WATERFORD – Pontiac Notre Dame Prep’s Brendan Fraser found himself in second place for much of the Division 2 regional race Saturday at Hess Hathaway Park.
But it didn’t matter since teammate, Nathan Mylenek, was the guy in front. Even so, Fraser eventually passed him to place first in 16:02, relegating Mylenek to second (16:27) as the Irish captured the regional crown.
Notre Dame Prep scored 50 points as Drew Guest (ninth), Nicholas Fraser (15th) and Neil Kauffman (23rd) completed the scoring for the Irish.
Orchard lake St. Mary’s Bryce Sinclair placed third with teammates Bennet Coe (fifth), Augustine Lau (11th), Ryan Herrmann (12th) and Brendan Moriarty (27th) following. Linden, led by Nick McDonald (eighth), placed third with 82 points as the top three teams secured state finals berths. The top 15 individuals also qualified for the state finals Nov. 7 at Michigan International Speedway.
Mylenek opened up a 20-meter lead and held it for nearly two miles on a challenging, hilly course until Fraser reeled him in. “That’s the fastest I’ve ever gone out,” said Mylenek, the Catholic League runnerup, who smiled with the trophy afterward.
Fraser, the Catholic League champ, just bided his time. “I knew about the hills, I just dialed it back a bit,” said Fraser, who always seems to be in the right place at the right time. “I’m thankful for having a great team and great friends. (And) both boys and girls teams are going to state (and) that’s good, even better.”
“Second year in a row the boys have won regional,” Notre Dame Prep coach Andy Guest said. “Lots of great competition … we’re very proud of the effort.”
Ferndale’s Will McElgunn (fourth) and Avondale’s Ben Zaremba Isixth), also qualified, along with South Lyon East’s Xander Cronin, who placed 13th.
For the girls, Linden couldn’t be licked as the Eagles dominated behind Alia Frederick, who won in 19:30 and led five teammates among the top 11. Audrey Steiert (third), Taylor Ganger (fourth), Jordan Holscher (fifth) and Maya Gossett (12th) followed as Linden scored a miniscule 24 points. Goodrich, led by Jillian Lange’s second-place finish, was second with 59 and Pontiac Notre Dame Prep secured the final state qualifying berth with 108 points.
Alexandra Case (17th), Bridgette Joslin (21st), Claire Seitzinger (23rd), Shannon Lambrecht (25th), Ellie Wallace (27th) and Deema Ujayli (28th) were the top finishers for Notre Dame Prep.
Alison Shapic (sixth) of Madison Heights Lamphere, Katlyn Pizzo (10th) of Clawson, Lauren Clark (13th) of South Lyon East and Emily Jones (14th) of Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook qualified for state, along with Sonja Niederhofer of Detroit Country Day.
MIPREPZONE.COM, October 31, 2015