Future Looks Bright for Novi Harriers

-Submitted by Coach Robert Smith

The Men’s Cross Country team finished the 2011 season by placing fourth at the Lakeland Freshman-Sophomore Invitational Nov. 1. 

“Our young guys showed that they will be a force to be reckoned with in the coming years,” said Coach Robert Smith.  “We ran against some solid competition, and we rose to the challenge.”

Novi came in fourth place in the 20 team field, which included many of the top teams in Southeastern Michigan. 

“It has become fashionable for all of the top teams in the area to get together one more time to see what everybody has coming back,” explained Smith.

“Pinckney won the race today and they were third in the State last year. Milford came in second today and they were fourth in the State in 2010. We defeated today, and they are the defending State Champions. We also defeated Waterford Mott, Highland Lakeland, Lake Orion and Walled Lake Northern—all teams that were in the Top 20 in the state last year. To do well in this post-regional invitational means we have something solid to build on for 2012. We had the third best No. 5 man of all the teams today and we had the second best No. 4 man” Smith said.

Sophomore Brian Barnes led the way for the Wildcats. He finished in 16th place in the field of 217 runners. Freshman John Potter was next for Novi with a 24th place finish. Medals were awarded to the first 25 finishers, so both Barnes and Potter received honors at the awards ceremony.

Freshman Nate Hall (29th), sophomore Cameron Richman (33rd) and freshman Casey Croad (46th) combined with Barnes and Potter to earn the 148 points for the Wildcats. Freshman Evan Thomas (51st) and sophomore Tom Groechel (57th) rounded out the varsity placing for Novi.

“If you separate out the grades, our freshmen would have taken first place against all ninth grade runners. Our score would have been 67, and the next best freshman team (Clarkston) would have scored 91. I was very proud of our young guys today, ” said Smith. “I think we made a statement. Novi cross country will be at or near the top of the mix for a long, long time."