BENZONIA -- Benzie Central's top runner finished seventh. It's seventh was 24th.
That kind of depth led the Huskies to a boys Division 3 regional championship and state finals berth, seven points ahead of Elk Rapids.
Benzie also qualified on the girls side, putting seven runners in the top 25 of the 14-team race -- including individual champ Devyn Ramsey and runner-up Michael Carnegie -- to finish eight points behind regional champ Pine River. Kingsley was third.
The Huskies' William Paterson and Morgan Gomez were seventh and eighth overall, separated by just two seconds (16:55 and 16:57). Joe Smeltzer was 12th (17:06), Tom Smeltzer 16th (17:16), David Rhodes 20th (17:39), Michael Purkiss 21st (17:39) and Scott McKeel 24th (17:59).
Elk Rapids was second, led by Jim Janisse in fifth place (16:51) and Thomas Lucas in sixth (16:54). The Elks also had Ryan Sundberg (13th), Jake Mills (14th) and Dylan Sundberg (32nd) counting.
The Charlevoix duo of Alex Buday and Nick Wimmer were the only other area runners in the top 10, finishing ninth and 10th. Pine River's Alex Vanias was the overall boys winner in a time of 16:14.5.
Benzie won with a score of 63, followed by Elk Rapids (70), Harrison (81), Mason County Central (113), Charlevoix (115) and Kingsley (196) in the 13-team boys field.
Ramsey won the girls race in 18:42.2, 12 seconds ahead of Carnegie.
Pine River won the team event, however, with a score of 34, with Benzie second with 46, followed by Kingsley (94), Elk Rapids (100), Clare (124) and Charlevoix (154).
Behind Carnegie, the Huskies' other counters were Jill Louisignau (11th, 19:57), Marika Grabowski (14th, 20:25) and Taylor Nye (18th, 20:46).
Leading Kingsley was Kirstin Volkening in 12th place (20:09), followed by Suzanna Bussiere (15th, 20:27), Samantha Krause (19th, 20:54), Chelsea Gould (22nd, 21:04) and Alex McNair (26th, 21:27).
Elk Rapids finished just six points shy of a state finals berth. The Elks were led by Amanda Hammer's fourth-place finish in 18:59.8 and Sam Stites in 17th (21:04).
Alina Dhaseleer was sixth-place Charlevoix's top placer, coming in eighth (19:40).
The state finals are in Brooklyn next Saturday.
Clearing the Record
Due to a reporter's error, Benzie Central cross country runner Devyn Ramsey's school was originally listed incorrectly in this story.
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