11/16/12

2012 XC Season Review

2012 Cougar Cross Country

Boys and Girls CAAC White Champions
     The girls team won all three league jamborees with Emma Frost winning each race and extending her personal streak of jamboree victories to 6 and the Cougars streak to 9 in a row. All seven of the girls varsity runners earned all-league honors. The highlight of the three meets was the first jamboree when Emma Frost, Mary Delaney and Amy Hicks went 1-2-3.

     On the boys side the Cougars won the first two jamborees and finished 3rd in the last. Keenan Rebera won all three jamborees and extended the Cougars streak to 6 straight wins. It was the boys 2nd championship in a row. The highlight of the season came in the final 600 meters of the 2nd jamboree at Williamston where Max Hayden passed 6 runners to move the Cougars past Stockbridge by 1 point.

Boys and Girls Regional Champions
    Both the boys and girls teams won the regional. For the boys it was the 3rd consecutive regional win and for the girls it was the first since 2000. The girls win was by a convincing margin over three other ranked teams. This was particularly sweet for the girls as they missed by just 4 points of qualifying for States last season, but came back in 2012 as one of the state's best teams and easily beat a very good field. On the boys side it was sweet in that 5 of the 7 from the team that won last year was not in the 2012 regional lineup but the boys were still able to prevail and take home the Cougars third staright crown beating Ithaca who ended up 6th in the State Meet. Keenan Rebera was regional champion.

Girls 5th Place State Finals
     The girls team after not qualifying for States in 2012 was ranked amongst the top-5 in Division 3 all season and proved worthy of the ranking by finishing in 5th at the the State Meet. It was the highest team finish since 2000. Emma Frost earned all-state honors for the third time in her career becoming the first Cougar to do so.

Boys 10th Place State Finals

      The boys followed up two straight runner-up finishes with a solid top-10 effort as they returned only two runners from last seasons varsity and had no seniors in the top seven and three first year HS XC runners. Keenan Rebera finished in 5th place to earn his second all-state honor in his two years.

Other highlights of the season included Keenan Rebera setting a new school record for the boys of 15:32 and Mary Delaney moving into 6th on the all-time girls record board. Amy Hicks ran 19:59 to become only the 11th girl in Cougar history to break 20 minutes and only the 2nd to medal at regionals as a freshman and a sophomore.






6/18/12

STATE CHAMPS !!!!!!

Coach of the Year
Article from Lansing State Journal - 6/3/12

COUGARS ARE KINGS
COMSTOCK PARK — They’ve been setting records all season. They’ve overcome injuries and disqualifications. And on Saturday, the Lansing Catholic boys track and field team realized a dream — the Division 3 team state championship.


Even before the final scores were announced on the track at Comstock Park High School, Cougars coach Tim Simpson got a cooler of water dumped on his head. He didn’t seem to mind.

“Every one of our guys that ran today has finished second in the state in some other sport,” Simpson said. “Every one of them knows what it’s like to be second, and they all got to win today. It’s the first time we’ve won (a track state title) at our school and we don’t even have a track.”

The Cougars knew they would need strong performances and they got plenty of them.

Senior Dan Liesman took first in the shot put with a throw of more than 54 feet right and helped the Cougars take third in the 400-meter relay.

Cedric Lee overcame a strained hamstring to anchor the Cougars in the 400 and 800 relays.

Bolstered by standout senior leaders Zachary Zingsheim, Matt Macksood, Conner Caporale and Jimmy Hicks, the Cougars also won the 1,600 and 3,200 relays and the 800.

Also, freshman Keenan Rebera took fifth in the 3,200, earning key points for the Cougars.

When it was all over, the Cougars had dominated, finishing with 68 points — well ahead of second-place Union City with 45 and Frankenmuth with 31.

Excerpt from Tim Staudt column 6/17/12

Track team a success: Lansing Catholic’s state championship boys track team numbered 10 runners and eight will compete in some sport in college. Jimmy Hicks will run cross country and track at Georgia; Zach Zingsheim, both sports at Georgetown; Austin Winter will run both at Xavier; Cedric Lee track at Tuskegee; Conner Caporale track at Michigan State; Matt Macksood football at Michigan State, Dan Liesman football at Michigan, the latter two as preferred walk ons; and Joe Marrah will run both sports at Lansing Community College.





8/19/11

2011 XC Review

BOYS - STATE D3 RUNNERS-UP
ZINGSHEIM - STATE CHAMPION
FIVE COUGARS EARN ALL-STATE HONORS


# 3 Ranked small school in the nation - http://www.xcnation.com/#!2011/c21k3

The Cougar boys finished the season with their second consecutive State Runner-Up finish as they finished only 9 points behind Calvin Christian who finished in first last year as well. The boys State Meet effort was led by Zach Zingsheim who became the first Cougar XC runner to win a State Championship. Zach was joined on the all-state stand by freshman Keenan Rebera and seniors Jimmy Hicks and Joe Marrah. The All-State honor was the second for Hicks in his career.

The boys also repeated as regional champions and moved up to first in the CAAC White conference after six straight second place finishes.

The girls team had two State Meet qualifiers. Emma Frost came home in 7th place and earned all-state honors. Amy Hicks finished in 84th place.

The girls finished in 4th place at regionals and missed the state finals for only the 3rd time in 13 years. They did however finish in 4th place and missed States by only 4 points. It was a great effort by the girls in an extremely hard regional. The girls finished 2nd in the CAAC White conference.

7/13/11

Cougar Track - AWESOME in 2011

REGIONAL CHAMPIONS 2009, 20010, 2011




State Meet
The State Finals was a busy day as the Cougars were represented in 10 of the 17 boys events and 8 of the 17 girls events.

The highlight of the day came in the boys 800 meter relay as the team of Caporale, Zingsheim, Wilson and Macksood finished as State Champions. The boys also had two second place finishes in the 3200 meter relay and the 1600 meter relay. Zach Zingsheim also finished 5th in the 400. All of this added up to 30 points and placed the boys in 4th place overall. The 4X4 race was a thriller that saw Frankenmuth edge the the Cougars by a tenth of a second as the Cougars set yet another school record. The time for Lansing Catholic was the 6th fastest In the State Finals for all classes and the 3rd fastest ever run in D3. In that race Zach split a 48.8 and Connor ran a 49.9. In the past 11 years only three boys have run sub 50 splits for LCHS in the 4X4 (Matt Kirvan being the 3rd). Zach Zingsheim ended the day earning all-state in four events. In the 4X800 the foursome of Louis Savona, jimmy Hicks, Zach Zingsheim and Austin Winter finished 2nd – it was the second time the group had earned all-state.

The girls team highlights were a brilliant third place finish in the 400 relay for the team of Monica Lopez, Hannah Sailar, MaryAlice Fata and Jamie Holtham. Holtham capped off the race with an awesome leg moving the Cougars past about four teams in the final stretch. Megan Heeder finished 4th in the 3200 meter run, Emma Frost 8th in the 1600 and Hannah Sailar 7th in the pole vault – with all earning all-state honors and Sailar setting a new school record of 9’10”.

Without a doubt the most inspiring performance of the day came from Louis Savona. Louis had been out since the week of regionals and had not run in any of the big meets and in fact had not even been able to run due to a foot injury he suffered the week of regionals. The night before regionals he ran on it some and was still in pain and limping badly. The morning of the State Meet he was running a little better and it was determined literally minutes before the race that he would run lead-off leg in the 3200 meter relay. He actually led the race through the first lap and hung on through a painful last 100 meters and handed off having run a remarkable leg of 2:03. The Cougars surged to the lead and eventually finished second to Frankenmuth. It was a display of guts and toughness and desire to run in the big race that everyone from Lansing Catholic that was there understood and was amazed by. It is one thing to drag yourself on to the track after an injury that has kept you from running for over two weeks, but it is quite another to do it on the biggest stage in the biggest race of the season and then to do it that well. It was AWESOME!


Honor Roll
The Honor Roll meet was the day after the rescheduled league final and only three days before the State Meet so the Cougars, despite having numerous qualifiers for the Lansing Area All-Star meet, ran in only a limited number of races. Individually Emma Frost won the 1600 and Megan Heeder won the 3200 meter run and Austin Winter finished 2nd in the 1600. In the relays the Cougars ran only the premier event – the 1600 relay - for boys and girls. The girls team of Monica Lopez, Lena Minniti, MaryAlice Fata and Jamie Holtham ran their best time of the year and were second to only Fowler. Beating the likes of East Lansing and Everett and others. In the boys race the foursome of Connor Caporale, Matt Macksood, Aaron Wilson and Zach Zingsheim again broke the school record and finished only behind eventual D2 State Champion East Lansing. Also competing individually were Jimmy Hicks in the 800, Hannah Sailar in the pole vault and high jump and Erin Fields in the high jump.

The two efforts in the 4X4 once again proved that on the girls and boys side the Cougars are among the areas elite.


CAAC White Final
On the Tuesday following the MITCA meet and the long Memorial Day weekend the CAAC White division finally concluded its season. Of the six league meets on the schedule only one was contested on the day and place that the original schedule indicated. Every other meet was either postponed or moved to accommodate earlier postponements and even the league final meet included an hour rain delay. But after all the waiting the Cougars were ready when it came time to earn all–league honors. Both teams went into the final meet in 2nd place in the league with a 4-1 mark and when the meet was over both teams had finished 2nd and secured league runner-up status. The girls meet however did come down to the final race where the Cougars went in trailing Lakewood by 4 points. The Cougars ran away with the 4X4 and the Vikings came home in 4th to give the Cougars enough to finish 2nd in the meet and avoid a tie for league runner-up.
The boys team despite dominating the medal stand finished behind Williamston. Of the 17 events contested in the meet the Cougars remarkably won 9 of them leaving 8 for the other 5 teams to divide. The Cougar boys were winners in the 200, where Aaron Wilson set a school record of 22.64, the 300 hurdles (Caporale), the 400 (Zingsheim), the 800 (Hicks) and the 3200 (Winter) plus all four relays.

The girls team got winning efforts in the 4X4 relay and the 3200 meter run from Megan Heeder. Perhaps the best efforts came from Emma Frost and Megan Heeder in the 1600 where they went 2-3 both in times of 5:15. The breakout performance of the meet came from Erin Fields in the long jump. She followed up her 7th place finish at regionals by jumping a foot PR of 15-8 which sets her up nicely going into her sophomore year. Another great effort came from Emily Lemmer in the 300 hurdles. Just 1 year after going over her first hurdle she placed at regionals and earned all-league, again setting her up well for a strong 2012 season. Running her last meet for the Cougars was Hunter Puma who was one of only two seniors in the school to compete in a sport every season for four years. Her freshman year even included softball in addition to track. She consistently placed highly in the hurdles throughout her track career and was a varsity runner on some very good cross country teams – her consistency and toughness will be missed next year.


MITCA
After the thrilling regional meet the teams were scheduled to compete five days later in the league finals. That meet was postponed to the following Tuesday so after a week of rain and no meet the Cougars were finally back in action at the MITCA team meet.

The MITCA meet features 16 of the best full teams in the D3. Our runners were bit sluggish after the long layoff but still came up with some good efforts. Couars boys who finished in the top 10 were Aaron Wilson, third in the 200, Zach Zingsheim and Jimmy Hicks seventh and ninth in the 800, Austin Winter fifth in the 1600, Jimmy Hicks and Austin Winter fourth and sixth in the 3200, Connor Caporale fifth in the 300 hurdles, Dan Liesman third in the shot put and seventh in the discus. The boys as usual were strong in the relays winning the 4X2, 2nd in the 4X8 and third in the 4X1 and 4X4. Cougar girls in the top 10 were Jamie Holtham fifth in the 200, Emma Frost seventh in the 800 and third in the 1600, Megan Heeder second in the 3200 and fourth in the 1600, Hannah Sailar and Erin Fields tied for ninth in the high jump and Sailar ninth in the pole vault.



Regionals
Regionals as has become the custom turned out to be a great day/evening for LCHS track and field. The girls captured their third straight regional title and the boys finished 2nd and set three school records along the way.

Relays have become the staple of the LCHS program and their dominance was on display as the Cougar boys and girls won 7 of the 8 relays and qualified for states as well in the one they did not win. The boys set new school records in the 4X4 and the 4X2 as well as winning the 4X1 and 4X8. All four relays were running without their usual anchor legs as Louis Savona was out for the whole meet with a foot injury and Cedric Lee went out after the finals of the 100. On the girls side Monica Lopez led off all four relays and three of them were winners and the lone non-winner the 4X8 ran a season best. The night was capped off by the boys and girls teams both destroying the field in the 4X4.

Individual winners were Emma Frost in the 1600 and Megan Heeder in the 3200 for the girls, Dan Liesman in the shot put and Zach Zingsheim in the 400 in a school record time of 50.14. Other state meet qualifiers were Frost in the 3200, Heeder in the 1600, Jamie Holtham in the 200 and Hannah Sailar in the pole vault. Boys qualifiers were Aaron Wilson in the 200, Jimmy Hicks in the 800, Austin Winter in the 1600 and Connor Caporale in the 300 hurdles.

4/23/11

Cougar Track in the News

Lansing State Journal Coverage


http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20110421/COLUMNISTS05/104210335/Kimmerly-Williamston-s-Clem-headed-Wisconsin?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Sports

1/11/11

TRACK SEASON IS HERE !

GREAT START AT MSU

The boys won all three relays and Zach Zingsheim won the 400.


The girls won the 4x400 and Megan Heeder won the 3200 and the 1600.


Hannah Sailar broke her own school record in the pole vault with a vault of 9-6.


Both team looked very strong and had many very good performances.


Girls will be going for 3rd straight Regional Championship this year.


Boys are coming off a 2nd place league meet finish and looking to do even better this year.


THIS IS OUR YEAR !

11/7/10

STATE MEET


ACADEMIC ALL-STATE - Heeder, Frost, Girls Team, Zingsheim, Hicks, Winter

BOYS - STATE RUNNERS-UP
The boys team capped off the best season in school history by finishing 2nd in the D3State Finals. The boys finished with 192 points only behind Grandville Calvin Christian (107 points). Shepherd was 3rd with 212 points, Frankenmuth 4th and Lumen Christi rounded out the top-five. The boys were led by Jimmy Hicks who earned All-State honors by finishing 27th in 16:27. Zach Zingsheim was 33rd (16:38), Austin Winter was 38th (16:43), Joe Marrah was 39th (16:45), Nick Sampson was 152 running a 35 second PR of 17:45. Spencer Lebel was 172 in 18:00 and Nate Warriner was 198 in 18:15. The previous highest finish by a boys team at LCHS was 4th place.

GIRLS - 11TH PLACE
The girls team finished with the third highest state meet finish in school history by coming in 11th place. Megan Heeder led the way wth a third place finish and again lowered her school record to 18:11. Joining Megan as a all-stater was Emma Frost who finished in 16th place and lowered her own sophomore record to 19:00. Making her performance even better was the fact she fell at the 800 mark and finished scraped and bloodied. Emma was the top sophomore finisher and the sixth non-senior. The Cougars third runner was Lena Minniti (127th) who ran a personal best time of 20:41. Catherine Swiderski was the fourth finisher in 139th with a time of 20:51 and Adrienne Powell was fifth finisher with a time of 21:25, Allie Brown was next at 21:48 and Hunter Puma was 7th runner in 22:46.

11/2/10

On To States AGAIN !

The boys and girls teams both qualified for the State Finals at regionals and continued a legacy that gets more impressive each year. The boys captured the school's second boys Regional Championship ever and the girls finished third to send both teams on to the State Finals.

REGIONAL CHAMPS !
The boys team continued their great season by capturing the second regional championship in school history. They finished in first with 51 points ahead of second-place Perry with 60 and third-place Whitmore Lake with 84. Austin Winter, Zach Zingsheim and Jimmy Hicks led an impressive Cougar attack finishing 3rd, 4th and 5th. Joe Marrah just missed the medal stand finishing in 17th, the freshmen duo of Spencer Lebel and Nick Sampson came home in 23rd and 24th and Mitchell Lebel was 42nd.

STATES 10 out of 12 Years
The eighth ranked girls team finished in third place with 87 points behind Stockbridge (54) and Leslie (71) who both went into the meet ranked in the top-ten in the state. For the second staight year Megan Heeder won the regional championship. Her time of 18:43 was 57 seconds better than the 2nd place runner. Joining Megan on the awards stand was Emma Frost who finished in fourth place. Catherine Swiderski was third runner in 22nd place. Adrienne Powell running her first race in over three weeks finished 29th, Lena Minniti came home in 31st, Allie Brown in 33rd and Hunter Puma 49th. This marked the 5th straight year and 10th time in 12 years that the girls team has qualified for the state finals.

LCHS IS ELITE


*LCHS is one of just three schools in D3 that has had both their boys’ and girls’ teams qualify for five straight years (Benzie and Lumen Christi are the others).
*Only two teams in D3 (Benzie and Lumen Christi) equal our boys’ streak of seven straight State qualifying years.
*LCHS now has the longest active streak in the Lansing area for boys, surpassing Williamston, formerly the area’s dominant team.
*Only six D3 schools equal our girls’ streak of five straight State qualifying years.
*Only three D3 schools match our girls’ record of 10 qualifying years out of the past 12 (Lumen Christi, Benzie, Hillsdale). (In the two years our girls not qualify for States they finished 4th at Regionals).

CAAC White Runners-Up

Both the boys and girls team ended the season in second place in the CAAC White division. The boys team after winning the first jamboree finished second behind Perry in the next two jamborees and ended up in 2nd in the conference for an incredible sixth straight year. The girls team after finishing third behind Williamston and Perry in the first jamboree came in second in the next two league meets to clinch the second spot for the second straight year.

Megan Heeder won all three jamborees and was of course first overall in the league, Emma Frost joined her as an all-conference honoree and Catherine Swiderski was honorable mention. For the boys team Jimmy Hicks, Zach Zingsheim, Austin Winter and Joe Marrah were all named all-conference and Spencer Lebel earned honorable mention.

The girls team showed it's incredible depth by having 10 different girls run in the varsity seven in the three meets