BROOKLYN, MI - Four members of the Alpena Cross Country team competed at the Division 1 MHSAA Finals at Michigan International Speedway.  Madi Szymanski finished 22nd overall (18:29.24) and was named to the All-State team.  Emma Dickens (20:21.01) and freshman Kaelyn Heath (20:34.93) finished 177th and 194th respectively. Alpena senior Hayden Allen finished 174th (17:12.95) in the Division 1 boys race.

SAGINAW, MI - The Alpena Women finished 6th and the Men 7th at the MHSAA Regionals at Delta College on Saturday. Our teams weren’t able to qualify, however, Madi Szymanski, Emma Dickens, Kaelyn Heath and Hayden Allen all ran incredibly strong in the quagmire at the Delta College cross country course and will be racing next weekend at the MHSAA State Meet!!  With a 2nd place finish by Madi Szymanski and with Emma Dickens in 15th the girls put 2 on the ”All Region Team”!! Kaelyn Heath earned a trip to the state meet as well by placing in the top seven of non-qualifying teams. Hayden Allen qualified in the mens race with his very impressive 12th place “All Region “ finish. The four qualifiers will be traveling to Brooklyn to race at the Michigan International Speedway on November 6th.

GAYLORD, MI - The Alpena Wildcats Boys Cross Country team finished 3rd out of 25 teams competing at the Northern Michigan XC Championship in Gaylord today. Hayden Allen placed 10th in the race running a solid 16:36. Eliajh Allen was right behind his big brother in 11th and posted a huge 16:45 PR. Hunter Hitzelberger followed with an awesome   17:01 PR. Jacob Kochanski ran well at 17:30 and Freshman Quinn Kelly lowered his season best to 17:35. Kenan Ryan Knight, another talented freshman improved his time to 18:00! Owen Spencer Mendel running in the varsity for the first time rounded out the team placing. In the JV race Thurston Imhoff, Clark Sexton, and Tyler Van Cleve all ran season bests. The Girls’s team placed 6th in the meet. Madi Szymanski led the Alpena Girls with a 2nd place finish and an outstanding time of 18:32. Sophomore Emma Dickens broke the 20 minute barrier for the first time, running an awesome 19:49.9 and placed 13th overall. Kaelyn Heath ran a personal record 20:51 and Samantha Zolnierek lowered her PR to 21:31. Alison Borowski and Amelia Roznowski also ran career best times! In the Girl’s JV race Kylie Gagnon, Claire Mitchell Veronica Zaborney, and Karlin Decker all ran their fastest times of the season.  Next weekend is the MHSAA Division 1, Regional Meet at Delta College, where both the Men’s and Women’s teams will be vying for a chance to advance to the State Meet on November 6th!! 

The Alpena Wildcat women and men’s Cross Country squads were both victorious at the Northern Lower Peninsula Cross Country Invitational on Saturday.  Emma Dickins  led the way for the women’s team winning the race on the tough Ogemaw course with an impressive time of 20:27. She was followed by teammate Kaelyn Heath in 3rd, Sam Zolnierik in 4th, Alison Borowski in 7th and Amelia Roznowski in 8th. Arlene Dai was next in 22nd place with Karlin Decker rounding out the top 7 in 23rd place. There were seven schools participating in the meet. The men’s team scored a perfect 15 to win their race as Hayden Allen, Eli Allen, Hunter Hitzelberger, Jacob Kochanski, Quinn Kelly finished 1-2-3-4-5. Kenan Knight placed 6th and Matt Guest and Tom Sheridan finished in 9th and 10th place. Samantha Zolnierek, Arlene Dai, Clark Sexton, and Thurston Imhoff all ran career-best times!

The AHS Girls and Boys cross country teams both had impressive performances on Thursday at Ogemaw Heights High School. The girls bested a field of 13 teams, posting a score of 45 compared to 2nd place Manton’s 52. Madi Szymanski led from wire to wire winning the 5k race with a 19:48 time. Grace Mitchell was the 2nd Alpena runner to cross the line at 22:44. Emma Dickens was next in at 23:09 followed by Samantha Zolnierek, also at 23:09, Kaelyn Heath 24:04, Cailyn Burrone 25:12, Elizabeth Barnhill 28:56, Kaelyn Decker 30:26, Veronica Zaborney 32:22, Kylie Gagnon 34:04, and Abigail Zaborney in 34:18 rounded out the field for Alpena. The Alpena men also dominated their race, posting an awesome low score of 24. Next in was Gladwin with 87 points. A total of 13 schools were represented in this race as well. Alpena had 6 men in the top 10, led by Hayden Allen in second place with a 17:29, Hunter Hitzelberger 3rd in 17:47, Eli Allen 4th in 17:50, Jacob Kochanski 18:18, Cam Young 18:25, Quinn Kelly in 18:32, Kenan Knight in 19:36, Austin Reinhardt 22:00, Clark Sexton 23:00, Hayden Bacchus in 24:19, Owen Mendel 24:39, Thurston Imhoff, and Tyler Van Cleve 29:31. Next up for the Wildcats is the Lancer Invitational on September 11.