The Clarkston Everest Collegiate Cross Country team finished in fourth place at the Trenton Watermelon Invite, Aug. 29.
Four Mountaineers finished in the top 50 – earning medals. Avery Hergott led the team, finishing in 13th place, 22:46.9; Caroline Cross, 14th, with a personal record of 22:47.5, Erin Booms, 27th place, 23:52.8; and Theresa Waller, 29th place, 23:56.4. Alyse Felix finished in 55th place, 25:06.6, for a team score of 132.
“The whole team had a strong showing with three new personal records and seven season records,” said Mary Williams, head coach.

She added it was four years ago this week the cross country team ran their first meet as a standalone team with nine girls on the team.Six competed at their first meet at the Marine City Invite, August 2016.
“Over the past four years, the team has almost tripled in size with 23 girls on the team this fall,” Willams said. “They pride themselves on being larger than the football team for the second year in a row.”
The team went to states last year for the first time and their goal is to qualify for the state meet again this fall, despite facing a more challenging region.
The team is also aiming to break the school record this season, currently held by alum Brooke Funke who ran when Everest had a co-op team with Cardinal Mooney.
The team ran on Saturday at the Detroit Mercy Titan Invite. It wasn’t a scored event.
“The team ran well for their third meet of the season on the course that still holds the school’s record,” said Williams. “With eight season records and four new personal records for Mountaineers the team is looking stronger than ever. Each of the top five for the Mountaineers improved their teams with either a PR or a SR.”
The top five runners were Herrgott finishing in 22:36; Cross, 22:40.9; Waller, 23:04.9; Booms, 23:14; and Stephanie Suran, 24.42.7.
They opened the week in their first league meet on Tuesday hosted by Riverview Gabriel Richard.

  AOW, Athletes of the Week