The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
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Saline ready for run at state titles
Girls first, boys second at Regionals, both eye Saturday's state meet
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: November 1, 2007
Only one meet remains in 2007 for the Saline cross country teams: the Division 1 state finals, to be run at the Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn this Saturday.
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The Hornets will head to the meet with confidence after another strong performance at last Saturday's Regionals, where the girls came home with their sixth consecutive regional title and the boys — after a season filled with narrow victories over Ann Arbor Pioneer — finished a close second to the Pioneers, 46-48.
Both teams entered Regionals ranked second in the state and both will go to the Michigan International Speedway hoping to bring back the program's first-ever state championship.
"We talked about this after the race, we can't be satisfied," said Alex Leptich, who won her second straight individual regional title with a time of 18:45. "We're so happy and so grateful to be regional champs, but we feel we still have more we want to accomplish."
"That's the main thing at Regionals, to get some momentum for state and we feel like we got it on Saturday," said girls' head coach Mike Smith. "All seven of our runners either lived up to or surpassed our expectations."
Leptich was among four Hornet girls in the top 10 and all seven finished in the top 20. Kate Carter took third in 18:58, Lindsey Cummings sixth in 19:26, Rachel Jackson seventh in 19:32, and junior Erin Dowling 11th in 19:41 to round out the Hornet scoring at 28 points.
Ann Arbor Huron was a distant second with 63 points, followed by Brownstown Woodhaven with 82.
Saline also got strong runs from Meagan Creutz, just behind Dowling in 12th in 19:42, and 20th-place Kari Frank in 20:21. Leptich, Carter, Cummings, Jackson, Dowling and Creutz were each named All-Region for their top-15 finishes
Both Jackson's and Dowling's times were all-time personal bests (Dowling's by a whopping 45 seconds), despite rainy and muddy conditions that hampered times.
The Saline boys were disappointed to be denied the regional title after edging Pioneer in all three SEC jamborees and claiming the conference title, but took runner-up only by the slightest of margins.
Blake Johnson continued his outstanding senior season by running virtually unchallenged to second place in a time of 16:09. Junior Brian Conn, who was the meet's highest-placing non-senior, took fifth in 16:26, followed by a strong-finishing Brian Hernandez in 10th with a time of 16:34. Tommy Hunt also grabbed All-Region honors with a 12th-place time of 16:39.
The Hornets' season-long search for a fifth runner took another turn Saturday as junior newcomer Daniel Filipsson ran 16:54, his first sub-17:00 minute race, to finish 19th and cap the Hornet scoring just two points behind the Pioneers' total.
Sophomores Andrew Harper and Joe Lipa ran 17:07 and 17:24, respectively, to place 25th and 30th and cement their places on the Hornet varsity for the state finals.
The battle between the Hornets and Pioneers proved to be so close that the runners and coaches were forced to wait to find out the meet's champion. Conn said that regardless of the outcome, though, the Hornets were happy with how they had run and were confident that they would be able to compete with — if not surpass — the Pioneers and state No. 1 Pinckney in Brooklyn.
"I feel like we definitely have a shot," he said. "It has been a great season and we're really happy for the seniors. It has been exciting racing Pioneer. If we run our best on Saturday, we'll have a chance. But we have to work hard this week to get it."
Leptich, who said she ran her regional race for her father, who celebrated his birthday the same day, noted that before Regionals the Saline girls had gone for a 45-minute "distance" run and wound up pushing for all 45 minutes at a faster "tempo" pace — an indication of how prepared the team is for their shot at a state title this week.
"We're so ready," she said. "That's our goal, definitely. We want to win."
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