A-PLUS Idea: St. Johns 'Under the Lights'
August 28, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Cross country runners will cover 5 kilometers a lot this fall, with unique courses and different competitors providing the variety to go with that standard race distance.
St. Johns took changing things up another step Friday, hosting its first Redwing Under the Lights Invitational.
Racers were to compete under five light towers plus a number of loaned portable lighting units, the Lansing State Journal reported. The start came after dark at 9:30 p.m. and was a great success, athletic director Chris Ervin said – although he noted a few more lights will be added for next season's Redwing Under the Lights, already scheduled for Aug. 21, 2015.
PHOTOS: (Top) Dusk settles Aug. 22 on St. Johns before the Redwing Under the Lights Invitational. (Middle) Runners prepare for the 9:30 p.m. race start. (Photos courtesy of St. Johns High School.)
Following Olling's Championship Run
December 16, 2011
The MHSAA Lower Peninsula Cross Country Finals were run Saturday at Michigan International Speedway. We followed Breckenridge sophomore Kirsten Olling as she won her second straight Division 4 championship.
She won in 18:02.7, giving her four MHSAA championships so far in her high school career. She also won the 3,200 and 1,600-meter races at last spring's Divsion 4 Track and Field Final.
Finally, a few "By the Numbers:"
--1,973 total runners at this fall's Finals
--Breakdown by class: 641 seniors, 591 juniors, 418 sophomores, 321 freshmen, two 8th graders (8th graders can compete on high school teams for schools with enrollments below 100)