Presenting the sixth annual MLive Bay City Girls Cross Country Dream Team, recognizing the top high school runners from The Bay City Times coverage area for 2016.

Eight different high schools are represented on this year s All-Area first team, with the top two runners from both Forest Hills Northern and Forest Hills Eastern earning spots as underclassmen.

It was just over a quarter-century ago when Doug Jager took over the reins of the Grand Rapids Christian cross country program.
In that 1991 season, the Eagle boys program finished in fourth place overall. But the best was yet to come.
Jager's 26-year ...

GRANDVILLE -- Madison Malon made her debut in the state cross country finals as a freshman in 2015, finished in 52nd place, and quickly determined she would do much better the following year. Mission accomplished.

School administrators and athletic directors have met twice to discuss the potential of forming the conference, with a goal of starting the league at the beginning of the 2017-18 school year.

GRAND RAPIDS Samantha Tran and Emily Fredette gave Forest Hills Northern coach Joe Curcuru two of many reasons to enjoy the success his cross country team compiled this season.

Hart's Adelyn Ackley was the individual winner for the Division 3 girls and Fremont finished second in the Division 2 boys team standings.

Lost in a sea of upperclassmen, Plainwell freshman Makenna Veen made a name for herself in the Division 2 state finals at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday, finishing fourth overall with a time of 18:44.1.
Veen has been no stranger to success...

Kayla Windemuller resisted the urge to look.
Last year, the Holland Christian junior turned briefly, saw her competition, and continued to sprint toward the finish line. She was eventually overtaken by Hamilton standout Erika Freyhof, who ran with Wind...

The Flint Powers Catholic girls cross country team placed fourth at the Division 2 state finals Saturday with the program’s best performance since 2000.
The Chargers notched a team score of 215, behind Grand Rapids Christian (208), East Grand Rap...