Saugatuck’s Birky wins Kelloggsville Invite

By Walt Kaechele
Senior Correspondent

Members of the Saugatuck girls’ cross country team stretch before taking part in a run at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore during the 44th Parallel Cross Country Camp this summer. (Photo provided)

KELLOGGSVILLE—The cross country teams from Saugatuck, Allegan and Hopkins traveled to the Grand Rapids area to compete in their first meet of the year at the Kelloggsville Rocket Invitational.

The weather for August was more like late September as it was cool and wet, but in spite of the weather there were still some good performances, led by a first-place individual showing by Saugatuck’s Christian Birky in the boys’ race.

Saugatuck boys’ coach Mike Shaw said, “Despite a steady drizzle, we were ready to run today. Christian Birky ran a smart race finishing in the first place overall. With about a half mile to go, he surged ahead through about six inches of standing water and it was all over.”

The Saugatuck boys’ team finished a respectable third in a field of 11 teams that featured several division II and III schools. Allegan was fifth, with Hopkins coming in sixth.

On the girls’ side, Hopkins placed fifth, with Saugatuck, which is under the guidance of new head coach Angelina Bauer, placed sixth.

The scoring for this invitational is based upon the collective times of a team’s first five runners. No point value is applied to the runner’s position. Any team that did not have five runners was placed in the “no score” column.

Boys’ team scores: 1. Byron Center 1:34.24, 2. Allendale 1:37.31, 3. Saugatuck 1:38.31, 4. Lakewood 1:39.41, 5. Allegan 1:47.12, 6. Hopkins 1:47.18, 7. Northpointe 1:57.33, Comstock Park/Freedom Baptist/Kelloggsville no score.

Kelloggsville “Rocket” Invitational

Boys:

Team scores: 1. Byron Center 1:34.24, 2. Allendale 1:37.31, 3. Saugatuck 1:38.31, 4. Lakewood 1:39.41, 5. Allegan 1:47.12, 6. Hopkins 1:47.18, 7. Northpointe 1:57.33, Comstock Park/Freedom Baptist/Kelloggsville no score.

Individual results for Allegan, Hopkins and Saugatuck.

Allegan—7. Adam Austin 19:05, 21. Brian Sousley 20:20,36. Gage Waanders 21:56, 46. Jorden Ealy 22:43, 52. Andy Krcatovich 23:08, 55. Logan Bruursema 23:25, 56. Matt Smith 23:57, 67. Chris Maynard 25:42.

Hopkins—11. Josh Hewitt 19:19, 16. Alex Holshoe 19:59, 30. Bill Napier 20:58, 45. Michael Dykstra 22:28, 66. Josh VanderPoleg 24:34, 68. Garrett Johnson 24:53, 73. Charlie Ade 26:36.

Saugatuck—1. Christian Birky 17:25, 17. Tyler Slentz 20:02, 19. Ethan Lievense 20:07, 22. Evan Kundsen 20:24, 26. John Gibbons 20:41, 27. Conor Holmes 20:46. 35. Colin Hutchinson 21:32, 52. Jeremy Pitcher 22:50, 56. Sig Steiger 23:11, 60. Chris Bush 24.05, 61. Paul Shepherd 24:06, 62. James Peck 24:08, 63. Will Valentine 24:10, 64. Blake Otto 24:23, 66. Peter Wiley 24:34,

Girls:

Team scores: 1. Northpointe 1:54.29, 2. Allendale 1:57.14, 3. Byron Center 1:59.20, 4. Lakewood 2:1.50, 5. Hopkins 2:13.35, 6. Saugatuck 2:13.56, Allegan/Comstock Park/Freedom Baptist/Godwin/Kelloggsville no score.

Individual scores for Allegan, Hopkins and Saugatuck.

Allegan—28. Kelsey Harness 25:31, 40. Rebecca Dangremond 26:31, 54. Allison Kasprzyk 28:03, 62. Lindsey Pegg 29:49.

Hopkins—7. Katie Gigowski 22:31, 10. Jessica Saunders 23:03, 27. Hannah Scheibe 25:30, 34. Kelsey Williams 25:59, 39. Alisah Kloska 26:31, 42. Meah Krcatovich 26:44, 43. Caylie O’Patik 26:45, 69. Lauren Meza 31:48, 75. Alex Nelson 37:07.

Saugatuck—23. Katrina Phillips 25:10, 25. Madeline Peterson 25:16, 41. Markie Rutter 26:41, 48. Emily Durkee 27:38, 57. Tess Wilkins 29:14, 64. Alex Munch 30:18, 65. Catie Rutter 30:19, 67. Avery Hammond 30:55, 68. Bronwyn Mead 31:25, 70. Jennifer Fisher 33:00, 76. Alyssa Masters 37:12