Historic Milestone: Hartland Boys, Girls Cross Country Qualify for State Finals For the First Time in Same Year

GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP — Hartland High School girls cross country coach Mary Rinkus might have said it best.

"It was just a great day."

For the first time in the same year, the boys and girls teams qualified for the state finals while junior Avery Evenson won the girls race and set a new school record with her time of 17:40 Friday at Huron Meadows Metropark during a state regional competition.

Five of seven boys set new personal bests while five girls did the same outside of Evenson, according to Hartland coaches. The boys scored 83 to finish second to Milford's 55 while the girls captured third in 124, behind Northville's 66 and Brighton's 100, coaches said.

Scores in cross country are determined by a team's five best place and the lowest score wins. The top three teams in both divisions advance to the finals Nov. 5 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, MI.

It's the furthest the boys team has advanced in more than 20 years and had been the main focus all season, said head coach Matt Gutteridge.

"I am so proud of this team and everything it accomplished this year," said Gutteridge, in his eighth year. "It's great to achieve our goal and great we have the opportunity to build on that."

He credited the team's dedication, noting they practiced together starting two weeks after the track ended in the spring. And the hard work paid off with big wins all season long at several multi-team events, most recently the .

"They believe in each other and they race for each other," he said. "One of the kids called it a brotherhood."

Gutteridge also singled out senior Ian McGinn's performance. The Eagles' top runner all year, he was sick this week and during the race he was knocked down but recovered to finish as Hartland's second fastest runner in 15:57 despite getting spiked in the leg and bleeding.

"He got back up and ran a fantastic race," he said. "It's one of the gutsiest races I've ever seen."

Evenson's effort, meantime, was one for the record books, eclipsing her own mark by 10 seconds. She'll be competing in the finals for the third straight year, coming off a second as a freshman and 11th last year — a season that was a struggle coming off an injury.

"She's pretty well healthy right now," Rinkus said.

But while the entire field knew about Evenson, they didn't expect the Eagles, who were seeded 10th coming in, as a team to vie for a ticket to the finals. Rinkus said the "stars were aligned" as a pack of three girls who ran together made strong moves in the last mile to give Hartland five runners under the 20-minute mark.

"They were all on the same page and that's what you need," she said.

It'll be the second trip in three years for the girls. The Eagles finished 15th in 2009.

And while other teams finished first, both coaches noted this region might be the state's toughest, adding they believe their squads can make runs at the title.

"It's just so cool to be part of school history," Rinkus said. "Both teams are just going to pump each other up."

Hartland varsity results

Boys: Sean Pengelly (fifth, 15:39), Ian McGinn (12th, 15:57), Jareb Duggan (15th, 15:59), Alex Gietek (23rd, 16:09), Brendan Gavitt (28th, 16:19), Patrick Gavitt (33rd, 16:35) and Grant Hamilton (39th, 16:44).

Girls: Avery Evenson (first, 17:40), Natalie Halonen (25th, 19:23), Taylor Pryde (31st, 19:44), Megan Skinner (32nd, 19:44), Emily Braid (35th, 19:51), Tori Graves (39th, 20:01) and Allison McGinn (71, 20:42).

Editor's note: Several photo captions were updated Saturday to correctly identify the runners. Hartland Patch apologizes for the errors.