Cross Country Runs Hard

Greenhills Cross Country continued its stellar season in the first MIAC Jamboree on Tuesday, September 25, winning the varsity boys’ race and placing seventh in the varsity girls’ race, despite being shorthanded.

The Greenhills boys’ team scored 60 points to defeat 11 other competing MIAC schools, beating closest rivals Lutheran Westland by 14 points and Plymouth Christian Academy by 30 points. The team was led by senior captain Ashwin Fujii, who placed second overall. Sophomore Alex Reeves placed fifth, followed by senior John Lazarsfeld (competing in his very first race!) in 13th and sophomore Dominic Johnson in 14th. All four top runners have placed themselves in contention for MIAC All-Conference honors. The fifth scoring runner for Greenhills was Junior Andrew Gitlin in 27th, while Haven Wagner placed 48th. The boys’ team was without two key runners in freshmen Naveen Fujii and Ian Harris, but with the addition of Lazarsfeld and the ability of the other runners to step up their performances, the team prevailed nonetheless.

The Greenhills girls’ scored 160 points, with a gutsy performance to place seventh. Needing five runners to qualify to place in the conference and having only five runners available meant that every runner had to score. The team was led by freshman Peyton Ovsek in 21st place and sophomore Anna Krauss in 24th place. Junior Krickett Kazyak took over a minute off her previous best time to place 34th, while junior captain Kaity Mussio, just recovered from a stress fracture and only cleared to run the day before, took 38th. Junior Natalie Spratt came in 43rd to get the Greenhills girls’ team its result.

Both cross country teams continue to improve every race and the coaches can’t praise the efforts of their athletes enough. Greenhills Cross Country is alive and well and making a definite statement of purpose this season.