The Saugatuck High School cross country teams continued their remarkable run of success Thursday, Oct. 15, as the boys and girls teams swept SAC championships at the Gilmore Car Museum.
The Saugatuck boys dominated the championship race, scoring 35 points to finish well ahead of Holland Black River, which scored 85.
The Trailblazers placed five runners in the top 16, led by junior Jackson Bowman and senior Grant Rehkopf, who finished third and fourth, respectively, in matching times of 16:48.
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Senior Sawyer Monroe followed in fifth at 17:01, senior Marcus Silva was seventh at 17:08, and sophomore Leo Avalos rounded out the scoring five in 16th place at 17:32.
Junior Ira Brown finished 29th in 18:10, while sophomore Simon Carr placed 32nd in 18:20.
The boys team finished with a 3-4-5-7-16 scoring sequence, giving Saugatuck its 14th SAC Championship in program history and its 14th conference title in the past 15 years, including all four titles for this year's senior class.
The Saugatuck girls also captured the SAC championship, scoring with a 7-8-12-13-18 finish.
Sophomore Ellyse Heyser led the Trailblazers with a seventh-place finish in 20:15. Senior Lyvia Curtis was eighth in 20:23, followed by senior Kamryn Sixberry in 12th at 21:12. Freshman Elina Guffy finished 13th in 21:14, while sophomore Ryann Monroe rounded out the scoring five in 18th at 21:59.
Freshmen Elizabeth Cernugel and Elizabeth McGowan also competed for Saugatuck, finishing 22nd in 22:05 and 40th in 23:00, respectively.
It is the second consecutive SAC title for the Saugatuck girls and the 16th conference championship in program history. It is also the program’s 15th SAC title in the past 20 years.
All-Conference Honors
The SAC recognizes the top 20 individual finishers as First Team All-Conference, while runners finishing 21st through 30th earn Honorable Mention All-Conference honors.
For Saugatuck, the boys earning First Team All-Conference honors were Jackson Bowman, Grant Rehkopf, Sawyer Monroe, Marcus Silva and Leo Avalos. Ira Brown earned Honorable Mention All-Conference.
On the girls side, Ellyse Heyser, Lyvia Curtis, Kamryn Sixberry, Elina Guffy and Ryann Monroe earned First Team All-Conference honors, while Elizabeth Cernugel earned Honorable Mention All-Conference.
Contact sports editor Dan D’Addona at Dan.D’Addona@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSports.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Saugatuck boys, girls cross country sweep SAC conference titles with impressive wins