Chelsea cross country finished 6th last weekend in the Division II MHSAA State Championships held at MIS in Brooklyn on Nov. 1.
In 35 degree temperatures with a strong north wind, the Bulldogs were one of 28 teams that competed.
Grand Rapids Christian won the meet with 83 points and Chelsea finished sixth with 255 points.
Below are the results of Chelsea’s individual runners:
52. Joe Vermilye 16:37.2
69. David Trimas 16:47.2
89. Miles Fischer 16:59.1
91. Liam Heaney 16:59.8
94. Rayan Bahri 17:00.8
164. Campbell Fahle 17:37.2
181. Josh Kowalski 17:43.3
(254 finishers in the race)
Coach Eric Swager had this to say about the meet.
“Another great day, and great performance from our guys. We were not predicted to even be in the top 10 teams, but we executed well and finished way higher than expectations. “
He said, “This is the 3rd year in a row of finishing 6th, all of them better than our seed coming in. I believe that this is due to our race strategy of running the first mile in control, then passing other runners as they tire.”
See this link for the final rankings, then compare to how we ran.
“I knew we would have a good day as I saw our two sophomores (Heaney and Bahri) just flying by people in the second mile,” Swager said, adding, “They moved up from 150th place early in the race to the top 100 – an excellent showing. “
Both of them ran lifetime bests, as did Miles Fischer, Josh Kowalski, and Campbell Fahle.
Joe Vermilye led the team with his 52nd place showing, and was within 1 second of his lifetime best.
David Trimas had an interesting race, moving from 50th to into the 30’s, back to 80th, then back to 69th to round out a stellar cross country career.
Chelsea Athletic Director Brad Bush had this to say via email, “I want to wish Coach Swager and all of the boys congratulations on a great season. This team has added to the great tradition of Chelsea cross country. Your hard work has earned you a place in the great history of this program. All of you have made the school and community very proud.”
Swager had this to say about this year’s team. “This squad has evolved quite a bit through the season, as we have used many different lineups for varsity throughout the year,” Swager said, adding, “This particular group of 7 have only ran together twice, at Regionals and now at State. In spite of that, we seemed to form a solid team, with our #1-5 runners being less than 24 seconds apart – the lowest spread of any team at the state finals, and possibly the lowest state meet team spread in school history.”
Swager said he’d like to thank the administration, the parents, coaches, and all those who have supported us through another amazing season. We are truly blessed here in Chelsea to have such support.
