Wildcat Cross Country falls
to defending state champs
9/13/2006 by Robert Smith and Scott Olson

Just another week in the KVC? Hardly. The Defending Division 1 State Champions came to town. Pinckney High School, which won the 2005 MHSAA Cross Country title with no seniors, arrived at beautiful Cass Benton Park to take on the # 9 ranked Division 1 team from a year ago - the Novi Wildcats.

The race fulfilled all expectations for Cross Country junkies. Both teams had something to prove. The Pirates wanted to prove that they are still the Number One team in the land, while the Wildcats wanted to prove that they can race with anybody.

The entire field took off in a very fast pace. As they funneled down to the bottom of the first hill, it was apparent that all runners knew the tempo was going to be quick. There was no leader for most of the race. Instead, it was a sea of green and grey uniforms racing in a large group.

At the mile mark there were still a dozen runners in the lead pack. As the race unfolded, Brenden Marcum (P) and Mike Wheat (N) began to pull away. The two runners separated from the field and finished 1-2. A crew of 4 Pirates then crossed the finish line in a pack, with Alex Prasad, Kenny MacDonough, and Josh Lumley just 2, 8, and 10 seconds (respectively) behind them. Mike Beard, Alfredo Cateriano, and Lukas Barnes also ran great races to round out Novi's Varsity.

The score of 19-37 does not really do justice to how close the contest really was. Many of the places were determined with a margin of just 5 or 6 seconds.

"Although I had my belief that we were a premier team in the state this season, our performance last night proved to me in my mind that we will be a top-shelf team. Hats off to Pinckney! They have a great team and they ran a great race! I can't wait until we race them again. We CAN race with anybody!" said Coach Smith following the race.