Dakota vs. Armada, Stevenson & Richmond
September 3, 2020
Dakota High School
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The Dakota Men once again dominated the field as a team. They remain perfect with 3 more wins and are now 5-0 on the season. Jacob Harberts and Matthew Singer led the race for the first mile, but their quick pace of 5:07 proved a little to fast and Armada's Connor Mackenzie seized the opportunity to take the lead. The boys improve to 32-5 all time vs. Stevenson, 1-0 vs. Armanda and 1-2 vs. Richmond.
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The women of Dakota were lead by race winner Jayden Harberts, as she ran away from the field, winning by 105 seconds. Her time of 19:25.3 makes her the fastest Freshman in Dakota History. The Cougars defeated all three opponents and are now 5-0 for the season. Allison Ferguson ran an outstanding race as was the teams #3 runner. Th1e girls improve to 10-26 all time vs. Stevenson, 1-2 vs. Richmond and 1-0 vs. Armanda.
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You can find complete results here www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/Results/Meet.aspx?Meet=175365&show=all
Photos by Mrs. Bryant
Photos by Chris Villaire
Girls Race
FROM the MACOMB DAILY
Life is good for Dakota girls cross country coaches Mike Timpa and Tom Zarzycki.
Six of the Cougars’ top seven runners at the Macomb County Invitational last year were underclassmen and this year they’re joined by one of the top freshmen in the county in Jayden Harberts.
Harberts ran away from the rest of the four-team field on Dakota’s home course Thursday to win in 19:25.30. Stevenson’s Emma Bowen was second in 21:10.40.
“She’s awesome,” Timpa said of Harberts. “She works hard and makes the other kids work hard. It does make it nice when you have a good core group coming back and then you get a freshman who’s a phenom.”
Harberts said she didn’t know what to expect in her first home race for the Cougars.
“I just tried to run my own race,” she said. “I usually do my best when I can get out in front and just glide.”
Running at Seneca Middle School, Harberts doesn’t have a lot of experience with the high school 5K race.
“This is the first time I’ve really run 5K. This is a good challenge,” she said. “I’m used to a mile or two miles.”
Zarzycki isn’t surprised by Harbert’s success in her first varsity season.
‘I’ve known about her since the fourth grade,” he said. “I think she’s right up there with the other good freshman runners we’ve had in the county.”
Dakota took eight of the first 10 places overall to finish with 19 points. Armada was second with 58 and Sterling Heights had 65. Richmond did not have five runners to post a team score.
Emma Myziuk, Allison Ferguson, Lindsay Harvey and Chelsea Harvey rounded out the top five for the Cougars.
Armada coach Rob Blume is relying on seniors and freshmen to carry the Tigers through the Blue Water Area Conference season.
“I thought we ran well,” he said. “I think if we looked at the results from the first race last year, this team beats them. I like the work ethic. It’s a close-knit team. That’s neat to see.”
The first Armada runners to hit the finish line were seniors Caroline Kopp and Madison Feys. The next two were freshmen Breanna Feys and Darrah Mackenzie.
Stevenson coach Michael Jenkins liked the improvement in his team in its second race.
“Everybody, to a girl, ran better this week than last week, so it was a good day for early in the season,” he said. “Emma Bowen really ran well, especially for being in no man’s land for most of the race.
“We’re down a little bit. Our top runners are back, but it’s a smaller team this year. The circumstances hit us hard but we’ll just run with it and do the best we can.”
Richmond’s Jasmine Alfaro ran a strong race in finishing fourth.
“We were low on numbers today, but we ran well as a group,” said Blue Devils girls coach Nick Burg. “Jasmine has been training really hard. She’s taken the leadership role with Maddy (Bean) gone. She was good friends with Maddy (the state Division 3 runner-up last year). She learned how Maddy trained and took that role seriously. She’ll play a huge part in this team.”
- By Chuck Klonke For MediaNews Group
- Sep 4, 2020
Life is good for Dakota girls cross country coaches Mike Timpa and Tom Zarzycki.
Six of the Cougars’ top seven runners at the Macomb County Invitational last year were underclassmen and this year they’re joined by one of the top freshmen in the county in Jayden Harberts.
Harberts ran away from the rest of the four-team field on Dakota’s home course Thursday to win in 19:25.30. Stevenson’s Emma Bowen was second in 21:10.40.
“She’s awesome,” Timpa said of Harberts. “She works hard and makes the other kids work hard. It does make it nice when you have a good core group coming back and then you get a freshman who’s a phenom.”
Harberts said she didn’t know what to expect in her first home race for the Cougars.
“I just tried to run my own race,” she said. “I usually do my best when I can get out in front and just glide.”
Running at Seneca Middle School, Harberts doesn’t have a lot of experience with the high school 5K race.
“This is the first time I’ve really run 5K. This is a good challenge,” she said. “I’m used to a mile or two miles.”
Zarzycki isn’t surprised by Harbert’s success in her first varsity season.
‘I’ve known about her since the fourth grade,” he said. “I think she’s right up there with the other good freshman runners we’ve had in the county.”
Dakota took eight of the first 10 places overall to finish with 19 points. Armada was second with 58 and Sterling Heights had 65. Richmond did not have five runners to post a team score.
Emma Myziuk, Allison Ferguson, Lindsay Harvey and Chelsea Harvey rounded out the top five for the Cougars.
Armada coach Rob Blume is relying on seniors and freshmen to carry the Tigers through the Blue Water Area Conference season.
“I thought we ran well,” he said. “I think if we looked at the results from the first race last year, this team beats them. I like the work ethic. It’s a close-knit team. That’s neat to see.”
The first Armada runners to hit the finish line were seniors Caroline Kopp and Madison Feys. The next two were freshmen Breanna Feys and Darrah Mackenzie.
Stevenson coach Michael Jenkins liked the improvement in his team in its second race.
“Everybody, to a girl, ran better this week than last week, so it was a good day for early in the season,” he said. “Emma Bowen really ran well, especially for being in no man’s land for most of the race.
“We’re down a little bit. Our top runners are back, but it’s a smaller team this year. The circumstances hit us hard but we’ll just run with it and do the best we can.”
Richmond’s Jasmine Alfaro ran a strong race in finishing fourth.
“We were low on numbers today, but we ran well as a group,” said Blue Devils girls coach Nick Burg. “Jasmine has been training really hard. She’s taken the leadership role with Maddy (Bean) gone. She was good friends with Maddy (the state Division 3 runner-up last year). She learned how Maddy trained and took that role seriously. She’ll play a huge part in this team.”
Armada’s boys cross country team is so happy just to be running, it seems determined to make the most of it.
“I’m just glad to have a season,” said the Tigers’ Connor Mackenzie, who finished first in a four-team meet hosted by Dakota on Thursday. “I want to win every race that I can and do well as a team — but I’m just so happy to come out and compete.”
Dakota, which was led by Jacob Harberts’ second-place finish, took first place with 24 points. Armada was second with 39, followed by Richmond 86 and Stevenson 104.
Mackenzie trailed Harberts for two-thirds of the race, then made his move at the two-mile mark, and finished with a time of 17:20, a 30-second gap over Harberts.
“I’ve never really been a person to go out fast,” said the Armada senior who was a second-team All-County runner last year. “I like to sit back and then kick. I let the others take it out and when I felt the time was right, I just kicked out and went past them.”
Another Armada senior, Alec Albrecht, finished third, four seconds behind Harberts.
“This being our first meet, we just wanted to relearn how to run a 5K and get the feel for it,” said Albrecht, who also made second team All-County last year. “Our team strategy was pretty good. We both wanted to get around 5:10 to 5:30 for the first mile. I waited until the last mile and tried to push it at the end.
“I almost had second, but I kicked too early. Better to do that the first meet of the year than down the road at regional or states. Overall, I’m proud of our team so far. I’m optimistic and keeping my fingers crossed that we can have a full season.”
“They ran really smart, considering how hot it was and the way the wind was,” said Armada coach Rob Blume. “I’m thankful (Dakota coach) Mike Timpa invited us. We can build on this. We can use it for a measuring stick for the county meet and so can they.”
Rounding out the top five for Dakota, which took fourth through 10th place, were Alfonso Moceri, Matthew Singer, Christopher Villaire and Nicholas Bryant.
“This was a learning experience for us,” Timpa said. “A couple guys went out at 5:06, which proved to be a little fast for them. They got excited and maybe went out a little fast, but if you can run a 5:06 mile at the beginning, you know you can work and continue to improve. All in all, we ran in a good pack.”
Blume was pleased with several of his runners.
“Spencer Kielman’s race today was wonderful to see,” Blume said. “He’s been building for this for the last three years and now here he is, a key member of the varsity as a senior.”
Also running well for the Tigers were Riley Andrews, Kyle Coenen and freshman Luke Nawrocki.
Conner Germain led the way for Richmond, which is hoping to improve on last year with basically the same team.
“The boys are coming along,” said Blue Devils coach Brett Burg. “We had a couple kids step up over the summer and are learning to be leaders. We’re pretty excited about the season. This was a tough course and the weather was tough. We have four or five kids who should finish similar every race, so it should be fun.”
Stevenson coach Chris Schultz said his team is suffering from inexperience and injuries.
“Some of my younger guys ran well, but we still have a ways to go,” he said. “In our first race six of my top eight didn’t run. We got some back today but they struggled in the heat. We’re struggling now, but a month from now we’ll be a far different team than we are now.”
Noah Surovec was the first Titans runner to finish.
“I’m just glad to have a season,” said the Tigers’ Connor Mackenzie, who finished first in a four-team meet hosted by Dakota on Thursday. “I want to win every race that I can and do well as a team — but I’m just so happy to come out and compete.”
Dakota, which was led by Jacob Harberts’ second-place finish, took first place with 24 points. Armada was second with 39, followed by Richmond 86 and Stevenson 104.
Mackenzie trailed Harberts for two-thirds of the race, then made his move at the two-mile mark, and finished with a time of 17:20, a 30-second gap over Harberts.
“I’ve never really been a person to go out fast,” said the Armada senior who was a second-team All-County runner last year. “I like to sit back and then kick. I let the others take it out and when I felt the time was right, I just kicked out and went past them.”
Another Armada senior, Alec Albrecht, finished third, four seconds behind Harberts.
“This being our first meet, we just wanted to relearn how to run a 5K and get the feel for it,” said Albrecht, who also made second team All-County last year. “Our team strategy was pretty good. We both wanted to get around 5:10 to 5:30 for the first mile. I waited until the last mile and tried to push it at the end.
“I almost had second, but I kicked too early. Better to do that the first meet of the year than down the road at regional or states. Overall, I’m proud of our team so far. I’m optimistic and keeping my fingers crossed that we can have a full season.”
“They ran really smart, considering how hot it was and the way the wind was,” said Armada coach Rob Blume. “I’m thankful (Dakota coach) Mike Timpa invited us. We can build on this. We can use it for a measuring stick for the county meet and so can they.”
Rounding out the top five for Dakota, which took fourth through 10th place, were Alfonso Moceri, Matthew Singer, Christopher Villaire and Nicholas Bryant.
“This was a learning experience for us,” Timpa said. “A couple guys went out at 5:06, which proved to be a little fast for them. They got excited and maybe went out a little fast, but if you can run a 5:06 mile at the beginning, you know you can work and continue to improve. All in all, we ran in a good pack.”
Blume was pleased with several of his runners.
“Spencer Kielman’s race today was wonderful to see,” Blume said. “He’s been building for this for the last three years and now here he is, a key member of the varsity as a senior.”
Also running well for the Tigers were Riley Andrews, Kyle Coenen and freshman Luke Nawrocki.
Conner Germain led the way for Richmond, which is hoping to improve on last year with basically the same team.
“The boys are coming along,” said Blue Devils coach Brett Burg. “We had a couple kids step up over the summer and are learning to be leaders. We’re pretty excited about the season. This was a tough course and the weather was tough. We have four or five kids who should finish similar every race, so it should be fun.”
Stevenson coach Chris Schultz said his team is suffering from inexperience and injuries.
“Some of my younger guys ran well, but we still have a ways to go,” he said. “In our first race six of my top eight didn’t run. We got some back today but they struggled in the heat. We’re struggling now, but a month from now we’ll be a far different team than we are now.”
Noah Surovec was the first Titans runner to finish.