Girls CC: Skyline, Pioneer and Huron all headed to State Finals at MIS

Terry Jacoby
October 31, 2022, 2 years ago

After finishing second at the SEC Jamboree, Skyline’s Natalie Kessler couldn’t have been happy with her 18^th place finish at the recent SEC Championships when she ran a time of 19:30.9, her worst time since the first SEC Jamboree way back on Sept. 14.

The senior switched gears big time and dropped almost a minute off her time with her race to the finish line on Saturday at the Division 1 Regional at Hudson Meadows in Brighton. Kessler finished first overall with an outstanding time of 18:33.6, just 10 seconds off her PR, to help lead the Eagles to the MHSAA State Finals on Saturday in Brooklyn.

Skyline placed second overall with 69 points, just 20 points behind winner Brighton. Dexter ran third with 102 points and will join the Eagles and Bulldogs at MIS. Hartland was fourth with 117 points in the 14-team field. The top three teams in each Regional qualify for the State Finals.

Skyline had four runners crack the top 15 with senior Leah White running 10th (19:18.2), senior Caroline Vance ran 11th (19:18.7) and junior Allison Mayer was 14th (19:27.1). Senior Lydia Cocciolone was 33rd (20:33.0), sophomore Ayla Balazer was 42nd (20:49.1) and senior Annalisa DeGuzman was 51st (21:11.5).

Pioneer

Saline and Pioneer sprinted to the finish line at the Division 1 girls’ cross country Regional on Saturday at Milan High School with the Hornets edging the Pioneers for first place. Both teams will meet again on Saturday at the MHSAA State Finals at MIS in Brooklyn.

Saline finished with five runners in the top 11 and finished with a Regional best 33 points. Pioneer had the overall winner, two in the top three and five in the top 16 to land second with 42 points. Bedford was a distant third with 108 points, followed by Woodhaven (123) and Monroe (129) in the 11-team field.

Senior Emily Cooper took first overall with a time of 17:49.78. Junior Natalie Mello crossed third with a time of 18:15.72 and junior Rachel Forsyth was third in 18:39.40 for Pioneer. Junior Sylvia Sanok Duffalo was 14th (19:25.34), junior Katie Hume was 16^th and freshman Hana Boggess was 21^st (20:23.77).

Huron

The Huron girls’ cross country team finished tied for second at Saturday’s Regional to qualify for this coming Saturday’s MHSAA State Finals in Brooklyn. The River Rats finished with 97 points to tie with Canton for runner-up at Willow Metropark in New Boston.

Northville took first with 46 points. Livonia Stevenson was fourth with 101 points in the 12-team field.

Sophomore Lucinda Paliani led Huron across the finish line with her ninth-place time of 19:39.20. Freshman Leena Shelgikar (16th, 20:04.50) and junior Sonya Shelgikar (19th, 20:20.60) both landed in the top 20 for the River Rats. Senior Royce Smith was 24th (20:37.10), junior Sarah Conley was 36th (21:16.20) and senior Emily Ma was 41st (21:31.70).

[Girls cross country]