‘CLOUD’-BURST: Northville runners shine at Mustang Invite

Northville’s Brandon Cloud (697) and Ben Hartigan seized the early lead before finishing 1-2 in Tuesday’s Northville Mustang Invitational cross country race.
On a near-perfect day for long-distance running, an orange-and-black Cloud cast a long shadow over the boys 11th/12th-grade portion of the Northville Mustang Invitational Tuesday afternoon at Cass Benton Park in Northville.
That would be Brandon Cloud, who placed first in the upper-classmen part of the boys race with a time of 15 minutes, 45.40 seconds — the third fastest time a Mustang has ever covered the rolling hills of Cass.
Cloud was followed across the finish line by teammate Ben Hartigan, who posted a stellar time of 16:00.10.
Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Cole Wisniewski was the only runner in prevented a 1-2-3 Northville finish as he placed third in 16:15.40, two seconds ahead of Northville’s fourth-place Ethan Hertza.
(To check out video highlights of the boys 11th/12th-grade race, click here.)
Mustang, Wildcat go 1-2 in girls race
In the 11th/12-grade girls race, Mustang Lucia Lachapelle won in 19:40.40, 11 seconds ahead of runner-up Mackenzie Dicken of Plymouth.
Northville’s Colette Lozo placed third with a time of 20:41.50.
Since the boys and girls races were split into two groups — juniors and seniors in one group, freshmen and sophomores in another — there were no team scores kept at the annual early-season event.
But it’s safe to say the Mustangs’ teams would have walked away with some serious hardware if team scores were registered.
Northville runners first in both underclass races
Northville sophomore Lucas Mullan took gold in the 9th/10th-grade boys race, covering the 5 kilometers in 16:49.10 — just over five seconds faster than Detroit Country Day’s Jack Hincks.
Brighton’s Josh Keillor-Beale finished third (17:40.80) took third, while Mustang teammates Ashton Kashat (17:06.70) and Emmanuel Coates (17:14.50) placed fourth and fifth, respectively.
In the girls 9th/10th-grade race, freshman sensation Alexandra Scappaticci won with a time of 19:59.10 (the best girls clocking of the day, regardless of class).
(To check out video highlights of the girls 11th/12th-grade race, click here.)
Mustangs’ future is bright
Mustang freshman Brynn Somers was runner-up in 20:47.10. Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Morgan Hamilton was third (21:29.40), just edging out fourth-place Kylie Karfonta (21:46.30) of South Lyon.
After Karfonta crossed the finish line, five consecutive Mustangs followed: Tatum Mooradian, Ella Corby, Ella Rohrhoff, Julia Jones and Sophia Jiang.
Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.

