Cross country: Boys state finals

Catholic Central wins team title; Troy's Mike Atchoo cruises

Vincent Goodwill / The Detroit News

Brooklyn, Mich. -- Detroit Catholic Central coach Anthony Magni had a little anxiety about facing defending champion Ann Arbor Pioneer in the boys cross country state finals. Good thing his runners paid his worries no mind.

Catholic Central unseated Pioneer as state champion, winning its first Division 1 title since 2001. To do that, his team had to exceed his expectations, starting with senior Ricardo Galindo.

"I knew he was going to finish up there, maybe fourth or fifth place," Magni said. "He finished second -- a great finish."

Magni had to pull junior Andrew Garcia-Garrison aside this week for words of encouragement. It must have helped, as he finished eighth.

"He didn't run very smart last week," Magni said of the regionals. "I told him to stay back a little bit, then go after people."

Catholic Central's top five finished in the top 25, so Pioneer, even having two finishers in the top 10, didn't pose a real threat. It didn't stop Magni from expressing concern.

"I knew they would be ready to go," Magni said of Pioneer.

Troy senior Mike Atchoo blew away the competition individually, finishing nearly 22 seconds (15:28.5) out front.

Division 2

Ionia's depth led the way as it ran away with the title.

"We lost our meet last week (regionals), and lost some of our swagger," said coach Chris Young, who is in his 33rd season. "They spent all week worrying about it, and they got it back today."

Ionia had two runners (senior Austin Alcala and junior Don Blight) in the top 15, and three more in the top 30. Dexter, Ionia's closest competitor, had one top-10 finisher and another in the top 30.

Pontiac Notre Dame Prep senior Christopher Burns finished first (15:47.8) in the individual finals.

Division 3

Benzie Central had to overcome a severe case of the flu this week, but rebounded to win despite not having an all-state performer. Instead, five Benzie Central runners finished in the top 50.

"The first thing we had to do was get healthy," coach Asa Kelly said. "We knew the only way we could win was to stay together. We didn't have any standouts."

Kelly is in his first year as head coach, but has been part of the Benzie Central program for years, and took a team that finished third last year to the next step. Seniors Robert Kerby and Tom Smeltzer finished 25th and 26th, respectively, and sophomore Travis Clous finished 28th.

"We've finished top-10 every year," he said. "It's good to see these seniors finish on top."

Senior David Madrigal of Durand finished first overall in 15:42.3.

Division 4

Concord coach Steve Jordan knew his team would do better than last year's sixth-place finish. He didn't expect, however, to have the top two finishers.

Senior Kyle Stacks and sophomore Spencer Nousain led Concord to its first state title in 23 years.

"We came in very confident after winning the Portage Invitational," Jordan said. "Kyle's been great for the last four years and we wanted Spencer to put himself in a position to finish second."

Stacks finished in 15:54.8 and Nousain finished at 16:09.7, a surprising eight seconds ahead of Suttons Bay senior Ben Wynsma.

Jordan attributed his team's win to the team's growing chemistry over the past few weeks.

"Our work ethic and bonding grew us closer," Jordan said. "They were really serious about winning the state title."

vincent.goodwill@detnews.com