With each passing year, she’s set the bar higher and the times lower, her junior season the most impressive yet
She went under the rarely broken 17:00 barrier twice, once at Benzie and once at Shepherd
Julia has reigned supreme in Northern Michigan also, with two Big North titles and one Northern Michigan title in her career
This spring, we saw similar incredible times – she cruised (seriously, completely under control) to a 10:09 at Shepherd, then went 2:09/4:41 in the following weeks
Both XC and Track state meets didn’t go her way and that’s the one final hurdle
But I don’t think there’s anyone more well-positioned to get there
Hunter came into Benzie Central with a ton of expectations and hype, and he’s absolutely blown those out of the water
As an 8th grader, he had a dominating cross and track campaign, topped off by a Megastar meet where he ran 4:32/9:34, that 3200m being the top middle school time in the country
He’s continued that victorious streak since entering high school, only losing one cross race (to Nathan Walker, nonetheless)
What impresses me in his running is his ability to kick off any pace, often ferociously (reminds me of a Woody Kincaid or Grant Fisher)
The New Balance 3200m was scorching, the lead pack hit the bell at ~7:56 and he was a few seconds back, but he closed in 60 to break 9:00
Adidas Outdoor Nationals told a similar tale, where he stormed back from what looked like an insurmountable gap to win the 5k national title
His Michigan track season was pretty darn good as well, where he won the 1600m title in D3 and finished 2nd in both the 800m/3200m
In the heat wave of that day, that performance is extremely impressive, but I’m sure he’s motivated to complete the distance triple in 2022
Michigan XC Speed Ratings 
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