(Chelsea Update would like to thank Coach Pat Clarke for the information in this story.)
Coach Pat Clarke returns for his 46th year of coaching cross-country in Chelsea by greeting a very young, but talented group of 23 runners.
“We return 8 of our top 9 girls from last year’s team,” said Clarke when describing this year’s prospects. “We lost two fine senior runners due to graduation, but we are filling up the talent bin with some promising young runners. Last year’s team were Regional Champions, SEC Champions, and placed 15th in the state meet. We could be better than last year, but how much better is the question?” Clarke said.
“Right now we are working hard to become better runners and we are bonding well as a team,” he said.
Seniors
Leading the group of returnees are senior captains; Jesse Jacobusse, Maggie Tarasow, and Ellie Doman.
Jacobusse, an all-League and all-region runner in 2015, is coming off an all-state track season were she placed 6th in the state in the 1600m run.
“All these young women should provide us with some excellent leadership on the team,” Clarke said.
Other seniors to be counted on include: Autumn Johnson and new comer Anna Piloske. Piloske is a transfer student from Hanover Horton where she was an all-league runner last year.
Juniors
The junior class has a very talented group of veterans in Caroline Hirth, Sydney Matusik, Leah Pifer, Alexa Quintana, Zoe Steigerwald, and Rose LaForest. Caroline Hirth was an all-League runner last season. She has put in the best summer of training of her career and should be a factor in every race that she runs.
Alexa Quintana has also worked hard this summer and should be a major contributor to the team. Alexa was all-league two years ago.
Sydney Matausik is coming off an all-state track season last spring and should be heard from this season. The juniors as a group should give us some much needed maturity to help the younger runners.
Sophomores
In the sophomore class, we have one of the more talented classes that Chelsea has seen in many years. The sophomores are: Sydney Barnes, Katherine Eckland, Natalie Gofton, Brianna Hay, Allison Hughes, Ailish Joyce, Sydnee Liedel, Emily Strzyzewski,and Jacqueline Taylor.
Hughes, Liedel, and Taylor were All-league last season. Hay and Gofton show great promise and will contribute greatly to the team.
“This group of veteran sophomores will also lend a great amount of experience 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 said.
Freshman
Finally, we have a good group of freshmen whose talent is deep and their attitude is great. The freshmen are: Mallory Bee, Morgan Kurth, and Hailey Neal.
SEC White Division
This year in the SEC White Division, (which includes Adrian, Dexter, Lincoln, and Tecumseh), always talented Dexter will again be very strong. They return 7 of their top 9 runners and they have an outstanding group of middle school runners coming up this year. They have 3 all-league performers returning.
Tecumseh will field their best girl’s teams in recent years. They return their entire team. They are led by returning league champion Christina Sawyer. Sawyer should be one of the top runners in the state this year.
Adrian will field a solid team as usual. They were a state qualifying team last year. They have one All-League Runner and a couple of veteran runners, but they have some rebuilding to do.
Lincoln is rebuilding this year, but they should field a competitive team.
This year, we will go to the regional at Lake Erie Metropark hosted by Woodhaven. There will be at least 5 of the top 30 teams in the state there.
The Chelsea girls are eager to prove themselves this season. This team is one of the deepest in talent that Chelsea has had. The girls are working hard and coming together as a team. If they continue to improve and get mentally tough they should make their presence felt in any meet they run in.
“We are working hard and I really like this team’s attitude. I’m excited by the possibilities this season promises. We are young team that must remain focused on our goals and keep 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.
