By By SCOTT NOVAK and ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
DOWAGIAC - Battle Creek Lakeview and Vicksburg captured the boys' and girls' championships of the inaugural Rock ‘n Run Invitational at Southwestern Michigan College on Wednesday.
"Dowagiac and SMC put on a great invitational with Rock ‘n Roll music playing at various points throughout the course, hand crafted stained glass awards for top 25 runners in each race and some quality teams to run against,“; Niles girls' head coach Dan VandenHeede said.
Battle Creek Lakeview edged St. Joseph by a point, 70-71, while Parchment was third with 84 points. Lakeshore finished fourth (95), Niles fifth (104), Berrien Springs sixth (161), Watervliet seventh (176), Bridgman (176) and New Buffalo (205).
Dowagiac did not field a full squad.
Parchment's Nick Tecca edged out teammate Jeff Nordquist to win the individual championship.
Tecca ran a time of 16:37 and Nordquist 16:58.
Niles' Steve Scally finished sixth with a time of 17:56, while Dowagiac's Jason Tabbert finished seventh with a time of 18:05.
Andy Karsten of Niles was 11th (18:19), Brett Ortiz 20th (18:56), Derek Percell finished 30th (20:20), Andy Wuthnow 38th (20:20) and Louis Delmuro 51st (22:37).
Dowagiac's Brad Lee ran 18:41, Clay Hewitt ran 20:41 and Tony Saviano ran 22:20.
Tabbert and Lee were both medalists. For Tabbert and Saviano, their times were a season best.
Vicksburg's Molly Waterhouse was the girl's champion with a time of 19:33.
Niles' Samantha Brawley finished sixth with a time of 20:24, while Elizabeth VandenHeede was 16th (21:28), Autumn Grayson 31st (23:01), Nikki Horvath 39th (24:51), Tami Madison 41st (25:36), Chelsea Clark 42nd (26:08) and Amanda Smith 48th (27:55).
&#8221I told the girls to try something crazy today, try to run with someone they didn't think they could, pass girls on the hills just see what they could do. They all pushed themselves and ended up with great personal times on a very challenging course. Chelsea Clark, Mehgen Flynn and Nikki Horvath have shown incredible improvement since their first race anywhere from almost six minutes to over eight minutes faster," VandenHeede said.
Crissy Huff was 40th for the Chieftains with a time of 25:26.
Katie Hewitt was 45th (26:55), Catherine Hamilton 47th (27:30), Ashley Willis 49th (28:44) and Moneisha Clabin 50th (29:30).
The Vikings have three meets left, all Saturday races. This Saturday, Niles will travel to the Sturgis Invitational, followed by the Big 16 conference meet and Regionals.