MUSKEGON TOWNSHIP – The Reeths-Puffer boys cross country team might not be strong in numbers this fall, but will surely be strong in skill.
The Rockets return two runners who qualified for the state finals last season, and that’s a great building block.
Senior Jaxon Allen is the top returner after finishing 43rd overall at the Division 1 state finals last fall with a time of 16:24.02.
Allen and Coach Grant
“He’s made the state finals since his freshman year,” said head coach Darin Grant about Allen. “He’s a good returning runner who’s worked hard all summer long. He’s really a competitive dude who will work hard no matter what.”
Another returning All-state runner is junior Kye Grant, who finished 175th at the Division 1 finals last year with a time of 17:26.05.
Grant
“He’s been running some good mileage this summer,” Coach Grant said about his son. “He’s really going to have a good season this year I think.”
Rounding out the top three runners for the Rockets is senior Tate Bradley, whom Grant is hopeful will put his summer work to good use this fall.
Bradley
“He really put in a lot of miles this summer and I expect him to do very well as well,” the coach said.
Those top three will lead the Rockets meet in and meet out, but there will be competition to determine who can round out the Reeths-Puffer top five.
Battling for those final scoring positions will be junior Jamie Neel, sophomore Jack Yonkman and sophomore Dylan Sturr. Nate Darling and Gage Bouwman will also figure into the mix.
Yonkman
“We know we have a top three that are really good,” Grant said.. “We’re going to have to figure out who the fourth and fifth will be. We’ve got some guys who have good experience and can jump into the fray.”
The time distance between the top runners and the final positions in the lineup is something that Reeths-Puffer hopes to close as the season goes on.
“It’s significant if we have a big-time difference between our top scorer and our fifth scorer,” Grant said. “I could see our fifth guy being 90 seconds to two minutes behind. We’d want a 20 to 30 seconds difference for the team to be scoring really well.”
While the Rockets have a lot of reasons to believe the season will be a good one, the coach said success is measured in lots of ways.
“My philosophy in coaching is really a couple things,” Grand said. “I want guys to build character and I really think that athletics allows that. If my guys are building better character, that’s a huge success because it comes with friendships and relationships.
"If we can also win while pushing our bodies beyond what we think they’re capable of, that’s success too.”