After winning state titles on three consecutive runs, the Pioneer girls’ cross country team finished third at last year’s MHSAA State Finals. On Saturday, the Pioneers took the second to last step to return as champions – the final step is this Saturday at MIS.
Rachel Forsyth is following in the big footsteps of her older sisters (Anne Forsyth, 2016 Division 1 runner-up who now runs at Michigan; and Sarah Forsyth, eighth in the 2021 State Finals who now runs at MSU) and is a heavy favorite to finish first at this weekend’s State Finals. Injuries slowed her down last year as a junior but it’s been full-speed ahead as a senior.
Forsyth, who finished first at the State Finals as a sophomore and a freshman, helped lead the Pioneers to a first-place finish at Saturday’s D-1 Regional at Lake Erie Metropark. She crushed the field with her time of 16:07.5 – Saline’s Elaina Alig was a distant second in 18:18.1. By the way, Forsyth ran 18:39.40 at last year’s Regional on the same course – so yeah, full-speed ahead.
The Pioneers finished with 28 points, well ahead of runner-up Saline (51 points). Woodhaven was third with 93 points to grab the final ticket to MIS.
The Pioneers had four runners in the top 10 and all five in the top 15. After Forsyth, senior Lydia Bowman was third (18:23.3), senior Sylvia Sanok Dufallo was fifth (18:51.2), senior Katie Hume was eighth (19:11.6) and sophomore Quincy Behm was 13th (19:25) to round out the top five.
Showing off their incredible depth, Pioneer senior Natalie Mello was 14th (19:25.6) and freshman Nina Moore was 16th (19:35.6).
