The Skippers Men's Cross Country team competed in the MCCAA Eastern Conference meet on Friday. The conference meet was hosted by Macomb Community College at Stony Creek Metropark – Baypoint Beach in Washington Twp., MI. The Eastern Conference consists of the following 7 junior colleges, Jackson Community College, Macomb Community College, Mott Community College, Oakland Community College, Schoolcraft College, St. Clair County Community College and Wayne County Community College. The men placed 2nd overall amongst the 5 scoring teams. Macomb won the meet with 16 points, while the Skippers posted 56 points and Mott trailed close behind with 58 points.
Jax Giannosa, one of the usual top 5 runners had to sit this meet out due to injury. This didn't slow the men up as two of the runners posted personal records and two other men posted season bests. Acer Campbell and Ethan McCombs led the Skippers most of the race until an unfortunate wrong turn near the finish forced both runners to run back on the course when they thought they finished. This incident cost many places for both and added about 2 minutes to their times. Campbell and McCombs were running in the top 4 overall and ended up finishing 10th (McCombs 29:12) and 11th (Campbell 29:15). All was not lost however, as Campbell earned MCCAA Eastern All Conference honors and MCCAA Eastern All Freshmen honors. McCombs earned MCCAA Eastern All Conference honors as well. Lance Kowalski became the first Skipper to officially cross the line in a season best of 28:45, placing 8th and earning MCCAA Eastern All Conference honors. Vinny Schweihofer ran a personal record by 38 seconds and earned MCCAA Eastern All Conference honors. Trent Glass also set a personal record, finishing in 30:03 and shaving 20 seconds off his previous record. Gunnar Wessel, Dylan Schumann and Joe Edgemon ran strong, finishing in 21st (30:49), 23rd (31:02) and 33rd (34:31) respectively. Edgemon ran a season best by 1:41.
Acer's take:
"The team did extremely well, dropping new times. We raced diligently against the Macomb team, only losing due to unfortunate circumstances. I'm very proud and happy that I won (MCCAA Eastern All Conference and All Freshman honors) despite barely making it. It was my goal and I accomplished it."
The men take next weekend off from racing and return to action on Saturday, October 4th at the famous Live in the Lou Cross Country Classic. The meet is hosted by the University of Louisville and will take place at E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, KY.
