The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
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Saline Middle School runners compete in national competition
PUBLISHED: January 18, 2007
Three members of the Saline Middle School cross country team and one Heritage Elementary School runner have continued to compete after the end of the fall season and have posted impressive results in state and national competition.
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Eighth-grader Andrew Barnett, seventh-graders Spencer Bishop and Jonathan Parker, and sixth-grader Andrew Kitto began running up to five days a week in preparation for the Amateur Athletic Union and USA Track and Field National Championship Series starting in late October.
The quartet traveled to Center Line Nov. 25 to compete in the state AAU championships. Runners finishing in the top 25 would qualify for AAU nationals in Orlando, Fla. All four qualified with ease, with Barnett finishing third, Bishop second, Parker first and Kitto third in their respective age divisions.
At the AAU nationals, Barnett finished 62nd, Bishop 43rd and Parker fourth in their age groups out of 170 total runners.
The USATF state championships were held Nov. 11 in Northville. Parker finished third and Kitto sixth, with each in the same age group, to qualify for the regional meet Nov. 18 in Northville. In a field of runners from Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia, Parker finished first and Kitto 11th to qualify for nationals.
The national meet was held Dec. 9 in Spokane, Wash. Out of 235 total runners, Parker placed 25th and Kitto 158th.
Barnett was a key veteran member of the SMS team and is looking forward to running with the Saline High School team next season.
Bishop was competing in his second AAU nationals after placing 14th in 2005 and finished in the top 25 percent of the field despite battling the flu throughout the week leading up to the race.
Parker also competed in AAU nationals in 2005, but finished a disappointing 98th and came back determined to improve, running five races outside of the SMS season, including the Detroit Free Press Kids Mini Marathon, and winning four.
Kitto won two of the three races he ran for his Heritage team and ran above his age at the USATF meet.
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