Much-improved Salem harriers
give Spartans all they can handle

Sept. 29, 2010, 11:10 p.m.

  Salem's boys cross country team flashed some encouraging signs of improvement during Tuesday's 23-36 setback to Livonia Stevenson.

  The brightest spot for the Rocks was the performance of sophomore Steve McEvilly, who won the race with an outstanding time of 17:03.

  "We ran against a very talented and deep Livonia Stevenson team and we ran great," said Salem co-coach Steve Aspinall. "Twenty-seven guys on the team ran season-best times, including freshman Drew Yaekle, who ran a personal best by nearly two minutes."

  McEvilly's fine time was his personal best as was Salem's fourth-place finisher, Andy Rabe, who covered the 3.1 miles in 17:19.

  Also scoring for the Rocks were Michael Karizat (17:37), Jeremy Drouillard (18:19) and Tom Patterson (18:38).

  Mason Mills (18:39) and Alex Creekmore (18:39) also ran on the varsity squad for Salem.

  Stevenson was led by Matt Williams (17:05) and Joe Urso (17:16), who finished second and third, respectively.

  John Lynch (17:28), Ryan Petrul (17:37) and Adam Chludzinski (17:37) also scored for the Spartans.

  Salem returns to the trails Saturday when it travels to the Lansing area for the Haslett Invitational.

  "It is a very fast course where we look to keep dropping our times while being competitive," Aspinall said.