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Page 16/The Sun and News, Saturday, August 28, 2021

CHS girls’ cross country


roster swells to 50 runners


Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
There are schools and
coaches across the state
across every sport that are
lamenting a lack of numbers
in their high school athletic
programs.
Caledonia and varsity
girls’ cross country coach
Ben Howell aren’t among
them.
Howell has 50 girls on the
roster this fall, his 15h season
leading the Fighting Scot
program. That is the most he
has ever had. Even better,
some of them are pretty fast.
The Caledonia girls’ team
tied for fourth in the OK Red
Conference a year ago and
then placed fifth at the spe-
cial 2020 pre-regional event
to close out the season.
Back from that team are
senior all-conference runner
Tatum Verburg and junior
Natalia Quigley who was
honorable mention all-con-
ference last season. Barbie
DeGood is back for her
senior season. She was a
regional medalist last fall.
The team is also happy to
have senior Savanna Coulter
rounding back into form after
being injured last season.
Coulter was an all-confer-
ence runner in the OK Red as
a sophomore in 2019.
Coach Howell is still learn-
ing about his big group. He is
hoping a good chunk of those
50 girls are ready to push for
top seven scoring spots for
the team.
“We are always hoping to
be in the top half of the OK
Red, and we are always


shooting to be one of the top
three teams at the regional
meet to qualify for the state
meet,” Howell said of the
team goals.
Those are lofty goals in the
OK Red. He said West
Ottawa is an early favorite to
win the Division 1 Lower
Peninsula Cross Country
Championship, and teams
like Rockford, Grand Haven,
Hudsonville and Jenison will
all have goals of finishing
near the to of the Red and

getting to the state finals like
the Scots do.
The Scots will host a dual
meet Friday, Sept. 3, at 8
a.m. against Thornapple
Kellogg to open their year.
Caledonia also has plans
to run in TK’s Coach B
Invitational at Gun Lake
Sept. 19 and then the MSU
Spartan Invitational Sept. 17.
The OK Red Conference
season starts when Grand
Haven plays host to a jambo-
ree Sept. 21.

Barbie DeGood

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Scots chasing last step up after


runner-up finish at D1 Finals
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
An OK Red Conference
Championship, a regional
championship and a state
championship are the list of
goals set out before the
Caledonia varsity boys’ cross
country team.
Those were the goals a
year ago too, and two out of
three ain’t bad. The Caledonia
varsity boys’ cross country
team has six members of its
team coming back that fin-
ished second at the Division
2 Lower Peninsula Cross
Country Championship in
2020.
The one member who
graduated last spring, Jamin
Thompson, was the team’s
fastest guy at the state meet,
but not by a lot. Senior Josh
Oom and junior Jordan
Domany were on Thompson’s
heels at the state meet, plac-
ing 24th and 29th respective-
ly, good for all-state honors.
Oom broke the 16-minute
mark three times late last
season as a junior and
Domany was just shy of it
with his time of 16:03.11 at
the state finals.
The rest of the returning
six from the finals includes
seniors Cooper Sorsen,
Caden Dixon and Donavan
Mattson and junior Brett
Guzman.
Caledonia head coach Ben
Thompson is also happy to
welcome back seniors Ben
DeGood, Colin Pearson and
Ethan Knapp and junior
Blake Elliot to push and
work for spots in the top
seven. He will also look for
freshmen Mason Morrell and

Kort Thompson to work their
way into the mis.
The senior class for the
Scots has won two confer-
ence championships, three
regional championships
during its first three years of
high school, and coach
Thompson likes the leader-
ship he is seeing from the
group so far.
The Scots’ top competition
for an OK Red Conference
Championship this fall is
likely to come from Rockford
and Grand Haven. Rockford
was 80 points back of the

Caledonia boys at the state
finals, but just one place back
in third. That 2020 Ram team
had just two seniors running
at MIS.
Caledonia will start the
year by running an 8 a.m.
dual with Thornapple
Kellogg Sept. 3. The Scots
will then take part in TK’s
Coach B Invitational at Gun
Lake Sept. 13.
The OK Red Conference
season starts when Grand
Haven plays host for a jam-
boree Sept. 21.

Josh Oom

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