Best Distance Crews: Boys Week Four

Come down from the Boston high yet? What a day for distance running. Upsets, heartbreak, gutsy races. A few right off the top of my head in relation to Michigan cross country: Tarn Leach, former East Jordan star was (I believe) 3rd in the Masters. And of course Zach Ornelas, with his incredible balance of teaching, raising children, and competitively running, was 29th Overall and 16th American.

I’m actually feeling motivated to run again. But first, your best boys distance crews through four weeks of the 2023 season.

To review, these “best crews” were started last year to try to recognize the best teams in each event area, whether that’s the jumps here, or sprints or throws elsewhere. Last year’s version was more complex and relied on having three participants in each event. I’ve changed things a bit this year, mostly to ease the process on my end and have the ability to include more teams.

Here’s the process:

Over the winter, I created my own version of World Athletics Tables, but for Michigan athletes. These are based on times/marks from the 2022 Outdoor Season throughout the US. Their purpose is to compare similar marks across events. Here are the boys and girls tables:

BOYS TABLES

GIRLS TABLES

There are two guidelines for being included. Your mark has to be from this outdoor season and it has to be better than the Regional Additional Qualifying Mark. Marks from this season are taken from the athletic.net performance lists. There will likely be some instances where someone has run a time, but it’s not included on that list. I can’t help that! Please contact the necessary folks to get your name on there.

For each event, with a maximum of four athletes, those scores are added together. Then within a category, those events are added together. Relays are scaled to match their importance within a meet. Often, at the state level, teams score more points from a relay than they would with four individuals running that event (unless you’re elite, in that case you’re limited to 10 points from that event), so they’re given a bit more importance here.

Here’s an example of one of the better early season crews, the Northville milers. Always a deep team, it’s no shock the Mustangs have six(!!!) under 4:37 at this point in the year. I only take the top 4 from a school for each event – with one exception, if you can put 5 under the STATE qualifier, which for Division 1, which is 4:25. If anyone can do it, it’s these Northville boys:

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points	Score
11	Brendan Herger	4:19.7	Northville	432	1588
12	David Whitaker	4:22.9	Northville	408
12	Brady Heron	4:25.7	Northville	386
10	Ethan Powell	4:29.0	Northville	362
12	Raunak Chattopadhyay	4:36.5	Northville	304
11	Vincent Filipek	4:36.9	Northville	301

These rankings are composed of any time thrown on athleticnet through SUNDAY NIGHT.

Back to the 800m, this time a bit more gradual route that I’m hoping pays off come June. Jake Eagling has been a mainstay in the Adrian distance program. Has always contributed in cross country and has found his niche in the mid-distances on the track. He’s been a 2x state qualifier in the 800m, each time falling a little short of the podium. But he’s never opened his season like he did at the Lincoln Indoor Classic. His 1:57 was his second time under 2:00 and best opener by 8+ seconds.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points
		7:59.8	Northville	1316
11	Brendan Herger	1:53.6	Northville	482
11	Brendan Herger	4:19.7	Northville	432
12	Brandon Latta	1:58.0	Northville	411
12	David Whitaker	4:22.9	Northville	408
12	Brady Heron	9:34.0	Northville	404
10	Ethan Powell	9:36.9	Northville	395
12	David Whitaker	1:59.0	Northville	395
12	Brady Heron	4:25.7	Northville	386
12	Brady Heron	2:00.8	Northville	367
10	Ethan Powell	4:29.0	Northville	362
12	Raunak Chattopadhyay	4:36.5	Northville	304
11	Vincent Filipek	4:36.9	Northville	301

D1 Rank	Team	800m	1600m	3200m	4×8	Total
1	Northville	1655	1588	799	1316	5358
2	Plymouth	774	1520	348	1232	3874
3	Grand Haven	788	1228	492	1057	3565
4	Ann Arbor Skyline	0	1006	405	1155	2566
5	Saline	354	659	405	1117	2534
6	Zeeland West	694	698	0	889	2281
7	Battle Creek Lakeview	459	324	331	1158	2273
8	Rochester Adams	411	347	0	1007	1765
9	Fraser	0	730	0	1004	1733
10	Portage Central	349	398	0	914	1661
11	Traverse City West	411	689	366	0	1466
12	Ann Arbor Pioneer	733	726	0	0	1459
13	St. Joseph	363	0	0	1096	1459
14	Livonia Churchill	0	985	388	0	1373
15	East Kentwood	0	660	700	0	1360
16	Jenison	0	329	0	997	1326
17	Kalamazoo Loy Norrix	363	0	0	887	1250
18	Portage Northern	0	337	0	909	1246
19	East Lansing	0	321	0	866	1187
20	Oxford	0	306	0	865	1172
21	Rockford	408	705	0	0	1113
22	Brighton	331	367	350	0	1048
23	Port Huron Northern	0	317	730	0	1047
24	Traverse City Central	0	1044	0	0	1044
25	Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills	0	486	429	0	915

Back to the 800m, this time a bit more gradual route that I’m hoping pays off come June. Jake Eagling has been a mainstay in the Adrian distance program. Has always contributed in cross country and has found his niche in the mid-distances on the track. He’s been a 2x state qualifier in the 800m, each time falling a little short of the podium. But he’s never opened his season like he did at the Lincoln Indoor Classic. His 1:57 was his second time under 2:00 and best opener by 8+ seconds.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points
	4x800m	8:03.1	Adrian	1256
12	Jake Eagling	1:57.1	Adrian	425
11	Braylon Petty	9:37.3	Adrian	394
11	Braylon Petty	2:00.1	Adrian	378
12	Aiden Smith	4:27.0	Adrian	377
11	Matthew Canales	2:01.3	Adrian	359
9	Moises Salazar	2:05.9	Adrian	286
9	Moises Salazar	4:39.5	Adrian	281

D2 Rank	Team	800m	1600m	3200m	4×8	Total
1	Adrian	1448	658	394	1256	3757
2	Otsego	674	600	909	1050	3232
3	Chelsea	605	391	1220	911	3127
4	Pinckney	316	1172	663	963	3115
5	Clio	713	1013	344	905	2975
6	Freeland	411	697	464	1200	2772
7	Hamilton	1209	510	0	961	2680
8	Corunna	657	628	352	1001	2637
9	Forest Hills Eastern	599	1040	0	959	2598
10	Dearborn Divine Child	280	308	1090	661	2339
11	Whitehall	901	543	610	0	2054
12	East Grand Rapids	267	925	0	853	2045
13	Sparta	311	634	927	0	1872
14	Monroe Jefferson	661	410	0	787	1857
15	Marshall	295	541	266	746	1848
16	Grand Rapids Christian	315	528	0	843	1687
17	Alma	270	258	248	788	1564
18	Holland Christian	0	509	297	750	1557
19	Yale	0	255	292	878	1426
20	Linden	0	400	441	576	1417
21	Ionia	299	0	290	682	1271
22	St. Johns	315	0	0	945	1261
23	Spring Lake	363	759	0	0	1123
24	Paw Paw	0	596	519	0	1115
25	Mason	267	550	296	0	1114

Hunter Jones can do a lot, place at the State Finals in the 800m, 1600m, 3200m (and I’m sure if he wanted to do the 400m, he could compete there too). But are you used to seeing another Benzie name on the starting line with him? Pol Molins was a crucial addition to the Huskies cross country program, solidly in the 16’s for much of the fall. In 2023, he’s shown to be a competitor at the shorter distance events. His 4:22 at Nike Indoor Nationals was an eye opener, with 2-3 more months of Coach Kelly’s training, he could easily contend for the second spot at the D3 Finals.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points
	4x800m	8:32.3	Hart	779
12	Clayton Ackley	4:30.9	Hart	347
12	Wyatt Dean	2:04.0	Hart	315
12	Clayton Ackley	2:06.4	Hart	277
9	Jack Slotman	2:08.8	Hart	238
12	Seth Ackley	10:34.1	Hart	229
12	Easton Vander Zwaag	2:10.1	Hart	218
12	Caleb Bitely	2:10.2	Hart	217
12	Wyatt Dean	4:48.9	Hart	210
12	Seth Ackley	4:54.6	Hart	166
12	Josef Bromley	11:01.9	Hart	148

D3 Rank	Team	800m	1600m	3200m	4×8	Total
1	Hart	1049	723	378	779	2928
2	Clare	835	689	616	442	2582
3	Traverse City St. Francis	1076	732	473	0	2280
4	Pewamo-Westphalia	950	305	544	459	2258
5	Hanover-Horton	347	460	744	662	2213
6	Reed City	665	471	197	639	1972
7	Remus Chippewa Hills	487	240	311	539	1576
8	Benzie Central	361	773	368	0	1501
9	Caro	535	523	330	0	1388
10	Olivet	283	157	192	635	1268
11	Saranac	917	190	150	0	1257
12	Ottawa Lake-Whiteford	0	268	494	462	1224
13	Hillsdale	468	184	0	518	1171
14	Chesaning	357	320	0	415	1091
15	Constantine	219	306	142	404	1071
16	Adrian Madison	224	199	208	429	1061
17	Centreville	474	312	226	0	1012
18	Erie Mason	440	506	0	0	946
19	Grandville Calvin Christian	0	344	462	0	807
20	Parchment	397	407	0	0	804
21	Kent City	204	314	250	0	767
22	Hudson	0	0	345	412	757
23	Kalkaska	0	294	452	0	746
24	Leslie	219	166	0	329	715
25	Ithaca	0	157	534	0	691

I’ll let this excellent article do much of the talking, but just wanted to give a shoutout to Johannesburg-Lewiston’s Blake Fox. His 1:59.36 wasn’t only his first sub-2, it was his first sub-2:10, and it was also his first sub-2:15. Blake hadn’t run an official 800m since his sophomore year, but it appears he retained all the knowledge of how to handle the pain. Whereas Moses Osterink may control the 1600m and 3200m, the 800m could be up for grabs. Along with Fox, there are plenty of returners that will look to seize a state title.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points
	4x800m	8:17.4	The Potter’s House	1008
12	Lezawe Osterink	4:26.5	The Potter’s House	380
11	Jackson Rodriguez	4:39.0	The Potter’s House	286
12	Logan Swiney	4:42.4	The Potter’s House	260
9	Edward Mugisha	2:12.5	The Potter’s House	180
11	Ezra Hagedorn	5:02.0	The Potter’s House	110

D4 Rank	Team	800m	1600m	3200m	4×8	Total
1	The Potter’s House	180	1036	0	1008	2224
2	Kalamazoo Hackett	226	504	312	596	1639
3	Mason County Eastern	479	404	265	182	1330
4	Three Oaks River Valley	148	394	284	408	1234
5	Johannesburg-Lewiston	389	745	0	0	1135
6	Hillsdale Academy	246	243	265	347	1100
7	East Jackson	0	310	400	314	1025
8	Petoskey St. Michael	219	437	252	0	908
9	Dansville	0	294	217	368	879
10	Buckley	447	0	0	412	860
11	Pentwater	188	274	352	0	814
12	Montabella	0	383	420	0	803
13	Reading	347	252	154	0	754
14	Frankfort	216	73	84	308	681
15	Carson City-Crystal	0	0	269	356	625
16	Petersburg-Summerfield	439	152	0	0	591
17	Vestaburg	379	0	207	0	587
18	Marine City Cardinal Mooney	179	387	0	0	566
19	Adrian Lenawee Christian	0	86	188	213	487
20	Fowler	0	53	198	233	484
21	Harbor Springs	0	299	174	0	473
22	Allen Park Cabrini	0	121	315	0	436
23	Beal City	185	224	0	0	409
24	Muskegon Western Mich. Christian	0	176	0	226	402
25	Genesee	0	133	226	0	359

And last but not least, the UP:

UP Rank	Team	800m	1600m	3200m	4×8	Total
1	Sault Ste. Marie	411	585	609	0	1606
2	Gladstone	320	393	149	0	861