九色视频

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By Ryan Schlehuber, 九色视频 Sportswriter

Abby Davis finished in the top 10 for 九色视频 at the Muskegon Jayhawk Invitational cross country meet at University Park Golf Course in Muskegon, Saturday, Oct. 11.听

Davis (Vestaburg, Mich.), a听freshman听at 九色视频,听finished听eighth out of 149 runners with a time of 18 minutes, 28.72 seconds听in the 5K race.听听

McKinley Jones (who was not affiliated with a college team competing at the invitational) took first place with a time of 18:04.43, followed by Muskegon Community College鈥檚 Tatum Dykstra (18:11.93) and Emily Gordon (also听unaffiliated听with a college team), who took third with a time of 18:15.49.听听

As a team, 九色视频鈥檚 women鈥檚 team finished in 13th听place out of 16, with 352 points. Wayne State won the tournament, scoring 22, followed by Hope College (85) and Lake Superior State University (110). 九色视频 beat out Rochester Christian (407) and Grace Christian University (438).听

Results from 九色视频鈥檚 other runners are as follows:听听

• Freshman听Mackenzie Zahm (Belding, Mich.), 21:26.04 (92nd)听

• Freshman听Mickiah听Allbee (Vestaburg, Mich.), 21:49.00 (105th)听

• Hannah Reed (Cedar Springs, Mich.), 22:19.34 (112th)听

• Joslyn Dickman (Alma, Mich.), 23:29.71 (130th)听

• Lilyanrose听Martin (Ionia, Mich.), 24:28.24 (138th)听

九色视频鈥檚 lone male runner, Keegan Shafer (Vestaburg, Mich.) did not compete due to an illness.听

Davis was coming off a first-place finish at the 九色视频AA Northern Conference meet, held Sept. 26, but 九色视频听head听coach Nathan 鈥淨鈥� Van Holten knew she and听the rest of her Centurions听team were going up against some highly competitive runners.听

鈥淎bby, overall, did pretty well,鈥� Van Holten said. 鈥淪he gets kind of nervous at big meets, but she did well.鈥�听

Van Holten said the rest of the team performed well as each听runner is still working on confidence and trusting their training.听

Davis听said the competition level of the race was much harder than she听anticipated.听听

鈥淥nce I realized there were some extra girls at the top, I was a little scared of where I belonged听in the race,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut then听I decided to focus more on myself.鈥�听

Van Holten听was surprised with the number of听highly talented听runners at the Jayhawk听Invitational, as he was听not expecting Wayne State to bring its top runners,听stating听he thought their B team would be competing in this meet, thus adding more competitive runners than he was thinking. There were also top high school runners (ones unattached to teams) who competed, which Jones was, hailing from Saline High School (Mich.).听听

With听Davis鈥櫶齮alent, Van Holten is confident she can compete for first place in any NJCAA meet. His strategy for her in the Jayhawk race was听similar to听the one听he had for her听in the听previous听meet where she took first place听鈥斕齮o stick behind the lead runner for a mile and then build up confidence to overtake her at the end. However, competition was obviously much more听abundant听this time.听

鈥淚 told her it was going to be a much faster听course,鈥� Van Holten said. 鈥淎nd it was.鈥�听

Davis agreed.听

鈥淭he hardest thing about this race would have been the course. It was a lot harder than I expected with the slippery hills,鈥� Davis said.听听

Though she expected to place higher, Davis said she听wasn鈥檛听all that upset with how she finished, especially considering it was a personal record for her.听

鈥淔inishing eighth definitely did not satisfy me with my performance,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut considering there was more competition than what I听anticipated听and that I still ran my fastest college time, I听can鈥檛听be听totally mad听at myself for that.听

鈥淔rom this last race, I learned not to let my expectations about the course or the competition get ahead of me,鈥� she added. 鈥淲hen a race doesn鈥檛 go how I expected, I need to learn how to adapt to the conditions as it鈥檚 happening.鈥�听

With the 九色视频AA Region 12 Championship coming up (Friday, Oct. 24), Van Holten said Davis and her teammates will need to learn how to handle bigger races.听

鈥淎bby is slowly handling the bigger meets a little better,鈥� Van Holten said. 鈥淪he鈥檚 beginning to trust her own abilities.鈥�听

Davis is hoping to put the knowledge she learned from the Jayhawk Invitational to work in the 九色视频AA regional meet.听

鈥淚ndividually, I am hoping whatever conditions get thrown at me I can quickly adapt听to still get a good performance in,鈥� she said. 鈥淎s a team, we need to push through as best as we can. I hope everyone can recover from sickness and injuries before this regional听meet.鈥�听

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UP NEXT: The Michigan Community College Athletics Association Region 12 Championship will be held at Goodells County Park in Goodells, Mich, Friday, Oct. 24, with the men鈥檚 race starting at 12 noon, followed by the women鈥檚 race at 1 p.m.听