St. Joseph may have swept the Berrien County Meet titles, but everything about Saturday was a victory for host Niles.

Hosting the annual county cross country meet for the first time in more than a decade, the Vikings overcame a lot of obstacles to host the meet on its new cross country course at Madeline Bertrand Park.

Figuring out how to park team buses and fans in and around the park.

Then there was the tight start in which 13 teams had to navigate.

And finally there was the weather.

Prior to the part even opening, there was rain and occasional thunder and lightning. A light sprinkle continued to fall as the teams arrived, but by the time the boys race got under way at 9 a.m., the rain had stopped and the conditions were cool and wet for the runners, who had no trouble getting off to a good start.

“I like having the race here, but there was a lot to do,” Niles coach Tony Todd said. “More than I realized. I have a great AD (Jeff Upton), we have great girls coach (Jami Foster) and we have great assistants. Without them, we could not have done it. There was a lot to do, but it was great having it here.

“The start is really cramped, but besides that it is a beautiful course. Everyone says the same thing that the course is great. If we could just figure out how to make that start bigger it would be one of the best courses around. A real cross country course. Not track on grass. A cross country course.”

Brian Njuguna of Bridgman blitzed the field, beating Niles’ Devin Tomlinson by 28 seconds. Njuguna finished with a time of 16:18, while Tomlinson ran a 16:44.

For Tomlinson, it was a great race day in the cool and wet conditions.

“It was about the two-mile when he started pulling away,” Tomlinson said of Njuguna. “I did my best to stay with him, but he is a great athlete and it was really hard. The only thing that was pushing me is last week he beat my by a little bit. I knew I could hang with him, so I kept thinking I could go a little faster. I really really pushing myself.”

Tomlinson finished 16th last year, so Saturday’s runner-up finish was big.

“It feels great,” he said. “Going that much higher was an amazing feeling.”

Todd feels that Tomlinson can do even better.

“It has really been three years in the making with this kid,” Todd said about Tomlison. “He has always had the talent and now I really think in his mind he knows he can run. Granted, I do not know if he can beat the Bridgman kid, but I think he can stay even closer to him. Maybe right up until the end.”

St. Joseph easily defeated second place Bridgman 41-76. Watervliet finished a distant third, while only have four runners and could post a team score.

The Bears also won the girls meeting, defeating runner-up Lakeshore 17-74. Niles finished third with 79 points.

St. Joseph’s Anna Fischer was the overall winner with a time of 18:36.

Niles was led by Kaylee Thompson who finished eighth with a time of 21:20.8.

 

BERRIEN COUNTY MEET

At Madeline Bertrand Park

Boys results

Team scores

1. St. Joseph 41, 2. Bridgman 76, 3. Watervliet 97, 4. Lakeshore 103, 5. Berrien Springs 105, 6. Eau Claire 110, 7. River Valley 178, Brandywine DNF, Buchanan DNF, Coloma DNF, Lake Michigan Catholic DNF, New Buffalo DNF, Niles DNF.

 

Individual top 15

1. Brian Njuguna (BR) 16:18.0, 2. Devin Tomlinson (N) 16:44.0, 3. Kole Hanke (BR) 17:04.5, 4. Jobe Kerr (W) 17:07.9, 5. Will Lage (SJ) 17:11.7, 6. Zhane Arthur (SJ) 17:13.3, 7. Parker DePalma (NB) 17:33.5, 8. Cooper Clark (L) 17:49.4, 9. Brandon Owen (BR) 17:51.1, 10. Terrence Young (EC) 17:55.5, 11. Drew Nisbet (SJ) 17:57.2, 12. Ayden Moyer (SJ) 18:09.8, 13. Caleb Falcone (EC) 18:11.7, 14. Evan Griffiths (BS) 18:26.2, 15. Nolan Rich (SJ) 18:28.63.

 

Additional Niles finishers

22. Weston Egar 18:7.0, 47. Hunter Greenman 20:11.2. 63. Jacob Gaines 20:53.5.

 

Brandywine finisher

90. Keegan Reith 23:41.5.

 

Buchanan finishers

42. Garret Lollar 19:52.3, 56. Kevin Frost 20:38.3, 66. Michael Everett 20:59.4.

 

Girls results

Team scores

1. St. Joseph 17, 2. Lakeshore 74, 3. Niles 79, 4. Watervliet 111, 5. Bridgman 127, 6. Berrien Springs 180, 7. Buchanan 207, 8. New Buffalo 213, 9. Coloma 225, Brandywine DNF, Grace Christian DNF, Lake Michigan Catholic DNF, River Valley DNF.

 

Individual top 15

1. Anna Fischer (SJ) 18:36.1, 2. Kaitlin Newton (SJ) 20:13.1, 3. Jessie Rieth (RV) 20:29.2, 4. Emily Stringer (LMC) 20:59.5, 5. Abgiail Tschetter (SJ) 21:05.5, 6. Vanessa Veersma (SJ) 21:07.1, 7. Allie Pazera (W) 21:11.9, 8. Kaylee Thompson (N) 21:20.8, 9. Grace Koch (SJ) 21:27.7, 10. Erin Lafrenz (L) 21:37.0, 11. Megan Corbe (SJ) 21:48.1, 12. Emily Perrin (SJ) 21:48.3, 13. Taylor Altergott (N) 21:48.5, 14. Erica Lovett (N) 21:52.8, 15. Mary Ollis (L) 21:54.7.

 

Additional Niles finishers

30. Kailey Skarbeck 22:54.1, 35. Ally Cites 23:30.0, 36. Madeline Stanton 23:30.8. 42. Erin Thomas Erin Thomas 23:44.1, 51. Hannah Jackowiak 24:27.3, 55. Kayla Lindsey 24:53.4, 60. Abigail Stein 25:04.7, 62. Maeli Rogers 25:09.6, 64. April Anderson 25:16.7, 67. Jenny Walters 25:19.0, 68. Ashley Shortman 25:34.04, 75. Zoey Martin 26:18.6, 81. Olivia McIntosh 27:45.2, 83, Leah Wetmore 27:48.2.

 

Brandywine finisher

74. Searra Inman 26:13.1.

 

Buchanan finishers

38. Emily Riley 23:32.3, 52. Jade Smith 24:28.8, 56. Kalie Schrum 24:55.2, 89. Sydney Bauer 29:52.9, 95. Abby Hickok 33:52.2.