MUSKEGON – In its final meet of the regular season, the Alpena Community College Cross-Country team continued to peak at the perfect time for regionals.

Racing at the Jayhawk Invitational in Muskegon, all nine Lumberjack runners hit season bests, while seven had lifetime best times. The average personal best improvement over their previous best time was 1:10 per runner.

“Based on our focus and workouts, plus perfect weather, I knew that we’d have an outstanding day” ACC coach Mark Jacobs said. “I’ve never seen a group of guys click on all cylinders like we did today.”

Jonathan Pischner (Charlevoix) led Alpena with an outstanding time of 27:46 for the 8K race. This time marks the eighth best time ever in school history. For the fifth time in five meets, the Lumberjacks had a different runner follow Pischner. This time it was Joe Traynham (Onaway) who ran a 28:35, which was 5:16 faster than last weeks race in Lansing. Ryan Wirgau (Alpena) ran a 29:37 while Morgan McLean (Onaway) finished with a 29:55, both finishing under 30 minutes for the first time in their careers. Behind McLean was Kolin Ghidoni (Alpena) 30:22, Nevin McHarg (Alpena) 30:53, Brady Wright (Gaylord) 31:13, Austin Enns (Hart) 31:31 and Sheldon Elkie (Hillman), 33:31.

“We were outstanding today” Jacobs said. “We will have our toughest week of practices next week and then begin our taper for regionals. I’m already excited to see us perform at the regional meet. These guys each know what it takes to reach our goals.”

Also running in the 5K women’s college race were former Alpena runners, Elaine (Lowe) Labarge and Mikayla Oliver who both run for Cleary. Lowe ran a 19:37, while Oliver ran a 20:41.

The Lumberjacks finish their season on Oct. 29 at the regional meet held in Lansing.