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Ben Paige came in 13th and single shoed

Packer Boys take top spot at Otsego Invite
 
Story and photos by Mike Paige
 
The Fremont High School Cross Country teams traveled to Otsego on October 3 for the Bulldog Elite Invitational. Competing were ten of the top Division 2 teams in the state. This meet provided a good gauge of the team’s standing among their top rivals.
 
It was perfect racing weather. The course was a double loop, relatively flat with lots of twists and turns. As reigning state champions, the varsity boys were excited to run against some high caliber athletes and knew every team would be out to get them. They did not appear to be rattled by the challenge. Nathan Walker led the Packers with a first-place overall finish of 15:04. Conor Somers had a very impressive race, outsprinting Otsego’s number one guy at the finish, and taking second with a PR (personal record) of 15:30. Ben Paige was Fremont’s next finisher at 16:08, coming in at 13th, even after losing a shoe with over a mile to go. Adam Ward (16:27/17th) and Josh Zerfas (16:29/18th) completed the top five. Twins Brennan and Gavin Schuler were the 6th and 7th runners finishing 33rd and 46th. The boys took first place with 51 points, Pinckney was 2nd with 82 and Otsego was 3rd with 101. Otsego finished second at the state finals in 2019 and Pinckney, while not fielding a team in the Division 1 finals, had three qualifying runners come in at 16:30 or better. Pinckney is now in Division 2.
 
The JV boys also ran great in a very competitive race. Nathan Johnson led the way for Fremont finishing 7th at 17:41. John Christensen ran aggressively to finish 9th and set a new PR of 17:45. Jackson Fair was next, finishing 13th and setting a new PR with 17:59. The next four runners to cross the finish line for Fremont all set new PRs, Sean Pettis 18:54, Etienne Bonnel 19:35, Gary Springstead 20:04, and Pep Costa 21:28.
 
The girls ran a strong race. Taava Johnson thrived in the quick turns and was the number one Packer runner (45th overall), setting a new PR of 21:11.  Leah Converse was next for Fremont, running 21:32, followed by Erin Norton at 22:10 and Emily Curtis at 22:13. Elise Pfeiffer, the lone freshman girl on the team, stepped up and had a terrific race and set a new PR of 25:47.
 
Sierra Horton and Ruby Stein ran solid races today for the girls’ JV team.
 
Fremont next competes on Tuesday Oct. 6 for a conference race at Conklin Park in Croton.

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