If the Portage regional meet was perfect XC weather then the 35MPH winds that greeted the Arrows at MIS was just the opposite. The division one racers had to deal with these head winds for the first 1200m of the race and many of the competitors described their legs as being “dead” after that initial stretch.   Lowell battled the course, the wind, and the competitors to finish 20th out of the 28th teams which was won by OK Red champion West Ottawa. The 20th place was where the Arrows were scored in a hypothetical meet but wasn’t where the team was looking to finish. Annika Sandman was a bright spot on the day as she scored a top 10 finish taking 8th in 18:22 which earns her All State honors. Katrina Sandman finished in 67th in 19:34 which should earn her Academic All State honors. Keira Sandman concluded her XC season with a 157th place finish in 20:20. Evie Deur and Claire O’Boyle completed the varsity scoring with 206 th and 217th place in 20:33 and 21:03 respectively. Audrey Latchaw and Anna Forney completed the Lowell roster.  

A perfect day for a XC meet greeted all the regional teams at Portage West MS (Portage Central home course) as they lined up for the chance to qualify for the state meet. On paper there were five teams within 30 points of one another, so a shootout was expected for a chance to be a top three team and an opportunity to race at the state meet. Lowell’s top five got out in the top twenty at the start and continued to work to maintain their scoring position to earn a spot. The initial unofficial score had the Arrows in 2nd one point behind Portage Central; and then wait for it; the score was recalculated with Lowell in first place with 107 points and the opportunity to hoist the regional trophy.   Lowell was led by All-Region honorees Annika Sandman and Katrina Sandman as they placed 3rd and 9th with times of 18:22 and 19:18. Claire O’Boyle had a break out race nailing a PR time of 20:17 for 26th, Keira Sandman finished 33rd in 20:32, and Evie Deur closed the scoring taking 36th in 20:38. Completing the varsity team were Audrey Latchaw 75th in a PR 22:43 and Anna Forney 80th in a PR 23:24. As a whole the girls averaged 90 seconds faster on the same course they started the season on in August.   Lowell still hasn’t had a perfect team race. With a perfect team race the girls could nail a top 10 finish at the biggest race of the year.  

A cold and windy Riverside Park greeted the OK White teams as they prepped to compete in the OK White Conference meet. The fast times by all did more than heat up the atmosphere as many runners saw personal best times on a fast course. Lowell finished 4th on the day, 3 pts behind FHC in a meet won by EGR. With the 4th place finish Lowell finished the season rankings in 5th place which was two points behind FHN.   The Arrows were led by Annika Sandman finished 3rd running a blistering 17:46 which was just shy of a 30 sec PR for her. Katrina Sandman hit her season goal of breaking 19 minutes running 18:54 which was good for a conference medal 9th place. Keira Sandman nearly matched her SB time running 19:37 which was good for 20th place. Evie Deur and Claire O ‘Boyle closed out the varsity scoring finishing in 20:34 and 20:43 which was good for 35th and 42nd respectively. Audrey Latchaw and Veronica Tapia completed the Lowell varsity team.   The fast times moved established a new school record for the one to five average time with a 1:5 average time of 19:31.   All conference honors go to Annika and Katrina, while Keira grabbed all conference honorable mention.

Lowell got a second look at the Gainey course but this time they had to deal with standing water and a muddy track. The Arrows did not let the conditions stand in the way as most of the girls all ran considerably faster than they did back on September 7th at the first OK White Jamboree. Leading the Arrows and taking medalist honors was Annika Sandman as she put the hurt to the course with a time of 18:23. Lowell had three other medalists as Katrina Sandman finished 6th (20:00), Claire O Boyle finished 14th (20:45), and Keira Sandman finished in 18th (21:10). Closing out the varsity were Evie Deur in 42nd (22:50) and Audrey Latchaw in 47th (23:10).

The Arrows received another perfect day for racing with cooler temps and a fast course. Lowell took advantage throwing down some great times and coming in third with 71 points right behind OK Red members Grand Haven (58) and Rockford (65). The Lady Arrows also secured the #3 Top Five average timeof 19:52 right behind the 2017 Allendale Invite team. Annika Sandman led the Arrows with a runnerup time of 19:14.9, Katrina Sandman took 9th in 19:48, Keira Sandman took 11th in 19:53, Evie Deur took 21st in 20:37, Claire O Boyle took 27th in 20:44, and Audrey Latchaw took 50th in 23:04.

Arrows Finish 2nd @ Autumn Sunrise   Perfect fall conditions and a fast course greeted the Arrows upon arrival to Covenant Christian HS for the Autumn Sunrise Invitational.  Lowell took advantage of the conditions as many of the Lady Arrows laid down PR (personal record) time for the course which help the Arrows finish 2nd with 54 points losing to Spring Lake on the 6th person tie break.  Capturing individual medalist honors was Annika Sandman who went wire to wire finishing in 18:15, which was 9 seconds over Allison Kuzma from Zeeland East.  Katrina and Keira Sandman ran together on the course and earned top 10 finishes coming in 7th and 8th with times of 19:32 and 19:33 respectively.  Lowell was able to capture two more medals as Evie Deur (20:21) and Claire O Boyle (20:22) finished in 18th and 20th.   Spring Lake         54 Lowell                   54 Zeeland East       69 Byron Center     95 Unity Christian   106 Holland                 158 Middleville          172 Fruitport              203

The Lady Arrows continues to grow as a team and was able to move up one spot from the last jamboree. Lowell finished 4th place, one point away from third place FHN. Annika Sandman finished 4th on the day with a time of 18:30, Katrina Sandman finished 13th in 19:50, Keira Sandman finished 17th in 20:14, Clair O Boyle finished 26th in 21:03, and Evie Deur finished 41st in 21:45. Audrey Latchaw and Anna Forney completed the varsity finishing 86th and 105th respectively.  Arrows race next on Saturday at the Autumn Sunrise Invitational.

A fast course w/ fast teams is a great recipe for some good times and the Lowell girls made sure that they were ready. Four of the Arrows had season best times with an additional PR which helped lead Lowell to a 6th place finish 19 points behind winner St Joseph. Annika Sandman earned medalist honors as she led the race from start to finish getting the win in 18:35. Katrina and Keira Sandman earned medals finishing in 15th and 23rd with times of 19:54 and 20:18 respectively. Claire O Boyle(21:34) and Evie Deur (21:48) completed the varsity scoring finishing in 55th and 60th place. Rounding out the varsity team was Audrey Latchaw finishing in 97th and Jadyn Young finishing in 120th.   The JV runners also took advantage of the conditions with some PRs as Anna Forney and Veronica Tapia ran 24:43 and 25:36 respectively.

Staying aggressive into the second mile was the focus for team as Lowell competed at the West Ottawa Bredeweg Invitational. Lowell ended up finishing tenth with 219 points in the meet which was won by Division 1 preseason favorite West Ottawa with 58 points. The traditional fast course was slowed a bit with hot, humid conditions but Annika Sandman still ran one of her fastest times coming in 6th place in 18:34. Scoring for Lowell was Katrina Sandman (20:29) taking 27th, Keira Sandman (20:34) taking 30th, Claire O Boyle (22:18) taking 67th, and Audrey Latchaw (23:35) taking 108th. Completing the varsity team was Jadyn Young taking 139th and Anna Forney taking 149th.  

 Arrows race to 5th place at OK White Jamboree #1   The Lady Arrows kicked off the 2022 Ok White Campaign by grinding out a 5th place finish at the first jamboree held at Gainey XC Complex. The Arrows went out aggressive to finish amid five state ranked teams including the top two in Division 2. Annika Sandman continued her strong start to the season by taking 4th place overall with a time of 19:06 w/ Katrina Sandman ran 20:54 and Keira Sandman ran 21:22 both snagging top 20 positions taking 16th and 19th respectively. Freshman Evie Deur and sophomore Claire O ‘Boyle had their strongest races of the season with times of 22:15 and 22:57 which were good for 38th and 49th places.     GR Christian 41 EGR 51 FHC        80 FHN      98 Lowell 118 Byron Center     120 Northview         202 Greenville           225   Arrows race next on Saturday at the West Ottawa Bredeweg Invitational

           Arrows Finish Top Five at Benzie     The Lady Arrows capped off a full week of work with a 5th place finish against some of the best teams in the state at the Benzie Central Pete Moss Invitational. OK White foe GR Christian won the meet besting the defending division one state champion Ann Arbor Pioneer by 3 points. Lowell had three medalists in the meet as the Sandman sisters all nabbed hardware on the day. Annika took 4th place in 18:38, Katrina took 24th in 20:37, and Keira finished 31st in 21:15. Freshman Evie Deur was the 4th Arrow across the line taking 40th in 21:43 and Claire O’Boyle completed the scoring taking 49th in 22:04.     GR Christian                     67 Pioneer                             70 Northville                         72 TC West                            102 Lowell                                144 Spring Lk                           151 Frankenmuth                   163 Ludington                         195 Cadillac                             211 Alpena                              248 Kingsley                             333   Lowell starts OK White Competition September 7th at Gainey Field.

The Lowell Girls XC team worked on running as a pack and came away with the Green Division 1st place plaque at the Baker’s Wood Invite hosted by Hesperia. The Baker’s Woods course is considered one of, if not the toughest course in the lower peninsula. Leading the Arrows was senior Annika Sandman who took medalist honors running ay 20:31.   Katrina and Keira Sandman came in 3rd and 4th running 22:59 and 23:04 respectively.   Rounding out the varsity were Claire O’ Boyle in 6th (24:17), Evie Deur in 7th (25:02), Megan Lillie in 9th (25:55) and Audrey Latchaw in 10th (27:07).   Also grabbing medals for Lowell were freshmen Calli Rottier and Veronica Tapia who did great hitting the Hesperia hills for the first time.   Lowell                               21 Calvin Christian                38 Orchard View                   85   Lowell heads to Benzie Central on Saturday for the Pete Moss Invitational.              

  Arrows Earn 5th Place at Early Bird Invite   The Lowell Girls XC team kicked off the 2022 season earning a 5th place finish at the Portage Early Bird Invite.  Leading the Arrows was Annika Sandman running 18:44 earning runner-up honors to Jenison’s Mya Guikema.  Scoring for the Arrows were Keira Sandman (26th) 21:24, Katrina Sandman (34th) 21:39, Claire O’Boyle (56th) 22:37, and Evie Deur (63rd) 22:44.  Freshman Audrey Latchaw and Sophomore Megan Lillie closed out the varsity team finishing in 110th and 111th respectively.  EGR                       34 Jenison                 87 Portage C             93 Loy Norrix           164 Lowell                   179 FHN                       182 Rockford              200 Hudsonville        203 Kazoo Central    243 Stevensville Lk   253 Kazoo Homeschool          335 BC Lakeview       342 Northview          364 Parchment          396 Paw Paw              409 Mattawan           420 Calvary Christian               429 Paw Paw              487         Lowell heads to Hesperia on Wednesday and Benzie Central on Saturday for invitationals.