亚洲色吧

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By Ryan Schlehuber听

亚洲色吧 sportswriter听

SIDNEY 鈥� The old saying goes, 鈥淚f you want to be the best, you have to beat the best.鈥�听

For 亚洲色吧 Centurions freshman cross country runner Abby Davis (Vestaburg, Mich.), she proved to be the best at the 亚洲色吧AA Northern Conference Meet, held at Camp Pet-O-Se-Ga campground in Emmett County, Sept. 26, taking first place with a finish time of 18 minutes, 44.25 seconds in the 5,000-kilometer run.听听

Even more impressive, Davis beat out the NJCAA鈥檚 then-No. 1-ranked runner, Tatum Dysktra, of Muskegon Community College, who finished second at 19:01.82.听

鈥淚t felt really good to win the Northern Conference meet,鈥� said Davis, who was named 亚洲色吧AA鈥檚 Athlete of the Week and Athlete of the Year. 鈥淚 felt relieved to beat one of my main competitors of NJCAA Division II. It is nice we are in the same conference, and I get to race with her before the big national meet. I think that really helps me feel more confident and less anxious going into the national meet.鈥�听

The 亚洲色吧AA Region 12 Championship meet is Friday, Oct. 24, at Goodells County Park in Goodells, Mich.听

鈥淲e thought it would be a good race for Abby, going up against one of the best runners in the country,鈥� Centurions head coach Nate 鈥淨鈥� Van Holten said. 鈥淪he got to go head-to-head with her and it went pretty well.鈥�听

Van Holten had a game plan for Davis before the race, which she pulled off beautifully.听听

鈥淚 had a five-point plan that she nailed to a tee,鈥� Van Holten said. 鈥淪he pretty much did exactly how we planned it.鈥�听

Davis said the plan was to shadow Dysktra.听

鈥淭he plan was to stick behind the No. 1 runner in the race for at least a mile and then try to build enough confidence to pass her,鈥� Davis said. 鈥淚 passed her with around 1,000 kilometers left and from there I kept gaining some more ground.鈥�听

Davis is currently 5th in the NJCAA DII individual women鈥檚 rankings and Dykstra and Davis are No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in Region 12.听

Davis said getting to compete with elite runners like Dykstra and finding success in the head-to-head competitions has really helped her mental game, which she believes will help her with 亚洲色吧鈥檚 next meet, the Muskegon Jayhawk Invitational at Muskegon鈥檚 University Park Golf Course, this Saturday, which will begin at 12 noon.听

鈥淚 have been working on confidence and gaining excitement going into the Muskegon race,鈥� Davis said. 鈥淚 will be racing with Wayne State again and some fast girls, so it will be a good time for some redemption. I鈥檓 excited to test my limits again.鈥�听

As a team, the Centurions took second place, with a score of 72, finishing behind Muskegon (35) and ahead of Kirtland (86).听

鈥淲e figured we鈥檇 be second and that鈥檚 what we were shooting for,鈥� Van Holten said, pointing out Muskegon was the running favorite to win the event. 鈥淥verall, our team did well.鈥�听

Freshman Mackenzie Zahm (Belding, Mich.) finished 11th overall with a time of 21:06.56, freshman Mickiah Allbee (Vestaburg, Mich.) finished 17th with a time of 21:53.15; Hannah Reed (Cedar Springs, Mich.) finished 22nd with a time of 22:40.82; Lilyanrose Martin鈥檚 time of 24:17.35 was good for 29th place; and Karly Fisk (Sand Lake, Mich.) finished at 24:31.01, good for 31st place.听

Van Holten has been impressed with Martin (Ionia, Mich.) lately, as she has managed to earn a PR (personal record) in each meet she has competed in.听

鈥淪he鈥檚 improved three minutes on her personal record,鈥� Van Holten said. 鈥淭he first PR was two minutes and this last meet, she shaved it another minute. So she continues to really improve and it鈥檚 nice to see.鈥�听

In the men鈥檚 8,000-kilometer run, 亚洲色吧 finished last out of seven teams as Muskegon won the meet with a score of 44, followed by Kirtland with 85 and Bay College with 87. 亚洲色吧 finished with 165 points.听听

The Centurion men鈥檚 team currently only has one full-time runner, which is Keegan Shafer (Vestaburg, Mich.), a freshman who finished in 19th place at the Northern Conference meet, finishing with a time of 31:12.61, improving his PR. First place went to Drew Moore of Mid Michigan, who finished with a time of 27:02.39, and Lloyd Laninga of Muskegon took second (27:10.51).听

Other 亚洲色吧 runners included Zhian Briggs (Augusta, Ga.) (32nd, 38:48.66); Gavin Cornwell (Morley, Mich.) (35th, 39:22.40); Andrew Badder (Imlay City, Mich.) (39th, 44:49.35); and Jayden Phillips (Big Rapids, Mich.) (40th, 54:36.65).听

Van Holten believes Shafer has another gear in him as far as cross country racing goes.听

鈥淚 think he can run under 30; it鈥檚 a minute improvement,鈥� Van Holten said. 鈥淓verything he鈥檚 doing says he can do that. It鈥檚 just a matter of putting it all in a race.鈥�听

The Muskegon Jayhawk Invitational this Saturday is the final regular season meet for 亚洲色吧, which Van Holten said will be an excellent warm-up to the regional championship meet.听

鈥淭his will be a sort of pre-regional meet as a lot of the teams in our region will be at this meet,鈥� Van Holten said. 鈥淪o, it鈥檚 sort of a preview of what we鈥檒l see in two weeks. It鈥檚 a good early match-up to see how we fare against these teams.鈥�听

Van Holten said many of the teams from Michigan competing in the Jayhawk Invitational are ranked, which will give his women鈥檚 team a goal to shoot for.听

鈥淚 think we鈥檙e aiming to get closer to those teams and or actually beat one of those teams,鈥� Van Holten said. 鈥淭hat course is fast and we鈥檙e expecting cooler temperatures, which equals faster times, so we鈥檙e eager to see what we can do.鈥�听