John Raffel
Sports Scene
It’s been a productive season for Haslett’s cross country team, led by excellent runners like seniors Ryan Beyea and Alex Vancamp.
Beyea is in his fourth season of cross country. Defeating quality opponents such as Ionia were highlights that he noted. “At the Sparta Invitational, I had a 30-second [better] PR from the previous year,” Beyea said. “I ran a 15:40.”
It is also Vancamp’s fourth year of cross country.
“We won the Laingsburg [Invitational], the Bath Invitational, the Haslett Invitational,” VanCamp said. “That was a lot of fun.”
Haslett was 10th in the Division 2 cross country state finals a year ago. VanCamp was 13th in 15:55.4 and Beyea was 22nd in 16:10.2.
“We have a lot more depth this year,” VanCamp said. “We added a good sophomore to our team. We graduated only one [runner] from last year.”
He was referring to Ian McCabe, who was the team’s No. 6 runner at the state finals.
“It’s been a good season,” Vancamp said, adding that his best time so far this year has been 16:17. “I’m hoping to go from 15:30 to 15:40.”
He had been fighting tendinitis in his ankle but has been able to post impressive times nonetheless.
The team “usually goes out fast. We definitely want to go home with a regional title,” Vancamp said. “We want to go for state or for top three. Our ultimate goal is to win it.”