon to easily claim the boys’ team title.
The Bears finished with 20 points compared to 65 by runner-up Mattawan, Niles finished sixth with 180 points.
Thomas Meeker of Mattawan was the individual champion with a time of 16:25. Niles’ Sam VandenHeede grabbed a top 10 finish with a time of 17:17, which placed him seventh.
Michael Geiger was 33rd (18:59), Ryan Robres 44th (19:47), Daniel Sierra 47th (20:18), Sean Morgan 49th (20:48), Daulton Britton 50th (20:54) and Nicholas Borkowski 51st (21:46).
St. Joseph edged Mattawan 46-48 to capture the girls’ title in a hotly contested jamboree. Portage Northern finished third with 55 points. Niles was fifth with 152.
Jessie Armstrong of St. Joseph was the overall winner with a time of 19:49.
The Vikings’ top placer was Bridgett Carpenter, who was 12th with a time of 21:38. Abigail Gaines was 30th (23:31), Libby Hein 32nd (23:34), Allison Grant 38th (24:26), Maureen Craig 40th (24:56), Ava McKeel 46th (26:51) and Taylor Hess 47th (27:09),

Big 16 West Division Jamboree
At Portage
Boys’ team scores
St. Joseph 20, Mattawan 65, Portage Central 74, Portage Northern 109, Kalamazoo Central 134, Niles 180, Lakeshore 188, Benton Harbor 243

Individual Top 10
Thomas Meeker (M) 16:25, Nick Whise (SJ) 16:35, Ryan Leahy (SJ) 16:42, Joseph Beemer (SJ) 16:57, David Berry (SJ) 17:10, Charlie Felton (SJ) 17:13, Sam VandenHeede (N) 17:17, Benny Richardson (M) 17:18, Stephen Pfahler (SJ) 17:20, Aaron Bell (M) 17:23

Girls’ team scores
St. Joseph 46, Mattawan 48, Portage Northern 55, Portage Central 83, Niles 152, Kalamazoo Central 168, Lakeshore 179

Individual Top 10
Jessie Armstrong (SJ) 19:49, Savina Malinverno (PN) 19:58, Ally Peirce (PC) 20:26, Lindsay MacMillan (M) 20:33, Alaina Smith (M) 20:33, Rachel Bendewald (SJ) 20:54, Danielle Melgar (PN) 21:04, Sarah Corbe (SJ) 21:10, Anna Farrell (M) 21:19, Kayla Gercak (PN) 21:20

Dowagiac boys narrowly miss first

DOWAGIAC — Seniors Chris Gantt and Kyle Richardson duelled in a dual meet race between the Wolverine Conference Dowagiac and Paw Paw cross country teams on Tuesday.  The visitors from Paw Paw narrowly won the boys meet 27-28 and the girls finished in the top five spots to handily win by a 15-48 margin.
Gantt had been beaten twice before this year and never crossed the finish line before Richardson in his career prior to the meet, but the Chieftain was elated after finishing first with a personal best time of 16:47 to win by eight seconds.
“It is tough to get your personal best in a dual meet and all the boys ran well,” mentioned Dowagiac’s boys and girls coach Ken Jordan.  “Twice before this year Kyle (Richardson) has beat him, but Chris (Gantt) has been running well recently and proved it today.”
Paw Paw (3-2) finished in the three places behind Gantt, which enabled them to win the team title by the narrowest of margins as following Richardson were senior Tim Westrate and sophomore Tony Westerhoff.
“All our kids like this course and our top boy had a good start, but couldn’t hang with Chris at the end,” stated Paw Paw boys coach Matt Kovach.  “We needed everyone today for sure with almost everyone running near to their best times.”
Finishing behind the top trio of runners for Paw Paw were the threesome of Dowagiac’s senior Ryne Willming and juniors Marc Tynakowski and Ben Thompson, respectively.
“I am very proud of everybody’s effort as I saw a lot of racing going on out there,” remarked Jordan.  “How Chris finishes will help us out in any big meet and he is on quite a confidence booster by winning today.”
Allegan will host the conference meet at the Fairgrrounds, which is a new course for everyone with Otsego and Vicksburg both having strong runners.
A trio of underclassmen lead the girls for Paw Paw with junior Kayla DePierre finishing ahead of sophomores Kayla Grotelueschen and Ashley Boven.
“The girls train really hard and would like to finish third or we could drop to fifth in the conference as our only loss is to Vicksburg, but we were down a runner on that day,” noted Paw Paw’s girls coach Chris DePierre.  “We are also looking forward to next year, since we have a junior laden team with some strong runners at the junior high.”
Sophomore Holly Luth of Dowagiac was the only Chieftain to finish in the top eight and finished one second ahead of Paw Paw senior Kate McCaw for sixth place overall in the girls race.
“Holly (Luth) has ran well in two races in a row and we also had some girls running personal bests, which makes me happy,” concluded Jordan.

Boys Result:    Paw Paw 27, Dowagiac 28
Chris Gantt (D) 16:47; Kyle Richardson (PP) 16:55; Tim Westrate (PP) 19:09; Tony Westerhoff (PP) 19:11; Ryne Willming (D) 19:45; Marc Tynakowski (D) 19:47; Ben Thompson (D) 20:19; Cody Puckett (PP) 20:26; Julian Marshall (D) 21:37; Pat McCaw (PP) 21:50.

Girls Result:    Paw Paw 15, Dowagiac 48
Kayla DePierre (PP) 20:02; Kayla Grotelueschen (PP) 21:36; Ashley Boven (PP) 21:58; Paige Sutcliffe (PP) 23:56; Emily Stearns (PP) 24:08; Holly Luth (D) 24:15; Kate McCaw (PP) 24:16; Alyssa Craft (PP) 25:35; Hannah MacDonald (D) 26;19; Clare Banonis (PP) 26:24; Kristina Bunn (D) 26:39; Sarah Long (D) 26:52; Kendra Wilson (D) 27:08.