Unleashing the Bulldogs: Romeowins pre-region
ZanderCobbwas just another runner when he was a freshman at Romeo.
Nowhe’s one of the leaders of the pack for the Bulldogs, who ran away from the field Tuesday to take the Division 1 boys pre-regional cross countrymeet hosted by Romeo.
“Zander is incredible,” said coach Mike Buslepp. “He’s one of the coolest stories we’ve had at Romeo. He was one of those
back-of-the-pack JV runners as a freshman. He always said he’d never be a runner. He just did it for the social get together and gathering. Somewhere along the line he just wanted towork at it.
“He had the hardest time breaking 20 minutes as a freshman. Now he’s running in the 15s consistently. He’s a testament that if you work hard, anyone can be good in this sport.”
Cobb completed the 5K course in 15:51.1 to win his first high school race as Romeo took five of the first six places. The Bulldogs
finished with 18 points. Runner-up Dakota had 74, edging Port Huron Northern by a point. L’Anse Creuse North grabbed the fourth and final qualifying spot for next week’s regional at Anchor Bay, nosing out the Tars by two points.
“I thought it would be close between us, Fraser and Anchor Bay,” said LCN coach Bryan Stewart. “We just squeaked out by two points over Anchor Bay. It was a lot tighter than I hoped for but fourth is fourth and we’removing on.
“It was a very solid group effort between the entire team, one through seven. We had a couple freshmen step up to finish one and three (twins Brandon and Dylan Penberthy). We had a kid out the last couple week for contact COVIDand he came back and stepped inwhere he needed to be.”
Tars coach Jeff Payne was disappointed to see his team’s season end, but he had nothing but praise for his young team.
“I can’t ask for anymore than
whatmy boys did today,” he said. “Four of my top seven are freshman and one is a sophomore. They stepped up big time today. It’s always a disappointment whether you lose by two, 20 or whatever, but they took an honest run at it and we have a lot of hope for them going forward.
“We graduated our top five except for Adam (Thomas). We were starting over this year. Since we started in June, these kids have been accepting of their roles. Ideally, you’d like kids this young to be your JVbut it’s our varsity this year. There are going to be a lot of good days for us ahead.”
Thomas finished third overall and he and freshman teammateZacharyRubicz were among the seven individual runners to qualify for the regional.
Things went according to plFollowing Cobb across the line for Romeo were Jack Kelke, second in 15:54.2, Joseph Rinke (4th), Owen Sharnas (5th) and Jack Wallace (6th).
Scoring for Dakota were Jacob Harberts, Matthew Singer, Mathers, Alfonso Moceri and Chirs Villaire.
Luke Maher, Michael Paoletti, Brandon Zielke, Carter Belanger and Cole Peyerk were PHN’s top five.
LCN’s top five runners were Brandon Penberthy, Gavin Llewellyn, Dylan Penberthy, Dominic Comfort and Bryce Coburn.
The other individual qualifiers were Elijah DiCerbo, Fraser; Ben Puzzuoli, L’Anse Creuse; Jaylinn Willis, Fraser; Angelo Santia, Chippewa Valley; and Justin Roose, Fraser.