Best Distance Crews: Girls Week Eight

Let’s start Regional Week off right. These are the final Girls Distance Crew rankings until this wild season is over.

Click the link below if you’d like an explanation:

EXPLANATION

Click the links below if you’d like to see how your team has (hopefully) improved:

WEEK ONE
WEEK FOUR
WEEK SIX

These contain marks uploaded to athleticnet by Saturday evening, hand times and all.

Thought I’d give a shoutout to integral members of these top teams. Pioneer, doing what they’ve done all season, has already gotten a little love from me in the form of a few sentences about Rachel Forsyth, but I’m gonna break my own rules and write about someone twice. I love her comeback season and the ruthlessness in which she races. Two elite races at Barnyard and Shepherd, two dares to the competition, asking the field if they can hang with the torrential pace she’s throwing down. This weekend, she was working on her mid-distance events, winning the SEC Red in both events. She currently ranks in the top-3 in the State in each event, 400m and up.

But in keeping with my own rules, I’ve been mightily impressed with Emily Cooper too. It’s always been my (likely false) impression that she’s more a mid-distance runner. Well her 10:33 at Shepherd showed outstanding strength. She also had a great showing at the SEC Red, capturing the 1600m, then doubling back to place 3^rd in the 800m, her 2:15 a season best. And these two are excellent teammates, contributing to winning 4×4’s and 4×8’s.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points	Event
		9:03.2	Ann Arbor Pioneer	1711	4×8
11	Rachel Forsyth	10:17.5	Ann Arbor Pioneer	523	3200m
11	Rachel Forsyth	2:10.3	Ann Arbor Pioneer	504	800m
11	Rachel Forsyth	4:51.3	Ann Arbor Pioneer	501	1600m
12	Emily Cooper	10:33.8	Ann Arbor Pioneer	495	3200m
12	Emily Cooper	4:59.9	Ann Arbor Pioneer	464	1600m
11	Sylvia Sanok Dufallo	5:01.0	Ann Arbor Pioneer	459	1600m
12	Emily Cooper	2:16.0	Ann Arbor Pioneer	452	800m
11	Sylvia Sanok Dufallo	2:16.2	Ann Arbor Pioneer	450	800m
9	Quincy Behm	2:20.1	Ann Arbor Pioneer	415	800m
11	Natalie Mello	11:22.1	Ann Arbor Pioneer	411	3200m
11	Natalie Mello	5:14.2	Ann Arbor Pioneer	403	1600m
11	Lydia Bowman	5:18.7	Ann Arbor Pioneer	383	1600m
11	Sylvia Sanok Dufallo	11:45.0	Ann Arbor Pioneer	372	3200m
12	Allison Nutt	11:46.8	Ann Arbor Pioneer	369	3200m
11	Natalie Mello	2:25.4	Ann Arbor Pioneer	366	800m
9	Ava Griffith	5:26.0	Ann Arbor Pioneer	352	1600m
11	Katie Hume	11:56.7	Ann Arbor Pioneer	352	3200m
11	Katie Hume	5:27.8	Ann Arbor Pioneer	344	1600m
11	Lydia Bowman	12:01.1	Ann Arbor Pioneer	344	3200m
12	Allison Nutt	5:28.0	Ann Arbor Pioneer	343	1600m
9	Hana Boggess	12:07.3	Ann Arbor Pioneer	333	3200m
9	Amani Sanogo	5:31.5	Ann Arbor Pioneer	328	1600m

Rank	Team	800m	1600m	3200m	4×8	Score
1	Ann Arbor Pioneer	1820	1826	1800	1711	7158
2	Saline	1654	1534	1594	1466	6248
3	Northville	1582	1566	1171	1485	5804
4	Romeo	1084	1655	1739	1292	5770
5	Brighton	1184	1501	1645	1414	5745
6	Holland West Ottawa	1251	1731	1247	1470	5700
7	Grand Haven	1616	1509	715	1405	5245
8	Traverse City West	1591	1514	836	1300	5241
9	Rochester	1214	1281	1324	1237	5057
10	Ann Arbor Skyline	801	1611	1263	1263	4938
11	Howell	1179	1112	1107	1429	4827
12	Jenison	780	1170	1578	1288	4815
13	Macomb Dakota	734	1491	1275	1156	4656
14	Traverse City Central	1544	1054	802	1234	4635
15	Zeeland West	776	1395	1153	1282	4606
16	Zeeland East	1154	1193	825	1379	4551
17	St. Joseph	894	1263	1241	1129	4527
18	Walled Lake Western	404	1212	1507	1062	4185
19	DeWitt	767	1048	753	1202	3771
20	Oxford	378	1173	1164	997	3711
21	Lowell	822	926	966	991	3706
22	H.H. Dow	717	1142	832	983	3674
23	Highland-Milford	838	847	713	1260	3659
24	Bay City Western	726	845	827	1087	3483
25	East Kentwood	1131	670	354	1291	3446
26	Grand Ledge	793	834	732	1057	3416
27	Livonia Stevenson	720	777	840	1044	3381
28	Grand Blanc	776	683	796	1106	3361
29	Okemos	358	736	1168	898	3159
30	Walled Lake Northern	819	803	336	1161	3118
31	Forest Hills Central	402	752	814	1050	3018
32	Novi	407	756	770	1080	3013
33	Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills	462	482	839	1082	2865
34	Kalamazoo Central	386	695	681	1036	2799
35	Livonia Franklin	742	321	417	1216	2695
36	Wyandotte Roosevelt	469	766	455	986	2676
37	Rochester Adams	769	412	426	1025	2632
38	Farmington	1197	1079	335	0	2612
39	Dexter	364	717	348	1176	2605
40	Lake Orion	713	429	403	982	2527
41	Canton	401	458	465	1082	2406
42	Rochester Hills Stoney Creek	732	393	377	879	2381
43	South Lyon East	439	1143	794	0	2376
44	Kalamazoo Loy Norrix	348	693	388	937	2367
45	Rockford	375	383	356	1175	2289
46	Ann Arbor Huron	377	339	349	1180	2246
47	Oak Park	866	413	0	927	2207
48	Holt	439	728	0	1015	2181
49	Portage Central	362	673	0	1073	2108
50	Fraser	352	377	398	949	2076

Perhaps the least talked about (I realize that I do most of the talking) favorite in any division is Natalie VanOtteren. You may have not noticed it, but she was 8^th in the Elite 3200m at Shepherd, her 10:40 a 24 second personal best. And within that field of potential All-Staters, she was the top Division Two girl. She’s also worked on her speed a bit too, dropping 10+ seconds from her previous best in the 1600m to break 5:00 earlier in the year.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points	Event
		9:39.0	Grand Rapids Christian	1274
11	Natalie VanOtteren	10:40.8	Grand Rapids Christian	483	3200m
11	Natalie VanOtteren	4:58.7	Grand Rapids Christian	469	1600m
11	Naomi Nelson	11:06.7	Grand Rapids Christian	438	3200m
11	Natalie VanOtteren	2:19.2	Grand Rapids Christian	423	800m
11	Payton Holtz	2:21.0	Grand Rapids Christian	406	800m
11	Naomi Nelson	5:13.7	Grand Rapids Christian	405	1600m
11	Naomi Nelson	2:24.4	Grand Rapids Christian	376	800m
11	Payton Holtz	5:24.9	Grand Rapids Christian	356	1600m
9	Annika TerBeek	11:58.0	Grand Rapids Christian	349	3200m
9	Ellie Scholma	12:01.2	Grand Rapids Christian	344	3200m
9	Ellie Scholma	5:29.4	Grand Rapids Christian	337	1600m
12	Anna Triezenberg	2:30.2	Grand Rapids Christian	323	800m
12	Sarah Timmer	12:20.2	Grand Rapids Christian	311	3200m
12	Sarah Timmer	5:36.2	Grand Rapids Christian	308	1600m
12	Anna Triezenberg	5:39.4	Grand Rapids Christian	294	1600m
9	Annika TerBeek	5:40.2	Grand Rapids Christian	291	1600m

D2 Rank	Team	800m	1600m	3200m	4×8	Total
1	Grand Rapids Christian	1528	1567	1613	1274	5983
2	Otsego	1310	1522	1572	1089	5493
3	East Grand Rapids	1281	1274	1214	1328	5097
4	Monroe Jefferson	1039	1017	1033	1261	4350
5	Forest Hills Eastern	1040	1335	742	1031	4148
6	Frankenmuth	706	1072	1138	905	3823
7	Shepherd	1102	1055	376	1257	3790
8	Freeland	962	941	925	888	3717
9	Spring Lake	1100	768	412	990	3270
10	St. Johns	1016	777	400	1069	3263
11	Petoskey	602	978	755	922	3258
12	Goodrich	761	681	705	902	3049
13	Detroit Country Day	1257	598	327	847	3029
14	Tecumseh	431	698	715	1152	2996
15	Dearborn Divine Child	651	578	600	1087	2915
16	Alma	1012	416	393	1051	2870
17	Croswell-Lexington	654	669	680	844	2847
18	Sparta	718	707	677	682	2785
19	Ludington	317	954	653	821	2747
20	Sturgis	1034	406	392	826	2659
21	Adrian	667	692	362	910	2632
22	Cadillac	633	652	379	967	2630
23	Chelsea	660	352	770	829	2611
24	GR West Michigan Aviation	1071	705	0	825	2601
25	Whitehall	706	1066	694	0	2467
26	Gaylord	656	731	755	0	2142
27	Williamston	358	660	292	831	2141
28	Warren Regina	304	291	597	946	2139
29	Armada	657	557	0	893	2107
30	Mason	680	422	0	1003	2106
31	Hudsonville Unity Christian	317	639	377	707	2040
32	Haslett	642	562	0	835	2039
33	Grand Rapids Catholic Central	722	458	835	0	2016
34	Grand Rapids South Christian	378	325	314	902	1919
35	Middleville Thornapple-Kellogg	304	338	374	871	1887
36	Stevensville Lakeshore	681	339	0	840	1860
37	North Branch	623	283	0	771	1676
38	Newaygo	315	303	357	678	1652
39	Orchard Lake St. Mary’s	0	331	362	742	1435
40	Coopersville	301	290	0	821	1413
41	Edwardsburg	327	315	0	739	1381
42	Paw Paw	329	344	0	679	1352
43	Fruitport	0	316	296	731	1343
44	Carleton Airport	328	623	334	0	1286
45	Corunna	0	306	0	836	1142
46	Pontiac Notre Dame Prep	335	662	0	0	998
47	Coldwater	354	317	318	0	990
48	Plainwell	0	341	619	0	960
49	Linden	0	629	315	0	944
50	Cranbrook Kingswood	387	306	0	0	693

Keep breaking those school records. In the span of two weeks, Pewamo-Westphalia’s Whitney Werner has knocked down two of those. First, it was the 3200m at Shepherd, where she dropped nearly 20 seconds from last year. And on the other end of the spectrum, her 2:18 800m at Alma was a return into the sub-2:20 club, a distinction she gained late last year. As with many on these top teams, her contributions don’t just end with the individual events, on Friday, she joined her Pirate teammates on wins in the 4×4 and 4×8.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points	Event
		9:49.5	Pewamo-Westphalia	1157
10	Whitney Werner	11:12.0	Pewamo-Westphalia	429	3200m
10	Whitney Werner	2:18.9	Pewamo-Westphalia	426	800m
10	Whitney Werner	5:11.3	Pewamo-Westphalia	415	1600m
12	Ella Kowatch	2:24.6	Pewamo-Westphalia	374	800m
12	Abby Arens	2:30.4	Pewamo-Westphalia	321	800m
9	Victoria Hengesbach	2:32.9	Pewamo-Westphalia	298	800m
12	Abby Arens	5:40.8	Pewamo-Westphalia	289	1600m
9	Allison Nurenberg	2:35.2	Pewamo-Westphalia	278	800m
12	Lorelei George	2:35.2	Pewamo-Westphalia	277	800m
11	Hayden Hengesbach	12:54.4	Pewamo-Westphalia	252	3200m
11	Melanie Werner	12:56.5	Pewamo-Westphalia	248	3200m
10	Emma Wittenbach	12:56.9	Pewamo-Westphalia	248	3200m
9	Abbie Schneider	5:54.4	Pewamo-Westphalia	230	1600m
9	Victoria Hengesbach	5:59.0	Pewamo-Westphalia	210	1600m
9	Emerie Smith	5:59.4	Pewamo-Westphalia	208	1600m

D3 Rank	Team	800m	1600m	3200m	4×8	Total
1	Pewamo-Westphalia	1418	1143	1176	1157	4895
2	Jackson Lumen Christi	1412	1250	776	1145	4583
3	Hart	1391	1126	965	1083	4565
4	Lansing Catholic	1215	889	1129	462	3695
5	Benzie Central	850	975	719	778	3322
6	Stanton Central Montcalm	689	963	1042	597	3290
7	Caro	906	838	542	930	3216
8	Ithaca	888	330	867	963	3049
9	Traverse City St. Francis	532	885	693	932	3042
10	Kent City	566	880	699	759	2904
11	Blissfield	576	918	605	765	2864
12	Elk Rapids	586	851	590	817	2845
13	Boyne City	703	623	733	657	2715
14	Onsted	787	406	409	1033	2636
15	Reese	563	797	311	821	2493
16	Erie Mason	887	669	0	931	2487
17	Hanover-Horton	698	589	334	856	2477
18	Lawton	730	740	375	497	2342
19	St. Louis	341	632	643	536	2153
20	Monroe St. Mary CC	268	639	270	965	2143
21	Remus Chippewa Hills	260	547	615	703	2125
22	Grandville Calvin Christian	319	621	670	413	2022
23	Ida	357	524	313	684	1878
24	Ovid-Elsie	387	336	343	675	1742
25	Grand Traverse Academy	335	322	338	693	1688
26	Manton	460	324	338	506	1627
27	Charlevoix	299	324	931	0	1554
28	Manistee	312	350	271	448	1381
29	Bridgman	268	250	278	581	1377
30	North Muskegon	498	261	0	601	1360
31	Saranac	442	443	470	0	1355
32	McBain	480	256	0	568	1305
33	Leslie	251	233	261	558	1305
34	Schoolcraft	260	253	260	521	1293
35	Kalamazoo Christian	0	645	0	617	1262
36	Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard	259	209	0	706	1174
37	Olivet	274	264	0	614	1152
38	Morley-Stanwood	356	380	392	0	1129
39	Wixom St. Catherine	0	271	277	521	1069
40	GR Covenant Christian	357	361	336	0	1054
41	Saginaw Valley Lutheran	279	208	0	506	993
42	Laingsburg	289	470	230	0	990
43	New Lothrop	233	199	0	453	886
44	Parchment	562	274	0	0	836
45	Sanford-Meridian	233	270	299	0	802
46	Union City	262	240	276	0	778
47	Stockbridge	0	213	0	558	771
48	Grass Lake	319	423	0	0	742
49	Fennville	0	230	475	0	705
50	Grand Rapids West Catholic	0	196	0	500	696

Five All-States on the grass, eight on the track. Megan Roberts looks poised to add more trophies to her already enormous collection. Following a 2022 season that ended with an unfortunate injury, she’s back in prime form. Personal bests have come in all events from the 400m to 1600m, the most recent of which occurring in a 58.71 win at Hillsdale, a state lead and her first sub-59.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points	Event
		9:55.2	Hillsdale Academy	1097
12	Megan Roberts	2:20.4	Hillsdale Academy	412	800m
12	Megan Roberts	5:24.5	Hillsdale Academy	358	1600m
10	Caroline Roberts	2:27.2	Hillsdale Academy	350	800m
11	Angela Alvarez	2:31.9	Hillsdale Academy	307	800m
12	Whitney Wilkinson	5:41.4	Hillsdale Academy	286	1600m
12	Whitney Wilkinson	12:38.5	Hillsdale Academy	279	3200m
11	Haven Socha	2:35.4	Hillsdale Academy	275	800m
9	Abby Brownlee	5:43.9	Hillsdale Academy	275	1600m
10	Ella Walton	12:48.8	Hillsdale Academy	261	3200m
9	Abby Brownlee	12:56.8	Hillsdale Academy	248	3200m
12	Whitney Wilkinson	2:38.6	Hillsdale Academy	246	800m
9	Georgia Whalen	2:42.2	Hillsdale Academy	214	800m
10	Ella Walton	5:58.6	Hillsdale Academy	212	1600m
9	Abby Brownlee	2:44.4	Hillsdale Academy	193	800m
11	Julia Caspar	2:45.0	Hillsdale Academy	188	800m
9	Elizabeth Caspar	2:46.8	Hillsdale Academy	171	800m
12	Olivia Tritchka-Stuchell	13:51.1	Hillsdale Academy	154	3200m

D4 Rank	Team	800m	1600m	3200m	4×8	Total
1	Hillsdale Academy	1344	1131	942	1097	4514
2	Rochester Hills Lutheran NW	1218	910	383	922	3432
3	Fowler	1277	604	463	900	3244
4	Whitmore Lake	871	691	496	797	2855
5	Johannesburg-Lewiston	283	939	761	856	2838
6	Pittsford	682	710	450	983	2825
7	Auburn Hills Oakland Christian	848	784	382	803	2817
8	Muskegon Western Mich. Christian	845	813	420	685	2763
9	The Potter’s House	857	436	542	685	2520
10	Breckenridge	824	826	150	616	2416
11	Petoskey St. Michael	1028	752	599	0	2379
12	Portland St. Patrick	1126	228	142	706	2202
13	Buckley	493	504	458	722	2177
14	Leland	239	625	658	630	2151
15	East Jordan	602	352	645	533	2132
16	Adrian Lenawee Christian	627	338	376	711	2051
17	Harbor Springs	700	241	293	698	1932
18	Kalamazoo Hackett	535	309	395	505	1744
19	Unionville-Sebewaing	604	246	272	600	1721
20	St. Joseph Our Lady of the Lake Catholic	408	267	330	658	1662
21	Farwell	427	283	300	560	1570
22	Libertas Christian	524	431	0	572	1527
23	Allen Park Cabrini	0	381	408	629	1418
24	Beal City	657	326	0	336	1319
25	Deckerville	228	281	258	539	1306
26	Kingston	333	244	216	506	1298
27	Morenci	204	214	0	821	1239
28	Ubly	189	190	239	594	1211
29	Gobles	535	312	0	325	1172
30	Fruitport Calvary Christian	635	254	250	0	1139
31	Brown City	234	241	256	400	1131
32	Harbor Beach	220	156	148	556	1080
33	Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary	223	382	0	440	1045
34	Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart	357	380	274	0	1011
35	Vestaburg	279	302	160	268	1009
36	Indian River Inland Lakes	234	131	147	459	971
37	Addison	461	282	210	0	953
38	Athens	301	264	0	366	932
39	Mendon	290	305	332	0	928
40	Colon	0	210	273	443	925
41	Novi Christian Academy	400	163	0	332	895
42	Potterville	231	389	220	0	840
43	Genesee	227	297	278	0	801
44	Onekama	356	384	0	0	740
45	Coleman	215	268	243	0	726
46	Forest Area	325	385	0	0	710
47	Big Rapids Crossroads Academy	224	226	252	0	702
48	Lutheran Westland	252	256	185	0	693
49	Maple City Glen Lake	334	330	0	0	664
50	Marlette	282	357	0	0	639

For weeks I’ve been wondering: when is Marquette gonna put some times up? We saw in cross how they fearlessly came down below the bridge to race against the big names in Michigan, hanging right in there. A runner this benefitted was Ella Fure, who ran in the 21’s at Spartan, placed top-5 at Marquette County, broke 20:00 in the Great Northern Conference, all before a 3^rd place finish in the D1 Finals. She’s continued that momentum to the spring, where she holds the top time in the UP for 3200m, one of only two girls under 12:00 for that distance.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points	Event
		10:47.9	Marquette	612
9	Ella Fure	11:50.3	Marquette	363	3200m
11	Abigail Harma	12:11.3	Marquette	326	3200m
11	Abigail Harma	5:39.8	Marquette	293	1600m
10	Monet Argeropoulos	12:36.7	Marquette	282	3200m
9	Ella Fure	2:38.3	Marquette	249	800m
10	Monet Argeropoulos	5:53.9	Marquette	232	1600m
10	Maija Maki-Warne	2:42.3	Marquette	213	800m
12	Elodie Malherbe	13:28.1	Marquette	194	3200m
10	Elisa Malherbe	2:46.1	Marquette	178	800m
10	Claire Maskart	2:46.7	Marquette	173	800m
12	Elodie Malherbe	6:16.8	Marquette	134	1600m

UP Rank	Team	800m	1600m	3200m	4×8	Total
1	Marquette	813	659	1165	612	3249
2	Manistique	427	491	414	976	2309
3	Houghton	471	878	270	627	2247
4	Sault Ste. Marie	895	233	355	700	2184
5	Escanaba	216	512	211	1047	1986
6	Newberry	492	592	297	561	1942
7	Negaunee	247	384	463	635	1729
8	Stephenson	561	324	189	587	1661
9	Ishpeming	459	301	275	491	1525
10	Pickford	295	332	253	376	1255
11	Munising	0	241	420	486	1147
12	Hancock	165	194	150	450	959
13	Bark River-Harris	186	196	0	327	709
14	Bessemer	208	219	194	0	622
15	Dollar Bay	0	156	0	279	435
16	Menominee	182	190	0	0	372
17	Calumet	0	136	0	0	136
18	Ironwood	249	0	184	231	665
19	Norway	458	0	168	0	626
20	North Dickinson County	175	0	164	0	339
21	Gladstone	261	0	0	0	261
22	West Iron County	208	0	0	0	208
23	Kingsford	0	0	0	437	437
24	St. Ignace	0	0	0	289	289
25	Cedarville	0	0	175	0	175