Total team effort

Salem's 'pack-and-pace' strategy pays dividends at Wayne County meet

  Salem's "pack-and-pace" strategy packed quite a punch during Saturday's Wayne County Championship cross country meet at Willow Metropark.

  Proving there is truly strength in the numbers, the Rocks placed second in the 26-team field by sticking together for a good chunk of the race before outlasting every team except Grosse Pointe South.

  "I thought we ran tremendous as a unit," said Salem coach Dave Gerlach. "We've been working on 'pack and pace' all year and  we went out and ran really well. We wanted to get on a roll heading into the conference meet, regionals and, hopefully, the state finals. This is a good start."

  Grosse Pointe South won the event with 43 points, 31 fewer than the Rocks. Livonia Churchill was third with 76 followed by Dearborn Divine Child (119) and Livonia Franklin (157).

  Canton was sixth with 172, just ahead of seventh-place Plymouth (201).

  Junior Victoria Tripp expended another spectacular effort for the Rocks, placing sixth in 19:05.90. A parade of teammates was not far behind as Jordyn Moore was 13th (19:44.67), Shannon Flynn was 15th (19:49.02), Adelaida Jepperson was 19th (20:10.53) and Kara Booms was 21st in 20:16.88.

  "Victoria ran the fastest time on the team today, but six of our seven runners ran personal bests," said Gerlach. "We had perfect weather today and the times reflected that.

  "I told the girls early in the week that they'd have to rely on each other today, and they did that."

  Not surprisingly, Livonia Churchill's Sara Kroll won the race with a meet-record time of 17:25.17.

  A trio of Grosse Pointe South runners -- Hannah Meier, Haley Meier and Chrisitina Firl -- finished in the top five for the Blue Devils.

  The Chiefs were led by junior Bianca Kubicki, who placed seventh in 19:07.15. Also scoring for Canton were Emily Southern (30th in 20:34.05), Rachel Rohrbach (37th in 20:48.35), Katie Grimes (40th in 20:59.79) and Ellen Grimes (58th in 21:48.46).

  Plymouth was bolstered by a strong performance from junior Britta Swanson, who placed 23rd in 20:18.10. Paula Green (27th in 20:29.34), Nicole Traitses (44th in 21:13.01), Julie Hahn (51st in 21:26.88) and Julie Forster (56th in 21:41.34) also ran well for the Wildcats.
 

Ed Wright can be reached at info@plymouthcantonsports.com or (734) 453-1980.