The Seaholm cross country season started off with a bang at the West Bloomfield/ Brother Rice Invitational. They were two successful finishes with the boys team finishing 4th and the girls finishing 3rd. There were individual standouts showing signs of great things to come this fall.
For the boys, top finishers were junior Ryan Petry who finished 13th with a time of 18:05 and freshman Jack Howard 16th clocking in at 18:12. On the girl’s side, top finishers were junior sensation Alex Mathews who won her race finishing at 20:05 and senior Ashley Harte finishing 16th with a time of 22:05.
Every year the boy’s expectation is to qualify for the state meet. Dexter just moved into Seaholms’ region and is one of the best teams in the state.
“It’s going to be one of the most difficult years,” head coach Derek DiGiovanni said.
Senior captain Zach Fuerst and junior captain Ryan Petry will need to show their natural leadership and lead by example to prosper through the tough times.
According to DiGiovanni, the most important thing he preaches is that they have faith in the training and realize not everything is going to feel good. If they realize this, they’ll run fast when it matters most.
Although the boys finished 4th at the West Bloomfield/ Brother Rice Invitational, the season hasn’t started out according to planned. Captain Ryan Petry said that the team so far is lacking confidence.
“So far, our team performance has been pretty disappointing,” Petry said. “Our team needs to realize we can be good.”
Petry said that his captainship is a key ingredient towards the team realizing and achieving their potential.
“The coach sees me as a leader and sees that I can push the team,” Petry said. “I feel I am responsible to keep the team motivated and encourage everyone through the tough practices.”
The team has changed greatly this year with last year’s top two runners Ted Howard and Michael Bender graduating.
Junior Nick Hill and sophomore Mark Bennett have proven that hard work pays off. Two JV runners last year who trained a lot this off-season have earned their way on to the varsity roster and are crucial to Seaholm’s success this year.
Freshmen Zach Demko and Jack Howard have proven that they can make an instant impact right off the bat exceeding everyone’s expectations.
According to DiGiovanni, Howard’s outstanding times this season are faster than his brother Ted’s times freshman year.
Girls head coach Jeff Devantier said that times so far are very well. He’s very pleased with how the team has performed so far.
Devaniter said he let the team pick out the captains for this season.
“We do a team vote,” Devantier said. “It’s all up to the team.”
Captain Alex Mathews wasn’t expecting to win the West Bloomfield/Brother Rice Invitational. Now she’s beginning to realize how much talent she has by setting some tough individual goals.
“My goal is to come in top 5 at states and to be top 7 in my races,” Mathews said.
Every member of this girl’s cross country team has been focused. The new people have caught on quickly to what to do at meets and practices.
Mathews has been impressed with everyone dropping a lot of time off from last season. One girl in particular has stood out dropping two minutes from last season. That is junior Lauren Stinson.
“She has dropped so much time from last year,” Mathews said.
The girls team will need to rely on Matthews’ experience and leadership in order to achieve the team goals they have set for this season. The underclassmen must be able use her as an inspiration to push even harder during the season.
Devantier said the team goal is to qualify in the state meet as a team. He also wants to get four girls under the time of 20 minutes. Matthews along with Devantier has set the bar very high this season.
“Our team goal is to get in the top 10 at states and win the regional meet,” Mathews said.
Devantier told his team that the number one thing he asks from everyone is commitment. He said that it’s a long season, but then again it’s also a short season.
