Wildcat Men's Cross Country
catches Lakeland Eagles 15-48
09/28/2006 by Robert Smith and Scott Olson

The Novi Men's Cross Country Team closed out the month of September with a big win. On Tuesday the 'Cats traveled to take on the Lakeland Eagles on a course that's located right on their school campus.

The Eagles (15th in the MHSAA State Finals last year) roster includes the fastest returning runner in the state. Luke Heiman (12) was the KVC Champion in 2005, and second only to Ryan Grau (graduated senior from Kalamazoo Central) at the Division 1 State Championship race. A serious early season injury this year kept Heiman out of racing until late last week.

It was a very interesting start to the meet. Five Novi athletes and Heiman took to lead right from the beginning. Although Novi 's primary goal was to win the meet, they also wanted to work on packing up their  athletes at the front.

As the race progressed through the first mile, it became apparent that Heiman was not about to concede first place honors. At that point Novi senior Mike Wheat picked up the pace. Heiman and Wheat separated themselves from our pack of runners. By the second mile Mike was pulling away from Heiman. Novi's next three runners (Alex Prasad, Kenny MacDonough, and Josh Lumley) could "smell blood". Heiman was laboring due to the fast pace that Wheat set earlier in the race.

It didn't take too long for Alex, Kenny, and Josh to overtake Heiman. Coming down the back stretch of the flat Lakeland course Senior Scott Wagner overtook the fading Heiman. This gave the Wildcats a 1-5 sweep over the Eagles. Equally impressive, Novi placed 7 runners across the finish line before Lakeland had two.

The Wildcat harriers are now 3-1 in the KVC, and take on Brighton next week. There, the Wildcats will be out to exact some revenge. The Bulldogs upset the Wildcats last year during the annual dual-meet...