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Parker earns All-State honors at MHSAA cross country State Finals

By Head Coach Mike Snyder

  The Frankenmuth girls’ cross country team and Nick Parker from the boys team qualified to compete in the MHSAA State Finals on Saturday, Nov. 7 at Michigan International Speedway (MIS).  It is special whenever anyone earns the right to compete at this level and our girls team and Nick were able to achieve that this year. 

  Nick was one of 262 top runners in D2 on the boy’s side that competed in the finals and he placed sixth overall earning him All-State honors.  Nick was seeded 28^th going into the race with many others posting times within one or two seconds of his best time this season.  Nick went out with the lead pack which is what he had to do in order to finish where he did.   Everyone there earned the privilege to race, and Nick certainly demonstrated why he was one of those athletes.  Nick crossed the line in sixth place setting a new personal record time of 15:29.90 saving off 21.7 seconds from his previous best time this season and 20.38 seconds off his previous personal record.  This time placed Nick as the fastest FHS runner that ever competed at MIS in the State Finals (which started 30 years ago).  Nick did exactly what he had to do in order to finish in the top 30 All-State runners as he was ranked 28^th going into today’s race.  He moved into the second position on the FHS Top-10 all-time list just four seconds from the number one spot currently held by Landen Wise (2023).  He will have one more race next Saturday at the MITCA Michigan Meet of Champions race hosted at Sheperd to reach the top of the All-Time FHS list. 

  Nick was less than 10 seconds from the second place finisher from Alma which shows how close of a race you have when you reach the State Finals.  The winner of the race set the D2 State record clocking a time of 14:49.3.  Another honorable observation that was made at the finish line (by Mrs. Coach) was that after Nick picked himself up after giving all that he had, he went over and helped up one of his main rivals from Alma who placed second overall. That is the kind of class our athletes demonstrate, and Nick is a great representative of that type of character. 

  For our girls, we had three of our seven runners competing at MIS for the very first time.  It was a great experience for them and we are looking to have all three back next season.  Out of the 144 teams in D2, our girls were one of 27 teams that qualified for the finals, which is an extraordinary accomplishment for these ladies........

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