Raider Cross Country teams to host Sixteen Schools at Monday’s Portland Invitational

The Portland Invitational will be the only home Cross-Country meet for the Raiders this season. Women’s Coach Mark Holdren credits Men’s Coach Andy Pulling for organizing the event which will be held at Portland High School on Monday, October 8th, beginning at 4:00 PM. Coach Holdren noted that last year there were no home meets for Portland. Hopefully with the continued development of a new running/hiking trail, being overseen by Coach Pulling and a small army of community volunteers, more cross-country meets will be hosted by Portland in the future.

Monday’s Invitational will have teams competing from as far away as Ludington and will include a Middle School Division. The Invitational will conclude with a combined 3rd-5th grade race for local students at the end of the Middle School meet. The Varsity Men’s team is scheduled for a 4:00 starting gun with the Women’s team slated to run immediately following the conclusion of the Men’s race.

Yesterday, the Raider Men’s and Women’s teams competed at the 2nd CAAC White Jamboree that was held at scenic, but rainy Crandall Lake in Charlotte. The Raider Men’s team was led by Senior Blaine Rosier who finished the 5K course in 18 minutes and 54 seconds. The Raider Women were led by Juniors Ari Babcock and Amber Cross who finished with times of 23:47 and 24:27 respectively.

The Raiders will travel on Thursday to East Lansing to participate in the East Lansing Invitational and then return home to prepare to host Monday’s Invitational which will begin and end at the Main Entrance of Portland High School.

Pictured above, sophomore Mya Collins sprints to the finish at the Charlotte Cross Country Invitational. Collins placed 5th for the Portland Women's team with a time of 31:55 for the 5K Course that circled Crandall Lake.