Christian Craanen looked around and saw no one in front of him.

That was nothing new.

He has won lots of cross country races during his first two years on the St. Mary Catholic Central varsity team.

What made this special was the situation.

Craanen found himself in front of the pack for the Division 3 state finals.

“It was probably one of coolest feelings I’ve ever had,” Craanen said. “All of the people were yelling, screaming and cheering. And I was in front.”

The glorious feeling lasted for the first half-mile. Two runners wound up going past him, but they did not pull away.

Craanen ran a career-best 15:35.8 to finish just behind champion Hunter Eaton of Charlevoix (15:30.8) and runner-up Gage Hoffman of Stanton Central Montcalm (15:33.8).

The third-place finish at state helped C

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