Our Stoney Creek Cross Country teams kicked off our season at the Lamplighter Invitational in Livonia on Friday night! Being so early in the season, the emphasis was on getting a hard effort in and seeing where we are at. The JV girls started us off with three freshmen, Shea Smith (19th overall), Margaret McCarthy (21st overall), and Emma Basile (22nd overall) leading the charge. The girls placed 3rd out of 13 teams, with the young squad showing loads of potential. The JV boys took off 45 minutes later and worked hard to a top 10 finish as a team. Sophomore Jay Strausbaugh ran a super tough race to place 21st in 18:41. Freshman Logan Byrnes had a strong debut in 20:24, closely followed by senior Hayden Rutter who rounded out the top three. The mix of youth and experience in the JV squad helped lead them through a race that saw them move up as a team throughout. A couple of hours later, after the sun set for the night, the Varsity boys set off in a super competitive field. The boys were as competitive and tough as ever, and found each other during the hectic race, leading them to a 22nd place finish even while missing a couple of key pieces to the team. They were led by junior Aidan Schwalbach, who ran a fantastic race to finish 12th place in 16:32, over a minute faster than he ran at this same meet last year. Next was the experienced senior, Tim Minfield III, who found himself in a great spot early and gritted through a tough last mile to run 18:18, his fourth fastest time ever, and by far the fastest season opener of his career. Ben Barkham, another experienced senior, was Stoney's third runner, finishing in 18:39. Again, his fastest season opener ever, Ben always shows up ready to give it his all. This toughness is sure to lead him through a successful season. The boys varsity team is dominated by a big group of hardworking seniors who have big goals for the season. Last but certainly not least, our girls Varsity finished off the night with their 11:05 gun time. A solid balance of senior leaders and first year runners worked together to fight for a 15th place team finish, narrowly beating out OAA White opponent Berkley. Senior Lexi Schwartz set the tone with a lifetime personal best of 20:17, 23 seconds faster than she ran last year, and almost a minute faster than her season opener less than a year ago. Next was sophomore Leigh Sapp, who as per usual ran a smart and tough race to move her way into the top 100. She was closely followed by senior Tessa Kozlowski, who ran strong through some injury troubles for her team and also finished in the top 100, just 2 seconds behind Leigh. The girls team will certainly be one to watch late in the season, as their mix of hard-work, leadership, toughness, and togetherness will see them continue to improve day by day. Overall, it was great to shake out the nerves with an early season race and test out the mind and body for a hard 5k under the lights. No matter what this team does throughout the season, they will surely do it together. We will keep doing the right things each day, and continue to get better and better at handling these races. Our focus remains on being ready for the championship races in October, with everything else just being a build-up for that. We will always aim to be a late October and November team, so watch for the Cougars to thrive when the moments get bigger and bigger.