ALPENA — The Alpena Wildcats cross-country team well at regionals, with both the boys and girls teams showcasing improvement and a handful of personal records.

Competing against a range of skilled teams, Alpena’s runners demonstrated their growth this season with a mix of veteran and new talent posting solid times.

Alpena’s boys team fought hard, ultimately securing sixth place out of 14 teams with a score of 176, tying with Saginaw Heritage.

Freshman standout Alexander Allen led the team with a strong finish, clocking in at 16:09.23 to claim fourth place.

Coach Joe Donajkowski praised Allen’s performance, saying, “For an athlete to perform at Xander’s level, he has to have a certain amount of natural ability and, more importantly, the motivation to train appropriately consistently for an extended period. Xander appears to have a natural talent for distance running, and he has been able to put together several months of consistent training with minimal setbacks.”

Senior Hayden Bacchus, running one of the best races of his high school career, set a personal record with a time of 16:48.64, finishing 27th. Fellow senior Kenan Knight followed closely, placing 35th with a time of 16:58.52.

Junior Braeden Mathis also set a personal best, finishing 54th with a time of 17:35.34. Freshman Brendan Werth crossed the line shortly after in 56th place, running a solid 17:45.49.

Rounding out the boys lineup were seniors Thurston Imhpff clocking 18:05.24 in 64th, and Logan Szumila, a freshman, finishing in 71st place with a time of 18:28.32.

The Alpena girls’ team also competed fiercely, finishing in 10th place with a team score of 258.

Senior Amelia Roznowski set the pace for the Wildcats, clocking a personal record of 19:41.20 to finish 17th overall. Junior Izzy Szymanski also achieved a personal record, crossing the line at 20:10.69 and placing 32nd.

Senior Elizabeth Barnhill ran a solid race, finishing in 52nd place with a time of 21:24.75. Sophomore Marion Renard followed in 80th place, clocking 23:05.67, and freshman Lila Scott crossed the line shortly after in 82nd with a time of 23:25.26. Sophomore Ava Karsten achieved a personal best, finishing in 84th with a time of 23:36.82, while freshman Abbi Ruczynski rounded out the team with a time of 25:03.04 in 86th place.

Asked about areas of improvement for the girls team, Donajkowski acknowledged the challenges of having a smaller roster for a Division 1 school.

“The formula for team success is pretty simple,” the coach said. “We need to encourage more student-athletes to join the team that is willing to train consistently and provide the appropriate support for them. The future is bright, however, as we now have a growing number of students participating at the middle school level. The work of Emily Szymanski and others in the establishment of the Run United Run Club for elementary students has begun to bring in new interest in the sport.”

Motivating athletes who may not have achieved their desired times can be a challenge, but Donajkowski emphasized the importance of recognizing progress toward personal goals.

“Our coaches are thoughtful and strive to encourage all of our athletes to establish realistic goals and to recognize their progress toward those goals,” he said. “Virtually everyone on the team has shown significant progress, and many have exceeded their initial goals for the season. We stress that not attaining a desired goal at the end of a season is not necessarily a failure, and that it’s important to recognize that there are many other rewards gained through participating in cross-country.”

Reflecting on the meet, Donajkowski noted, “We had several real solid performances on both sides. We looked at this meet as a final tune-up race for the regional meet on Friday and are encouraged by the results. We expect to have a good showing when we travel to Shepherd.”

The top five boys’ teams were Okemos (first, 60 points), Midland (second, 68 points), Traverse City Central (third, 79 points), Grand Ledge (fourth, 120 points), and Traverse City West (fifth, 147 points).

Leading girls teams included Traverse City West (first, 72 points), Okemos (second, 76 points), and Midland Dow (third, 80 points), with Bay City Western (106 points) and Traverse City Central (136 points) rounding out the top five.