PORT HURON, MI – The Norse Cross Country Teams fought challe(nging conditions on Friday. The men finished strong while the women collected a team score and ended up seventh out of 11 teams.
"I thought the athletes did well today," said Head Coach Scott Carhoun. "The course was hilly and a little bit sloppy, which was a good challenge for them."
Three of the four men's runners finished the race. Unfortunately, Matt LeClaie was unable to finish because of the conditions. Brent Lagina (FR, Norway, MI) paced the team with a time of 36:41.1. Dustin Brewster (FR, Manistique, MI) finished with a time of 37:21.3. Austin Watchorn (SO, Escanaba, MI) was the final Bay runner to cross the finish line. His time was 42:02.8.
The women's 5K had 97 runners, and Hattie Cota (FR, Munising, MI) finished in the top third. She was the 30th runner to cross the line with a time of 22:57.2. Veronica Spreitzer finished in 45th place with a time of 24:45.4 and was the only Norse harrier to improve on her time from two weeks ago. Aleyna Wetthuhn (FR, Gladstone, MI) was just about 20 seconds off of her time in Grand Rapids, finishing in 25:52.4. Leah Gould (FR, Engadine, MI) was just a few ticks away from besting her time in that previous conference meet, coming across the line at 25:57.4. Devyn Lusardi (FR, Stephenson, MI) rounded out the team scoring with a time of 27:35.7. She was less then ten seconds from her previous time.
The Norse picked up 176 points which bested four other teams in the field. Rochester, St. Clair County, and Mott finished in the top three.
For the first time this season the Norse will compete on consecutive weekends. They head to Appleton, WI next weekend to compete in the Gene Davis Invitational hosted by Lawrence University.