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Thornapple Kellogg High School

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go trojans!

Thornapple Kellogg High School

go trojans!

Thornapple Kellogg High School

Game Summaries & Headlines.

Game Summary

3.0 years ago @ 9:50PM

Girls Varsity Cross Country vs. Wayland vs. Hastings vs. Delton Kellogg

Game Date
Sep 22, 2020

Thornapple Kellogg v. Wayland v. Hastings v. Delton Kellogg

There was a lot of suffering and carnage out on the course today in various forms, and the girls all handled it in their own ways, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for all of them. There was severe cramping, allergies, asthma, dehydration, and an assortment of other things going on. However, I never see excuses being made. What I did see was a whole lot of perseverance, toughness, and a need to push for each other. Our girls are amazing and they did themselves proud today.

It was a battle between our surrounding areas to the south and west, and it was fun to take on some friendly foe, but our girls were prepared to defend their turf, and did just that. TK scored 26 points, while Wayland scored 54, Hastings 60, and Delton 84.

 It wasn’t terribly hot, but it was still hotter than what we’ve been experiencing lately, so racing in the relative heat was a bit challenging for everyone racing today.

Jessica Durkee (20:42) was patient in her initial approach, as she ran with the front runners from Wayland and Hastings for about the first half mile until she decided she had her fill of sharing the lead. She then separated from them and never looked back, finishing first for TK and first overall.

Nobody told Emelia MacDonald (20:53), that it wasn’t really a PR kind of day, but she took it upon herself to make it just that. What Emmie does is pretty amazing. She starts off strong, but conservative, but then she builds as the race moves forward, and as she’s doing this, she’s bringing our core pack of girls along with her. Today she upped it one more notch and threw down a sub-21 effort that was eye-popping! 

To have two of our girls under 21 is a significant step in the right direction. Emmie has been on the rise and she is still rising. She is so strong, and so mentally tough, and she has yet to realize her potential. Furthemore, she’s not afraid to test her limits. It’s an exciting time I’m sure to be Emmie, and it certainly is an exciting time to watch Emmie! 

Talk about toughness! Lucy VanDemark (22:10) fought from the gun. Yes, she fought for position and the clock and all that, but she also fought the gook her body was producing from severe allergies as of late, which was causing breathing to be an issue. The same caliber of runner given the circumstances Lucy was given, likely would have folded like a house of cards but Lucy just kept it on!

Madison Nagel (22:48) battled cramps early but knew she had a job to do for her team and was also tough as nails out there today. She was followed by Lindsey Velting (23:01) who had also not taken very kindly to the heat, but still persevered! Next for the Trojans was Ainsley Oliver (23:35) who was giving everything she had on a tough day, knowing that others were having a tough day, and seeing that she had to step up even higher to keep the team going strong. It was a courageous effort for sure.

This is one of the things I love about our girls. Sure they want to run fast. Sure they want to place in a certain spot or reach a certain goal. But, the biggest thing they run for is each other and that kind of strength is a powerful one.

Behind Ainsley was Emma Thompson (23:43) who also was pushing herself to raise the team higher, and she battled the heat like a champ. Emma is such a hard worker and I think she still has room to grow. I think we will see more from Emma as the season progresses.

Holly Velting (24:07) who is usually around our top 5-7 girls had harsh cramps that were looking to take her down, but she wasn’t having it. She fought tooth and nail and was strong all the way to the finish. 

There will be stronger teams that we will face, but that doesn’t mean we are not facing challenges and challengers when we run against teams with less depth. Wayland, Hastings, and Delton all had some strong runners that challenged us in various ways. The conditions challenged us in other ways, and we challenged ourselves in other ways still. Our girls know that when they pull on their uniform it’s go time regardless of who they are sharing the starting line with, and they did great today.

Also representing TK well was Ali Raphael (24:28), Kelsey Smith (24:41), Emma Schut (24:55), Katherine Powers (25:30), Laine Hinton (25:36), Clare Webster (25:56), Marian Gielincki (25:57), Anna Benedict (26:33), Megan Bargy (29:41), Olivia Landry (30:26). Additionally, Mollie Moore (DNF), Kendall Snyder (DNS), and Christel Hoskins (DNS) had their own battles they were dealing with and supported our team in the process.

Next we will go to Wayland for what will be a very tough round two of the OK Gold Conference Jamborees, on a challenging course. Our girls will be ready.


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