Out of the multitudes of Northville pack poised for greatness, Brendan was not someone I had on my radar
I called this out over in the Region 6 preview, but Coach Dalton’s squad really began to turn heads in 2020 with a quick youth movement
Brendan’s first year of cross was 2021
He did run track in that 2020-2021 school year, his freshman year, and if you’ve been around the sport long enough, you know any boy breaking 2:15 and 5:00 at a young age is impressive, if developed right, can be a varsity runner or more
Yep, he’s been more than just a varsity runner
His debut XC season contained a solid, consistent mid-season, running with previously mentioned standouts Ethan Powell, Brady Heron, and whomever else Northville can throw at you
In late October, we started to see him kick it up a notch
First a 16:01, good for 4th at KLAA
Then at State, his first jaunt into the 15’s, a 15:51, good for 18th
Like a few guys mentioned earlier, Brendan pushed boundaries during indoor, then broke though all those boundaries during outdoor
A 4:18 at the MITS 1600m gained him a 6th place finish
After running in the 4:20s and grinding through some 3200ms for the early part of the year, Brendan threw down a 1:57 against Howell, then threw down a 4:14 for an important dual against Brighton
Those efforts set the stage for a tremendous state meet, where he was a part of the Mustangs’ dominant 4×8 quartet, came back with a 4:10 for the 1600m (if not for Seth Norder, this is a Michigan sophomore record – yep, better than Ritz, Fisher, Brazier), then even after all that, a 1:55 in the 800m
And the scary part is he doesn’t have to do it all alone, that mean pack of Northville boys are right on his tail, a great support system for which will be a blazing next two years
Grade
Name
Time
Rating
Meet
Course
Date
10
Brendan Herger
16:59.2
191.3
Lamplighter
Ford Field
20-Aug
10
Brendan Herger
16:28.4
192.9
Bath
Bath HS
11-Sep
10
Brendan Herger
16:34.0
196.7
Spartan
Forest Akers
17-Sep
10
Brendan Herger
16:45.1
196.6
Cleverley Friday Night
Anchor Bay HS
24-Sep
10
Brendan Herger
16:19.6
198.1
Wayne County
Willow
9-Oct
10
Brendan Herger
16:01.8
197.4
KLAA Championship
Huron Meadows
21-Oct
10
Brendan Herger
16:23.7
197.1
6 Hudson Mills
Hudson Mills (North)
30-Oct
10
Brendan Herger
15:51.3
200.9
D1 State
MIS
6-Nov
From afar, Rochester does things the right way, and a girl such as Lucy is much better off for it
We didn’t see her in any elite miles, 3200s, tripling/quadrupling at any meet this spring, in the fall, she ran ten races total
As a result, she might be underrated by these ratings and rankings, her cross season taking awhile to get cranking
But when it did, damn did she ever move
On a slow day at Possum Hollow, she put away the field in the last half of the race, claiming her first championship crown by almost 20 seconds
At State in the first few miles, she left people confused, questioning “who’s that Rochester girl?”, but those of us in the awards room knew what she was up to
Her splits on that giant stage – 5:42, 5:50, 5:49, a patient race with a speedy close
That patience paid off this past track season, both in her racing and the planning of her season
Like I mentioned earlier, the Falcons kept it close to the vest for much of the spring, but when it was time to roll, she repeated her cross country breakout
Come late May, she captured titles in the 800 and 1600m at Oakland County, a 3200m at the Lapeer Regional, the 3200m at OAA Red/White
Although blessed with some of the best closing speed in the state, she saved herself for the 3200m, where she patiently hung in a pack of three until the last lap, where she comfortably kicked into 2nd place
We might not see much come October, but that’s fine, when titles are on the line, we know Lucy will be there
Michigan XC Speed Ratings 