2022 Mid-Season Regional Projections – Shepherd

REGION 25

SUMMER PREVIEW

Two-time defending State Champs, St. Louis, looked to be a lock in the summer and with these last few weeks, has further established their legitimacy. The question coming into the year was: who would join them? After a month or so of action, I think we have some answers. Caro has added the necessary components that left the Tigers out of the summer writings, and even their returners have shown progress. Jacob Moore, for example, is knocking on the door of the 17’s, an area not within sight a year ago. Sanford-Meridian was projected to have five in the top-20, I don’t see any reason that can’t happen. For a team already thought to have an easier path through this region, extra insurance is a bonus, adding a kid such as Tyler Heal, who’s entered the 17:00 range in his first season with the Mustangs.

The girls side also closely resembles those thoughts posted a month ago. Unfortunately, Reese doesn’t appear to have brought out the numbers to score a full squad. Into that void has stepped those pesky Sharks, who placed 2nd in the initial TVC 10 Jamboree and have seen solid time reductions from Abby Dice and Laney Pestrue. Lost in the sea of the hundreds of teams I attempt to cover is a squad such as Sandusky. Need I remind you that the Redskins finished 13th in the State last year and return a great number of those same girls? Speaking of the State Finals, Caro may have been ranked #6 in last week’s rankings, don’t be shocked if they’re in a better place than that come November.

Place	Grade	Name	Team	Rating
1	11	Ben March	St. Louis	190.8
2	12	Connor Stefanovsky	Caro	182.6
3	11	Matthew Pattullo	Caro	177.6
4	10	Landon Pestrue	St. Louis	171.4
5	12	Dylan Marr	St. Louis	165.8
6	12	Jonah Shephard	Sanford-Meridian	160.6
7	10	Tyler Heal	Sanford-Meridian	157.8
8	10	Colin Kuhn	St. Louis	148.9
9	9	Alex Rodriguez	St. Louis	147.3
10	10	Jacob Moore	Caro	144.4
11	9	Hayden Shattuck	St. Louis	142.9
12	9	Wesley Haines	Reese	142.1
13	10	Cade Truemner	Pigeon-Laker	141.2
14	9	Jayden Fox	Saginaw Valley Lutheran	139.9
15	11	Ethan Wetzel	Sanford-Meridian	137.0
16	11	Elliot Noyes	Sanford-Meridian	135.0
17	10	Drew LaFave	Sanford-Meridian	132.9
18	9	Jackson Fulton	Caro	132.3
19	11	Caleb Geiger	Bad Axe	131.4
20	11	Donythyn Deitrick	Sanford-Meridian	128.4

Place	Grade	Name	Team	Rating
1	12	Ellymae McCoy	Reese	125.9
2	11	Jaiden Dickman	St. Louis	117.4
3	10	Kaya Vrable	Caro	116.3
4	11	Paige Herron	Caro	110.9
5	11	Claire Neumann	Saginaw Valley Lutheran	109.3
6	11	Faith Swenor	Caro	105.4
7	12	Lauren Brawt	Sanford-Meridian	102.8
8	12	Allysen Jansen	Sandusky	98.4
9	12	Elizabeth Smith	Sanford-Meridian	89.7
10	10	Makenzie Kreger	Sandusky	87.0
11	10	Maddie Huysentruyt	Sandusky	83.6
12	11	Alexa Long	Caro	82.6
13	11	Rachael Walch	Caro	82.2
14	11	Emma Lang	Bad Axe	74.9
15	11	Olivia Urban	Otisville LakeVille	72.7
16	10	Abby Dice	St. Louis	71.6
17	12	Brookelynn Jansen	Sandusky	71.3
18	11	Diana Cortes	Cass City	70.9
19	9	Carla Cortes	Cass City	62.4
20	12	Laney Pestrue	St. Louis	57.9

REGION 15

SUMMER PREVIEW

Let’s take another look back to the ole summer preview and how wrong it was. Clio and Frankenmuth (boys and girls) for two examples. Landen Wise showed his goods during track, the 4th fastest freshmen 1600m runner in the state. The youth movement hasn’t stopped there, Brett Magnus and Anthony Plana both contributors to a team that placed 2nd in the first TVC 8 Jamboree. The first team? Oh those reliable Freeland Falcons. Clio has to be the eye opener thus far, one of the greater impacts on their rise being Andrew Yax, a steady figure in the low-17’s during these first few weeks.

If this girls race isn’t one of the more competitive and tightly wound regional races, I don’t know what is. Projected within 15 points are four teams with a legitimate shot of winning, making it in, or being left out. Shepherd, Freeland, and Alma all made it last year and can use that past experience as a guide. Frankenmuth has added a trio of freshmen behind Mary Richmond, that youth improving with each race. These four teams are so away and ahead of the others that there’s a real chance that each can put four in the top-20.

Shepherd opened with a win at Early Season Warrior, a 2nd place at Under the Lights, but were subdued with a few setbacks in early September. A Jack Pine victory could be the start of some championship momentum for a team projected just sliiightly out of the money. Freeland’s order isn’t the one expected in August, but I blame that squarely on Paige Kloha, running the best she has since her freshman year (7 second PB last weekend!). And given the summertime grief from those Ithaca gorlz, one must give credit where it’s due. You improve the girls that are already on the Panther team, Hannah Raglin, running 30-40 seconds faster than she ever has, you add 400m stud Joy Evans, sprinkle in frontrunner Ezgi Kurt, and you have a team set up to win championships.

Now who nails it on Regional Day?

Place	Grade	Name	Team	Rating
1	10	TJ Hansen	Freeland	203.1
2	12	Braydon Honsinger	Freeland	202.0
3	9	Thomas Larson	Alma	194.6
4	11	Elliott Sirianni	Clio	192.5
5	10	Landen Wise	Frankenmuth	186.1
6	11	David Murphy	Flint Powers Catholic	185.4
7	10	Seth Mead	Gladwin	183.5
8	11	Andrew Yax	Clio	179.6
9	12	Tyler Heath	Clio	178.3
10	10	Nolan Longuski	Shepherd	178.1
11	11	Ali Kudmani	Alma	173.7
12	12	Braden Klein	Freeland	173.4
13	9	Brett Magnus	Frankenmuth	172.0
14	12	Grant Conger	Frankenmuth	170.7
15	10	Owen Fennelly	Saginaw Swan Valley	170.6
16	12	Aidan Lobsinger	Flint Powers Catholic	170.0
17	9	Anthony Plana	Frankenmuth	168.4
18	10	Camden McLeod	Freeland	163.6
19	12	Bryce Husen	Birch Run	162.4
20	9	Luca Lebron	Alma	161.1

Place	Grade	Name	Team	Rating
1	11	Mary Richmond	Frankenmuth	150.3
2	10	Ezgi Kurt	Alma	130.7
3	12	Ariel Warner	Shepherd	124.9
4	9	Natalie Foltz	Frankenmuth	120.4
5	10	Joy Evans	Alma	114.5
6	10	Karie Keefer	Freeland	108.6
7	11	Hannah Raglin	Alma	107.1
8	9	Jada Prescott	Freeland	105.7
9	11	Paige Kloha	Freeland	104.3
10	11	Aubrey Keeler	Clio	103.6
11	12	Jolie Fisher	Shepherd	102.3
12	10	Landrey Kuhn	Freeland	102.2
13	12	Alexcis Parker	Flint Powers Catholic	98.8
14	12	Carley Lynch	Shepherd	98.5
15	12	Elle Himebaugh	Shepherd	97.6
16	9	Gabby Cleveland	Frankenmuth	94.8
17	10	Jenna Overla	Alma	93.4
18	9	Elise Barden	Frankenmuth	93.1
19	12	McKenzie Betts	Alma	93.0
20	11	Ava Boggs	Flint Kearsley	92.9

REGION 2

SUMMER PREVIEW

As the guy responsible for much of the cross country discourse in the State, this falls on me. The Okemos girls are the least talked about D1 team in the State. Winners of the Corunna Early Bird and leading in the CAAC Blue, 2nd at John Bruder, 8th at Spartan Elite. I think it’s the lack of eye-popping frontrunners. But winners don’t place you high in big fields, depth does that, and the Chiefs have plenty of that, seven capable of running under 20:30.

Those East Lansing boys have been the real thorn in my side (sorry, Caledonia) the past few years. Graduating Zeleke and Page, what could be expected of the Trojans? Nothing much really other than Sam Booth grasping a gigantic PB in comparison to last season (and 4 minutes faster than his 2019 self) and Eden Lampi breaking 17:00 for the first time ever.

Place	Grade	Name	Team	Rating
1	11	Kenny Lewis	Saginaw Heritage	199.8
2	12	Joe Muha	Traverse City Central	198.5
3	12	Micah Bauer	Traverse City Central	197.9
4	11	Noah Selvaraj	Bay City Western	193.5
5	12	Jonah Hochstetler	Traverse City West	193.4
6	12	Jett Reimers	Traverse City Central	192.6
7	12	Gabriel Trevino	Saginaw Heritage	188.9
8	11	Willem DeGood	Traverse City West	187.8
9	11	Zack Truszkowski	Traverse City Central	186.3
10	12	Elijah Allen	Alpena	183.4
11	11	Alex Durocher	Traverse City Central	177.8
12	12	Gabe Benavides	East Lansing	176.9
13	12	Sam Elder	Grand Ledge	176.7
14	12	Theodore Lange	Saginaw Heritage	175.8
15	10	Nathan Wilkinson	Okemos	175.7
16	10	Elijah Hutchinson	Grand Ledge	175.4
17	11	Eden Lampi	East Lansing	175.0
18	11	Colin MacGregor	H.H. Dow	173.8
19	12	Hunter Hitzelberger	Alpena	172.8
20	12	Sam Booth	East Lansing	171.3

Place	Grade	Name	Team	Rating
1	12	Anna Delgado	East Lansing	166.9
2	12	Taylor Pangburn	Grand Ledge	147.5
3	10	Victoria Garces	H.H. Dow	145.9
4	10	Isabelle Becker	Bay City Western	137.5
5	12	Emma Netzel	Holt	137.0
6	10	Lauren Walker	Holt	135.1
7	11	Shannon Gillahan	Okemos	133.5
8	11	Ava King	Traverse City West	133.1
9	11	Lily Salazar	Okemos	131.6
10	11	Katie Watkins	H.H. Dow	131.5
11	10	Sydney Roberts	H.H. Dow	128.9
12	12	Ambria Nagel	Bay City Western	127.4
13	9	Abby Veit	Traverse City West	126.4
14	11	Alexis Ball	Traverse City Central	126.0
15	9	Bailey Wenzlick	Traverse City West	123.4
16	9	Aviana Skinner	Grand Ledge	122.0
17	11	Nicole Mays	Okemos	121.1
18	11	Ella Kirkwood	Traverse City Central	117.6
19	9	Elizabeth Schafer	Okemos	116.5
20	11	Emma Dickins	Alpena	115.4