What’s the best thing that can happen to a high school team one year after a breakout season?
Getting all of those rapidly improving athletes back, and that’s exactly the case for the Reeths-Puffer girls cross country team this fall.
Last year the Rockets had a very young squad with a lot of talent, but not a lot of varsity experience.
As the season went by, however, the girls started realizing how good they could be and kept improving their times.
Jersi Bilek
One great sign came at the Greater Muskegon Athletic Association City Meet, when the young Rockets finished third out of nine teams, and placed all five of their top runners among the top 30 in the field.
By the end of the season, two R-P runners, Jersi Bilek and Gabrielle Chevez, had qualified for the state finals and demonstrated tremendous potential for the future.
The rest of the lineup showed great progress as well, and now everyone is back in 2024 for what the Rockets hope will be a great season.
“They just became confident in their abilities and realized they could do this,” said R-P coach Lindsey Keefe, when asked about last season. “We were a really young team, but with them running together and working together they really excelled. As the season went by they kept on getting faster and building more confidence. It was fun!
Gabrielle Chevez
“We didn’t have any seniors last year, so we have a full team back. This is exciting.”
Bilek, a junior this year, turned a lot of heads last season by taking fourth place at the city meet, then finishing 13th at regionals with a time of 19:15, which was the fastest 5K race of her career.
Chevez, a sophomore this year, finished 12th at the city meet and 16th at regionals with a personal record time of 19:23. That was enough to qualify for the state finals in her first try.
Neither runner had a great day at the Division 1 state finals – Bilek did the best by taking 63rd place – but they both got a taste of competing against the top runners in Michigan, which they hope to do again this fall and beyond.
Adrienne Fluette
“When it’s your first time there, it’s such a big place with so many people and such a fast course, it’s hard to really go for it,” Coach Keefe said. “But having that experience, this year they will really know what they’re doing.”
Keefe is very excited about what both runners might accomplish this season.
She says Bilek is “a hard, hard worker who is extremely talented. She’s also a great leader for the team. She shows up, puts in her maximum effort and leads by modeling. That has helped the whole team get so much faster.
“I am very excited to watch her run. She had an awesome summer, she’s got her goals straight, and she is mentally strong.”
Kaitlyn Durow
Keefe said Chevez’ performance as a freshman was a very pleasant surprise.
She said Chevez really hit her pace “right when we started getting into the main competition with conference, city and regionals. She got that taste of winning and I think it started a clock in her mind. She realized she could do it and really went after it.
“She’s very talented, but she was only a freshman. But then she locked eyes on Jersi and held on for dear life! It was amazing!”
The Rockets’ No. 3 runner is likely to be senior Adrienne Fluette, who is extremely competitive and is also a great team motivator, according to Keefe.
Darcy Keefe
“She is the sparkplug,” the coach said.
Keefe said sophomores Darcy Keefe and Kaitlyn Durow, who both continually cut their times last season, will probably fill out the top five lineup. Juniors Hope Latsch and Charli Belinger have also shown significant improvement and will provide a lot of depth to the roster.
Also providing depth with be juniors Keeley Cole, Maddie Horenziak and Maya VandenBosch, along with freshman Olivia Yonkman.
When asked just how well the team could do this year, Keefe said she there’s no telling, because the runners are super motivated.
“I have really high expectations,” she said. “I am very excited to see what they can do because they are so hungry. They have some big goals for themselves.”