GOBLES — When coach Marc Kline first met Libby Smith, he thought the sixth grader did not have much potential as a runner.

Was he wrong.

Over the next few years, Kline noticed “there was a seriousness about her from seventh, eighth and beyond. You could just see even then, she’s going to be good, and she is good.”

“Good” is an understatement.

Last year as a sophomore, Smith finished third at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 Cross Country Final. Her time of 18:26.4 helped lead Gobles to a sixth-place finish, the Tigers’ best in school history.

Since then, she has been chipping away, trying to get below the 18-minute mark.

She is getting closer, recording a personal record 18:07.0 to win Saturday’s Pewamo-Westphalia Invitational. Smith has now won six of the team’s last eight meets and finished second in the other two.

“I like the running part and the training,” said Smith, who lifts weights five days a week and runs on her own after school practices.

On those solo runs, “My mom (Casey) follows me on an electric scooter,” she said. “My dad (Mitchell) does, too. They take turns riding with me, and I like that.”

In practice, Smith trains with three buddies, and the four have been running friends since middle school.

“We’re the only ones in our grades who run, so we are like a tight little group of runners since sixth grade,” Smith said.

Her “little group” also consists of senior Madison Cooley and juniors Lauren Shaffer and Ava DeYoung.

“All four of them are our top four in Gobles history,” Kline said. “They all set the school record in (girls) cross. That’s like the perfect storm from my perspective. That’s amazing.”

Every time Smith runs another personal best, she breaks her own school record. Currently, Shaffer is second-best at 19:33.4, also a personal record recorded Saturday. DeYoung (19:48.2) is third in the record book and Cooley (20:33.7) fourth.

All four runners passed the former top mark of 20:41.5 set by Cheyenne Allyn-White in 2014.

“We all started so young, and that really helped and we all improved together,” DeYoung said. “When one person improved, you wanted to stick with them, you wanted to just keep pushing. We all worked together, and we all improved together.”

Sophomores Addison Tomsic and Alyssa Sparks plus freshman Taylor Cooley round out the team.

The only senior, Madison Cooley is also team captain.

“It definitely makes a lot more responsibility,” she said. “I had to make shirts for the team, have to make sure they’re doing all the warmups and cool downs.

“Sometimes I have to keep myself in check and be positive all the time. Sometimes it’s pretty hard.”

Facing her last season on the team, Cooley said it’s important to stay in the moment.

“You have to cherish the moments,” she said. “Our captain last year (Zoie Wood) was a senior and was on my team since eighth grade.”

Kline said Cooley has been fun to watch in the leadership role this season.

“Her leadership skills have improved so much,” he said. “She’s very critical to the team.

“She’s planning to run track (in college). It’s really amazing to watch a sprinter take on a 5k role.”

While Smith led the team to the Finals last fall, Shaffer, who finished 33^rd (20:45.5), was second on the team.

The junior started running at a very early age when her dad, Eric Shaffer, coached cross country at Gobles.

“I used to come to the practices after school,” she said. “I followed them around and have been running since then.

“A lot (of success) is being consistent, (training) over the winter and summer so you’re always running.”

Kline said Shaffer is gritty and shy.

“She loves her family a ton,” he said. “I can see a special relationship between her and her dad, which is really fun to see. She has a lot of talent as well.”

DeYoung, who started running in middle school, said the fab four instantly clicked.

“It was really fun and I just stuck with it,” she said. “We have such a unique bond together. We do easy runs together when we can just talk about our day.

“There are other times when it’s a good pace and (Smith) goes off ahead. It’s so fun to see her do so good. It makes us all so proud of her. I would say it inspires us to do better because we all want to strive to be more like what she’s doing.”

DeYoung suffered four stress fractures of the tibia as a freshman and is still working her way back to peak form.

“I had a lot of support from my teammates,” she said. “Even when I was struggling and having hard times, they were always there for me.

“I really enjoy running and enjoy running with my teammates, and I wanted to get better. Even with the setbacks, I was working and striving to get better all the time.”

Kline said DeYoung is one of the hardest workers on the team.

“Her integrity level is so high,” he said. “I appreciate her. (Because of the injuries), she’s not been able to hit where she was early and is coming around really well this year.”

All four also run track during the spring, and while both sports involve running, Kline said track and cross country are like night and day.

“Cross country, everyone’s focused on one event, training, goals,” the coach said. “It’s all unified, and there’s a great sense of family that can develop from that team.

“In track, there’s 17 different events, people get so scattered. It’s really difficult in one sense to get that team feel in track, so that’s a big difference.”

Looking at this cross country season, “I am so excited about the opportunity we have this year,” Kline said. “Their buy-in, their interest and their love for each other.”

Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.

PHOTOS (Top) Gobles runners including Madison Cooley, front left, and Libby Smith warm up at the Portage Early Bird Invitational this season. (2) Gobles girls cross country coach Marc Kline. (3) Smith and Cooley are joined by, from far left, Ava DeYoung and Lauren Shaffer. (4) Smith runs at Portage. (Portage photos by Miles Postema. Coach and group photos by Pam Shebest.)