Hundreds of high school athletes fly forward at the sound of a gun. The Bret Clements Bath Invitational is an annual race in memory of Coach Bret Clements. He coached Bath High School’s cross country team and had a significant impact on their community.
Bath, a Michigan town with roughly 3000 residents, is known for the 1927 Bath School Massacre. The series of explosions caused 46 deaths, 38 of whom were children. Nearly 100 years later, gunshots start a series of middle and high school cross country races on the Bath Community School grounds.
Skyline and Huron send their teams to this historic meet. Skyline has seven Community students running including Tia Cocciolone, Isla Tharp, Lee Greenberg, Nina Beals, Zeke Lafferty, Bruno Ciffaldi and Gus Finn. The three Huron runners are Camilo Ojeda, Oliver McGee and Conrad Marra.
Bruno Ciffaldi, a junior at CHS competed for Skyline during this annual race. Ciffaldi recently suffered an injury in his shin that developed into the early stages of a stress fracture.
“It was good to get back and start running pretty heavily again,” Ciffaldi said. “The course was really fun.”
Ciffaldi was not the only runner who enjoyed the Bath course this Saturday. Huron runner and CHS junior Oliver McGee particularly enjoyed the early morning weather.
“The conditions were great. It was cool weather, and it was in the morning, which I prefer for meets,” McGee said. He found this to be a huge contrast to the meets held last week. The teams were bundled up in blankets, anxiously awaiting their time to warm up. Ciffaldi and his competitors were skeptical about the cold weather but it quickly became an advantage once racing began.
“Although the weather was a little subpar, conditions were still very nice,” Ciffaldi said.
Fourteen teams lined up to race at the start line of a grassy field. The gun went off and the crowds of students pushed to get out fast. The course contained hills and muddy sections, making for a competitive race.
Caryn Gehrke who is the head coach of the Skyline distance team felt that the meet was a promising sign in the early season.
“We were really excited,” Gerhke said. “We were missing a couple of top runners in the Varsity race, but our team still ran really well and across the board.”
Gerhke is aware of the special opportunity for CHS students able to compete for a different school. CHS students add to team numbers and frequently score points in meets.
“You know, we love our Community kids and our WIHI kids,” Gerhke said. “I just think it brings together even more of the Ann Arbor community on a single team. And I think it gives us kids from different backgrounds and different types of kids on the same team to be brought together.”
This meet was a great start to the season for both teams. Gerhke is excited to coach this year’s team of Skyline and Community kids as their meets continue. Skyline and Huron will continue to lower their season records and welcome more Community runners who decide to start running.
