RunMichigan.com! - '98 LP H.S. State Meet Race Stories

Class C Boys Report

Mich. Intl. Speedway, Brooklyn, Michigan - 11/7/98
Partly Sunny, 45 degrees.

EAST JORDAN
WINS SCHOOL'S
FIRST EVER
STATE TITLE

FLYNN REPEATS
AS CLASS C CHAMP

Brooklyn, MI

By Dave McCauley & Scott Collins - RunMichigan.com!

East Jordan High School has now joined the long list of great teams from the Northwestern Lower Peninsula who have claimed cross country state championships as they won the 1998 "C" boys title with 145 points. East Jordan was one of about five or six teams with a legitimate shot at the team title. Jonesville, Benzie Central Hemlock, Sandusky and Bath all had a chance to take the top prize. However, East Jordan, through the strength of its top four runners, had enough to hold off both Jonesville and Hemlock, who each finished with a five man total of 165 points. Jonesville captured second, as their sixth man finished in a team place of 67th compared to Hemlock's 6th man who placed 102nd. East Jordan's top runner on the day was sophomore Tarn Leach, who placed 13th in the team scoring in a time of 16:13.2. Rounding out the top 5 runners for East Jordan were Chris Bearden in 16:32, Kevin Penzien in 16:33, Micah Middaugh, 16:55, and Dustin Tinney in 17:11. The remainder of the East Jordan State Championship team was made up of Matt Shaw, who finished in a time of 17:18, and Jeremy Booze who ran 17:38.

For Coach Matt Peterson, who himself was a member of a cross country state championship team in 1982 while running for Charlevoix H.S., it was a great victory as he knew his team had a definite chance. "Looking at the results all year, we thought there were about five to seven teams who had a really good shot. We thought that if we had a really good race on this day then we could do it and the kids came through and we did it."

In the individual competition, Benzie Central's Jake Flynn produced one of the three repeat championships on the day. Flynn took the boys individual title for the second year in a row, as he pulled away in the second mile to finish in a time of 15:12. Second overall went to Sanford Meridian's Robert Ryan Cole in 15:23. The enthusiastic Flynn was a perfect example of the excitement of the day as he totally enjoyed the moment. "Oh it's unvelievable. I've got tingles everywhere." He commented. "I was so nervous. Everyone kept telling me that I was the guy to beat. Wow. I'm so happy." Flynn ran a solid, extremely confident race to capture his state title. He came through the mile with a slight lead in 4:42, cruised through the two mile with a nine second lead in 9:40 and then held on for an 11 second victory. "I just sat back, relaxed and ran my heart out and ended up in the lead in the first corner and that's what I was aiming to do. " Other top individual finishers were Justin Kibbey of Maple City Glen Lake (3rd, 15:34), Hemlock's Kevin Sule (4th, 15:41) and Brent Wrisley of St. Louis (5th, 15:47).

Individual "C" Champion
Jake Flynn
of Benzie Central

VIDEO CLIP
Click on link below.

East Jordan Celebrates! (303k)