Ritchey second at Rock-N-Run

Published 10:28 pm Thursday, October 20, 2011

Edwardsburg’s Aubrey Ritchey sprints to the finish line at the Rock-N-Run. (Edwardsburg Argus photo/SCOTT NOVAK)

St. Joseph had no contemporary Thursday at the Seventh Annual Rock-N-Run.

The Bears swept both the boys’ and girls’ championships at the Dowagiac Middle School course and were not even tested.

The Bears placed all five of its scoring runners in the top 10 to completely dominate the boys’ event. St. Joseph finished with 23 points as it claimed the first three places.

Ryan Leahy was the overall winner with a time of 16:02, while teammates David Berry and Joseph Beemer were second and third with times of 16:26 and 16:33 respectively.

Rounding out the top five were Dowagiac’s Chris Gantt who was fourth with a time of 16:35 and Scott Bradley of Battle Creek Lakeview who was fifth with a time of 16:37.

Lakeview grabbed second place with 98 points, Kalamazoo Hackett was third (115), Bridgman fourth (120) and Three Rivers fifth (144). Niles finished 10th, Edwardsburg 12th and Dowagiac 13.

The Vikings’ top finisher was Sam VandenHeede who was sixth with a time of 16:40.

Edwardsburg’s top placer was Ben Getz who was 31st with a time of 18:01.

The Bears scored 58 points to win the girls’ team championship. St. Joseph had three of its top five runners finish 11th or better and all five ran inside the top 20.

Lakeview was second with 100 points and Parchment third with 123 points. Edwardsburg finished fourth with 160 points, led by freshman standout Aubrey Ritchey who was second with a time of 19:24.

Niles finished eighth and Dowagiac 15th.

Kate McLain of Kalamazoo Christian was the overall winner with a time of 19:23.

Niles’ top runner was Bridgett Carpenter who finished 21st with a time of 21:32. Dowagiac’s top placer was Holly Luth who was 59th with a time of 23:45.

“This was the biggest Rock-N-Run in recent memory and we were very excited to see all of our runner compete,” Dowagiac assistant coach Rob Lowe said. “We had some fantastic efforts from top to bottom. Our boys, led by Chris Gant, had a great day. Chris ran his season’s best and is peaking at the right time. Six of our seven boys ran their season’s best with the most impressive improvement by Sean Thompson who improved by over a minute in this race.

“Our girls continue to improve with Holly Luth leading the way. She ran a personal best and showed some real toughness. We had all of our top seven girls run their season’s best, which was exciting. We saw the most impressive races from Jessica Martin and Corrine Kaspear, who each ran over a minute faster than their best race this year.”

7th Annual Rock-N-Run

Boys’ results

Team scores

St. Joseph 23, Battle Creek Lakeview 98, Kalamazoo Hackett 115, Bridgman 120, Three Rivers 144, Lake Michigan Catholic 208, Lakeshore 218, Eau Claire 230, Kalamazoo Christian 260, Niles 263, Parchment 264, Edwardsburg 274, Dowagiac 313, Berrien Springs 356, New Buffalo 386, LaLumier 473, Buchanna 489

Individual Top 10

1. Ryan Leahy (SJ) 16:02, 2. David Berry (SJ) 16:26, 3. Joseph Beemer (SJ) 16:33, 4. Chris Gantt (D) 16:35, 5. Scott Bradley (BCL) 16:37, 6. Sam VandenHeede (N) 16:40, 7. Blake Wilson (BCL) 16:43, 8. Charlie Felton (SJ) 16:55, 9. Nick Whise (SJ) 17:00, 10. Doug Hollett Kalamazoo Christian 17:04

Edwardsburg

Ben Getz 18:01, Derek Scott 18:31, Alan Lopez 18:59, D.J. Bosse 19:46, Michael Kempton 19:47, Greg Hall 20:06, Brandon Parsons 20:20

Girls’ results

Team scores

St. Joseph 58, Battle Creek Lakeview 100, Parchment 123, Edwardsburg 160, Lakeshore 162, Kalamazoo Hackett 175. Coloma 183, Niles 204, Three Rivers 229, Kalamazoo Christian 232, Bridgman 247, Lawton 271, Berrien Springs 313, Buchanan 323, Dowagiac 418, Benton Harbor 520

Individual Top 10

Kate McLain (KC) 19:23, 2. Aubrey Ritchey (E) 19:24, 3. Jessie Armstrong (SJ) 19:29, 4. Lucy Ankenbauear (KH) 20:09, 5. Rachel Bendewald (SJ) 20:24, 6. Jessica Nave (BS) 20:25, 7. Kaisa Ala’venna (C) 20:32, 8. Laura Nordquist (P) 20:35, 9. Kate Thayer (P) 20:35, 10. Taylor Hillard (P) 20:38

Edwardsburg

Aubrey Ritchey 19:24, Gianna Haller 21:59, Britttany Udell 22:37, Isabelle Peak 22:58, Miranda Bronicki 23:20, Hannah Baylor 24:14, Amber Smith 25:03