By By ADAM FISHER / Vigilant/Argus
Brandywine's Brian Wieger attempts to break free from the pack at the start of Monday's Lakeland Conference cross country championship meet. Wieger finished third, helping Brandywine's boys to a seventh-place finish. Edwardsburg won both the boys' and girls' races.
Edwardsburg's James Greenfield didn't just win Monday's Lakeland Athletic Conference cross country championship meet, he won it big.
His winning time of 16:53 was more than half a minute better than the second place finisher, his teammate, Mike Penninger. Greenfield said he wasn't surprised by his easy victory, rather, he thought the gap would be larger.
"I thought I'd win by a little bit more," Greenfield said. "During the conference meets I've won all of them so far by a good margin."
Greenfield led the race from the very start. He finished third at the conference championships last year.
Finishing third was Brandywine's Brian Wieger in 18:16. It was his second fastest time of the season, his first coming at Sturgis. Though he said he would have liked to win the conference, he was pleased with his effort.
"Third's as good as I thought I was going to do," Wieger said. "I'm pretty pleased with my time. I know this is a fast course, and I was hoping for a good time here."
The Eddies swept the boys' and girls' races Monday. Though Berrien Springs finished first and second in the girls' competition, Edwardsburg won it by placing three runners in the top 10, netting 39 points.
The Eddies also won the boys' race with 66 points to take both conference championships. Edwardsburg also won the boys' regular-season championship.
Buchanan finished third in the girls' competition and fourth in the boys'. Brandywine's boys finished seventh, while the girls' did not have enough runners to complete an official score.
Harper Sulier finished fourth to lead the Bucks in the boys' race.Buchanan's Nick Wheetley finished seventh.
Buchanan's Lizzy Brown and Laura Kulis finished seconds apart from one another in the girls' race, taking 12th and 13th places, respectively. Brandywine's top finisher was Caylin Garrard, finishing 15th with a time of 23:32.
"I didn't do as well as I thought I would, but my time was okay," Garrard said. "I just went out too fast in the beginning, and everybody passed me."
The course, Berrien Springs' home course, is considered fast because it is relatively flat. The easy terrain, plus the sunny, 65-degree weather made for good running conditions, Greenfield said.
"(The weather) helped a lot because it's been cold lately," Greenfield said. "With the warmer being warm today it was nice."
Because of his finish in the top seven, Wieger earned First Team All-Lakeland Conference honors. Garrard's goal before the race was to also make First Team, but she ended up on Honorable Mention All-Conference for her finish.
"I ran with (Greenfield) last year and he's really fast," Wieger said of the race winner. "I would have like to have caught them, but Penninger and Greenfield are really good."
"They say if you don't throw up at the end of a race you didn't run hard enough," Wieger said. "I haven't thrown up yet, so I'm going to try to run harder Saturday. I'm going to try to throw up."
Lakeland Athletic Conference
cross country championshp meet
at Berrien Springs
Boys team scores
Edwardsburg 66, River Valley 68, Berrien Springs 74, Buchanan 90, Coloma 104, Bridgman 19, Brandywine 137, Cassopolis did not finish.
Girls team scores
Edwardsburg 39, Berrien Springs 63, Buchanan 66, Coloma 96, River Valley 97, Brandywine DNF, Bridgman DNF, Cass DNF.