Marshall High School

The Marshall Varsity Cross Country team traveled to Livonia Friday for the famous night races at the Lamplighter Invitational. The men's team consisting of Abraham McHugh, Austin Ruppel, Caylor Elsesser, Aiden Vance, Owen Hanson, and Maxwell Romeri were on the course first with a 9:20 pm start. It was a fast start under the lights with 225 runners trying to gain position prior to the first turn but the guys were patient and ran their own race. Abraham was able to break away from the lead pack at around the 1 mile mark and cruised to the the finish line to win the race with a time of 16:30 which was 16 seconds before the second place finisher. Abe was followed by Austin (32nd), Caylor (51st), Aiden (83rd), Owen (118th), and Max (142nd). The guys had a great first race finishing 8th out of 25 teams. The women lined up next for their 9:55 pm start. Marshall only fielded five runners for the race consisting of Alaina Dillon, Gianna DeCola, Aaliyah Johnson, Shangmei Liu, and Hailey McKinlay. The girls were able to observe the previous mens race and were ready for the fast and crowded start of 211 runners. Alaina ran a strategic race and was able to continuously move up throughout the course to finish 6th with a time of 21:07. She was followed by Hailey (71st), Gianna (132nd), Aaliyah (178) and Shangmei (186th). Although the team competed with only 5 runners, the girls were able to finish 17th of 21 teams. It was a late night but both teams had a lot of fun running under the lights and are looking forward to the rest of the season.