Several area runners drafted to Michigan Meet of Champions teams
The 2022 MITCA Michigan Meet of Champions is just one day away and local runners are getting ready.
This is the third year the Michgian Interscholastic Track Coaches Association has hosted this championship-style team event to decide which seniors will represent team Michigan at the Mid East Qualifer in Kettering, Ohio, the following weekend.
The Meet of Champions will be at Shepherd High School where six different races will take place: Boys Elite Team, Boys Elite Open, Girls Elite Team, Girls Elite Open, Boys All-Comers Open, and Girls All-Comers Open.
Greg Whitican, former cross country coach at Yale and owner of Elite Feet, joined 10 other businesses and organizations from around the state to sponsor a team this season. These 11 sponsors joined on a Zoom call Tuesday evening to draft their 10-runner teams.
“I tried to draft as many of the local kids as I could,” Whitican said. “I got Camden Khon from Armada, Glen Davis from Port Huron Northern, and of course I took Blake Ferguson being that he’s from Yale, and on the girls side I got Morgan Newton from Cros-Lex.”
St. Clair’s David Harris and Carter Boullard were also drafted by the Michigan Running Foundation, and Cros-Lex’s Eva Thompson was drafted by the Ann Arbor Running Company.
To be eligible for the draft, boys had to run a time of 16 minutes, 30 seconds or better, and girls had to run 19:40 throughout the season
Whitican said he went to the meet last year and now that he’s no longer coaching, sponsoring a team for a weekend is the perfect way to stay involved.
“I was there last year and a bunch of Yale guys ran, and I justtalked to the organizer and asked how I could get involved and sponsor a team. It’s neat to be able to give back,” Whitican said. “My wife was like, ‘I thought you were going to step away from cross,’ which I did, I’m not coahcing anymore.”
Coaching the Elite Feet team will be Jordan Desilets, a friend of Whitican’s who also happens to have an impressive resume as an Eastern Michigan University alumnus. He has won several NCAA titles, run a sub-4-minute mile, competed in several Olympic Trials, and won the Detroit Free Press Marathon.
The first race is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 12. For more information about the meet and to see the live results, click here.
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