Red Raider Review

May of 1978, a young man, below average in height, with sandy brown hair, and legs rippling with impressive muscles, ducked his capped head and crossed the stage in the Marlette High School gymnasium, grasping his high school diploma. October of 2015 the very same man, slouched a few inches shorter, brown hairs speckled amid the gray, and legs gone soft with age, crossed the track of Algonac High School, and ducked into a picture with his team, grasping a place in Marlette history.
Last Friday, October 30, the Marlette’s girls cross country team became the first female cross team in the school’s history to advance onto the state level. Coach Chris Titus beamed upon his athletes, his Cheshire grin adding enough light to the photos that a camera flash was deemed unnecessary. Not only did the girls’ team advance to states, but the boys did, too! Four of the top seven girls, and two to the top boys additionally managed to clench regional rankings, qualifying them for states as individuals.
This year’s cross team, bursting with the largest number of rookie runners the program has seen in a number of years, caused Coach Titus more than to lose a few nights rest. Hesitant on holding too high of expectations, Titus flitted around attempting to gauge his newbies’ athletic abilities, but was unable to do so, due to the quantity. He needn’t worry, though. As the season progressed, the team consistently dropped their times, and dropped their coach’s jaw.
What began as a stroll down memory lane for Titus soon proved itself a race towards a State title, as his runners beat the odds week after week.
Saturday, November 7, 14 runners will prep themselves for the starting signal. Twenty-eight feet will pound their running spikes into the ground, leaving footprints all over MHS history books.