Lakers Cross Country Teams Moving On

For some fans of the  cross country team, the 2011 season will feel like the dawn of a new era. 

 as track and cross country coach after 50 years as head coach at WBHS as well as 30 years of hosting a regional track event was marked with tears from some in May, and made room for new head coach, Nate Belill.

For others, the 2011 season will feel like the next step in the development of a cadre of underclassmen who have the experience of leading the team last season as they attempt to make the leap to the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Finals.

Belill, 28, of Waterford, steps in to the head coaching position after working as an assistant under Averill for several years. The Clio native said he feels well prepared to work closely with runners thanks to his previous experience as a camp counselor at his alma mater, Flint Powers Catholic High School, where he was a part of a state championship team in 1999.

As a counselor, Belill worked with high school runners in a non-coaching capacity in summers while running at Alma College. After graduating, he made his way to , where he was hired to lead the Lakers’ cross country team in June.

Belill said he’s enjoyed his short time of newfound responsibility thus far. Practice kicked off for the Lakers on Wednesday, although Belill said some returning runners have been working out together throughout the summer. For others, it was an opportunity for Belill to demonstrate that which he hopes to perfect over the course of the season.

“When you have underclassmen, the key is to not burn them out. Today and in the upcoming weeks will be about easing into it — keeping the intensity at a minimum while also conditioning ourselves to run with some of the best in the state,” Belill said Wednesday.

“Those sort of decisions are the ones you deal with as a head coach as opposed to an assistant and the buck stops with you. We hope to make those decisions correctly because our goal is definitely to make it to states.”

It would be unchartered territory for the young team, which led the Lakers last season to success at the league level in 2010 but fell in the regional qualifying event Oct. 30 at Linden High School.

The biggest star on the team is on the girls side, where junior  will attempt to build on her six straight wins to open the season last year and improve her fourth-place finish in the state finals. “She can pretty much punch her ticket to any number of prestigious D-1 schools,” said Belill of Finn, who is now officially open to hearing offers from universities due to NCAA regulations limiting contact with underclassmen.

The girls team finished tied for third in the division and also returns sophomore Julia Griessmann, who finished fifth at the league championship meet last year.

The boys team tied Royal Oak High School for first place in the Oakland Activities Association Blue Division on the strength of sophomore Bjorn Kempf, freshman Brandon Burton, and junior Ben Griessmann, all of whom finished in the top-8 at Royal Oak High in the league championship event.

Kempf’s first-place finish in the 5,000 meters at 16 minutes, 53.2 seconds was a season best and personal record, and Belill said that he will count on those three to lead the boys team back to the top of the league. The Lakers ultimately fell in the regional qualifier, finishing seventh as a team and led by Kempf, who finished 19th overall.