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Chelsea High School Girls Cross Country Preview

By Pat Clarke

A very young girls’ cross country team looks promising this season.

Coach Pat Clarke returns for his 51st year of coaching cross country in Chelsea by greeting a very young and talented group of 16 runners.

“We graduated six senior runners from last year’s team,” said Clarke when describing this year’s prospects. “We are very young, inexperienced, and enthusiastic. This group are very hard workers and are dedicated to their training. We could be as good or better this year than last year, but how much better is the question,” Clarke said, adding, “Right now, we are working hard to become better runners and we are bonding well as a team.”

Leading the group of returnees are senior captains: Rachel Bullock and Kate Gaiser. Both girls are returning All-League runners from last year.

Gaiser is a four-year veteran who is running as well as ever this season. Bullock is an All-Region runner from last year. These veteran women should provide us with some excellent leadership on the team,” Clarke said.

The junior class has a very talented group of veterans in Audra Guthre, Julia Kause, and Brooke Matusik. Guthre is a returning All-League runner and All-Region runner.

In the sophomore class we have a very large class that has a lot of potential. The sophomores are: Seren Angus, Samantha Dark, Cyprus Gabriel-Menegay, Bella Hagen, Trilian Krug, Marah Putnam, Leila Wells, and Claire Zarinnia.

Angus broke the 20-minute barrier last year. She is recovering from an injury, but should give us some much needed experience on the team soon.

Krug is the leading returning runner on the team having gone 19:22 for the 5K last year. She was All-League and All-Region last season.

“This group of sophomores will also lend a great amount of depth and numbers to the team. This group is a hard-working bunch who will improve drastically as the season progresses and make serious contributions to the team before the season concludes.” Clarke added.

Finally we have a good group of freshmen whose attitude is great. The freshman are:  Natalia DeMea, Christina Roberts, and Lauren Thompson.

On the middle school track team Roberts was a 6:02 miler, DeMea was a top 400m person, and Thompson was the best 3200m person.

“I coached these three last spring and they were the ones that I really wanted for cross country,” Clarke said.

This year in the SEC White Division, (which includes Adrian, Tecumseh, Pinckney, Ypsilanti, and Jackson), Pinckney will be a favorite to win,. The Pirates are defending SEC Champions, Regional Champions, and were 14th in the state in Division 2. They return 5 of their top seven runners from last season.  

Adrian will field a solid team as usual. They were 2nd in the Lenawee County Meet last season. They return one of the top young runners in the state in Freshman Sophy Skeels.

Tecumseh will be a co-favorite with Pinckney to win the league. They return 5 of their top seven runners. In the pre-season ratings they are ranked 10th in the state in division 2. They also bring in an outstanding middle school runner in Madison Morris who won the Lenawee County Meet last season.

Jackson will again field a solid competitive team this season.

Ypsilanti is again fielding a team. It is good to have them back competing again. 

This year we will go to the regional at Lake Erie Metropark. There will be at least 5 of the top 30 teams in the state there. It will be very interesting to see how this meet turns out. 

“The Chelsea girls are eager to prove themselves this season. This team is one of the hardest working groups that Chelsea has had. The girls are working hard and coming together as a team. If they continue to improve, get healthy, and get mentally tough they should make their presence felt in any meet they run in.

“We are working very hard and I really like this team’s attitude. I’m excited by the possibilities this season promises. We are a very young deep team that must remain focused on our goals and on keeping the end of the season in mind. Improvement has to be foremost in our thoughts. We have talent, and we must work on the TEAM concept of running. After that we’ll try to avoid injuries and see how the season unfolds,” Clarke said.

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