After an unprecedented season without a coach, seniors Gavin Weinstein and Dylan Wiley each won a medal at the 1A MHSAA State Cross-Country Championship on Nov. 2, closing the MSMS Frazer cross-country team’s season.
Seven runners from the Frazer team competed and averaged a 19:52-minute pace as a group, placing sixth overall out of the 15 teams in the race. Weinstein and Wiley led the team with times of 17:52.90 and 18:06.60 minutes, respectively. While neither set personal records, they both had top-10 performances, claiming fourth and seventh places.
Wiley said the team’s training before the meet was integral to both team and individual successes throughout the season.
“I really felt like the team overall, including myself, was actually really amped, and it was just a great experience when it came to go,” Wiley said.
Weinstein said he was proud of the strong finish to his final run on the team.
“I went out really hard because that’s what I needed to do to get a [personal record], and even though it didn’t quite work out … getting to run super hard with everyone was super awesome,” Weinstein said. “Even though I feel like it wasn’t my best meet ever, it was good to place top 10.”
The team was given limited time to prepare for the state meet as its members met only nine days earlier for the regional championships. Given these time constraints, Weinstein said the team had to train efficiently.
“We didn’t do anything too strenuous in between [the two meets] to kind of taper off,” Weinstein said. “We had been training pretty hard up until regionals and since then, we were just maintaining that fitness we have.”
As their last year on the team concluded, the senior runners said they tried to give the juniors a direction to head in for the future.
“I think these juniors are not only prepared, but they’ll be better than us,” Wiley said. “I see so much maturity; I see so much leadership, so much passion [and] so much drive. [In] just a couple of months, I’ve seen them grow so much.”
“I’m really proud of the progress that all the juniors made throughout the year — both the [Goen] and [Frazer] teams,” Weinstein added. “A lot of people had run [before], but we also had new members. Everyone just rallied together.”
Junior Jonathan Stancill said he’s proud of his teammates’ accomplishments this season.
“I think the juniors all did very well,” Stancill said. “The times that were run at the meet indicate we will have a strong team next year.”
