Best Distance Crews: Boys Week Eight

Always a point of contention with these competitive boys, this is sadly the final distance crew ranking of the regular season. There will be some new standings, rankings, and awards after the year.

If you’d like an explanation for how this goes down, hit the link below:

EXPLANATION

If you’d like to see how your team has (hopefully) moved up, click the previous rankings:

WEEK ONE
WEEK FOUR
WEEK SIX

These include times loaded onto athleticnet by Monday night and all of ’em are on there, hand times too.

Just as the females, I’d like to mention a boy from each of the top teams. But Northville is the exception, fueled mainly by the magnificence of the 4×800 team. There have been different lineups over the past two years, but the main members have been: Brendan Herger, Brady Heron, David Whitaker, Brandon Latta, and Brock Malaikal. In 2022 and 2023, the Mustangs have been undefeated in any relay containing a combination of those five teammates. Not only are they unbeaten, they’ve raced to a few fast times, most notably a pair of 7:44.7’s, at last years State Finals and at this year’s Golden Triangle. I sure hope they can find competition late in the year – whether at MITCA or a national meet. Mid-7:30’s is not out of the question.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points	Event
		7:44.7	Northville	1613	4×8
11	Brendan Herger	1:52.7	Northville	495	800m
12	David Whitaker	1:53.9	Northville	477	800m
11	Brendan Herger	9:14.7	Northville	460	3200m
11	Brendan Herger	4:16.2	Northville	459	1600m
12	Brandon Latta	1:55.2	Northville	457	800m
12	Brady Heron	1:57.4	Northville	421	800m
10	Ethan Powell	9:29.7	Northville	417	3200m
12	Brady Heron	4:21.7	Northville	417	1600m
12	Raunak Chattopadhyay	1:58.0	Northville	412	800m
12	Brady Heron	9:31.5	Northville	411	3200m
12	David Whitaker	4:22.6	Northville	410	1600m
10	Ethan Powell	1:59.0	Northville	396	800m
11	Vincent Filipek	1:59.5	Northville	388	800m
10	Ethan Powell	4:27.2	Northville	375	1600m
12	Brock Malaikal	2:00.9	Northville	364	800m
11	Nicholas Yaquinto	9:52.9	Northville	349	3200m
12	Raunak Chattopadhyay	4:31.2	Northville	344	1600m
11	Nicholas Yaquinto	4:34.3	Northville	321	1600m
9	Benjamin Hartigan	4:34.8	Northville	318	1600m
11	Vincent Filipek	4:36.9	Northville	301	1600m

Rank	Team	800m	1600m	3200m	4×8	Total
1	Northville	1849	1661	1637	1613	6761
2	Plymouth	1586	1646	1554	1403	6189
3	Brighton	1476	1440	1595	1233	5744
4	Saline	1587	1032	1536	1441	5596
5	Grand Haven	1329	1659	1040	1499	5527
6	Traverse City Central	1453	1542	1564	850	5410
7	Ann Arbor Skyline	1507	1535	796	1325	5162
8	Zeeland West	798	1472	1488	1295	5053
9	Romeo	751	1461	1449	1260	4921
10	Ann Arbor Pioneer	1089	1442	1089	1234	4854
11	Salem	1464	1009	691	1238	4402
12	Canton	1120	1016	1034	1096	4267
13	East Kentwood	1453	798	774	1212	4236
14	Rochester Adams	1237	813	695	1280	4025
15	Highland-Milford	1068	706	1092	1097	3963
16	Livonia Churchill	354	1446	788	1244	3831
17	Portage Central	387	1387	806	1210	3790
18	Battle Creek Lakeview	459	1104	742	1274	3580
19	Kalamazoo Loy Norrix	1152	704	342	1351	3550
20	Troy	367	1067	830	1255	3520
21	Forest Hills Central	776	925	668	1137	3507
22	Rockford	748	1167	455	1106	3476
23	Lake Orion	354	1315	687	1039	3395
24	Rochester	706	644	1016	1007	3374
25	Walled Lake Northern	414	1099	760	1045	3318
26	Clarkston	713	1054	347	1196	3310
27	St. Joseph	1129	602	0	1304	3034
28	Grosse Pointe South	731	814	416	1060	3020
29	Novi	375	794	793	988	2950
30	New Baltimore Anchor Bay	341	801	859	934	2935
31	Port Huron Northern	381	675	750	1056	2863
32	Walled Lake Central	785	311	446	1180	2722
33	Fraser	776	763	0	1121	2661
34	Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills	796	920	941	0	2657
35	Fenton	704	368	448	1102	2621
36	Saginaw Heritage	398	400	724	1030	2551
37	Jenison	0	708	787	1054	2549
38	DeWitt	1055	316	0	1098	2469
39	Monroe	716	363	336	1013	2427
40	Utica Eisenhower	367	657	340	1035	2398
41	Davison	705	349	391	944	2390
42	Dexter	373	666	345	1000	2384
43	Oxford	336	640	356	1046	2378
44	Macomb Dakota	0	688	674	968	2330
45	Harrison Twp. L’Anse Creuse	720	295	0	1231	2247
46	Caledonia	361	357	373	1056	2147
47	Farmington	449	421	357	879	2106
48	Berkley	434	762	862	0	2058
49	Traverse City West	854	787	383	0	2024
50	East Lansing	673	332	0	1019	2023

For the majority of the year, it seems as if I’ve been stating that Forest Hills Eastern is an “up and coming” program. There’s been reason for that, other than an Aiden Sullivan (take a look at his 400’s and pair with his miles, definitely a favorite to repeat in the 800m) and Alex Parker, the Hawks are mainly underclassmen. A few months back, we saw that development when the team placed 5^th in D2 State. This spring, we’re witnessing the transformation of a kid such as Henry Dixon,a sophomore in his first track season that’s run 4:23/9:20.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points	Event
		7:52.4	Forest Hills Eastern	1459	4×8
12	Aiden Sullivan	9:13.1	Forest Hills Eastern	465	3200m
10	Henry Dixon	9:20.0	Forest Hills Eastern	445	3200m
12	Aiden Sullivan	4:18.9	Forest Hills Eastern	438	1600m
10	Henry Dixon	4:23.8	Forest Hills Eastern	401	1600m
11	Brendan Hoving	9:39.9	Forest Hills Eastern	387	3200m
11	Liam Hinman	9:42.6	Forest Hills Eastern	379	3200m
12	Aiden Sullivan	2:00.2	Forest Hills Eastern	375	800m
11	Liam Hinman	4:27.4	Forest Hills Eastern	373	1600m
11	Liam Hinman	2:01.6	Forest Hills Eastern	353	800m
11	Brendan Hoving	4:32.1	Forest Hills Eastern	338	1600m
12	Alex Parker	2:02.6	Forest Hills Eastern	337	800m
11	Cooper Jacobsen	10:05.4	Forest Hills Eastern	313	3200m
12	Alex Parker	10:06.0	Forest Hills Eastern	311	3200m
10	Tyler Endres	2:04.6	Forest Hills Eastern	306	800m
11	Cooper Jacobsen	4:40.0	Forest Hills Eastern	278	1600m

D2 Rank	Team	800m	1600m	3200m	4×8	Total
1	Forest Hills Eastern	1372	1550	1675	1459	6056
2	Pinckney	1267	1891	1464	1218	5839
3	Adrian	1666	1196	1104	1537	5503
4	Grand Rapids Christian	1019	1263	1340	1061	4682
5	Chelsea	1206	996	1379	1006	4587
6	Frankenmuth	1341	1022	1108	1109	4579
7	Freeland	1472	1348	464	1200	4485
8	Otsego	731	1274	1396	1050	4451
9	Whitehall	972	1288	1036	1125	4421
10	Clio	1135	1148	1161	942	4387
11	Petoskey	1312	1043	955	1061	4370
12	Hamilton	1023	947	1147	1239	4356
13	Dearborn Divine Child	719	829	1492	1175	4216
14	East Grand Rapids	622	1276	1104	998	4001
15	Sparta	881	1231	1030	792	3934
16	Flint Powers Catholic	638	1107	1351	754	3849
17	Spring Lake	1106	1061	341	1260	3768
18	Yale	664	1103	673	1087	3528
19	St. Johns	613	694	996	1172	3476
20	Holland Christian	947	1115	338	822	3223
21	Fremont	332	884	856	1027	3099
22	St. Clair	754	612	524	1193	3083
23	Mason	542	696	949	892	3079
24	Corunna	734	794	382	1127	3036
25	Berrien Springs	626	910	603	863	3002
26	Marshall	1007	744	308	848	2907
27	Alma	636	621	685	897	2840
28	Big Rapids	708	666	440	942	2757
29	Monroe Jefferson	790	430	441	1005	2666
30	Allendale	0	729	1171	736	2637
31	Gladwin	360	652	831	786	2629
32	Paw Paw	286	674	752	646	2358
33	Wayland Union	662	573	275	844	2354
34	Detroit Country Day	794	248	549	696	2287
35	Grand Rapids Catholic Central	619	612	1042	0	2272
36	Ludington	851	254	261	871	2237
37	Linden	708	773	714	0	2195
38	Ortonville Brandon	772	564	0	848	2184
39	Battle Creek Harper Creek	307	614	886	347	2153
40	Ionia	306	304	636	832	2077
41	New Boston Huron	315	509	267	943	2034
42	Plainwell	360	258	567	785	1969
43	Parma Western	656	378	263	643	1940
44	Haslett	291	770	791	0	1852
45	Grand Rapids South Christian	0	502	647	636	1786
46	Howard City-Tri-County	339	307	276	832	1754
47	Riverview	322	338	0	997	1657
48	Orchard Lake St. Mary’s	0	241	828	579	1648
49	Charlotte	376	309	324	594	1602
50	Lake Fenton	0	384	400	808	1592

Likely influenced by his 2022 season, I’ve always thought of Clayton Ackley as an endurance beast. During his junior year, he placed 4^th in the D3 3200m, running a 9:33 personal best. At the time, his best 1600m was “only” 4:30, meaning he was running that 3200m about as close to his 1600m pace as you can get, a 17 second differential. Well this spring, he’s sprung upon some speed (maybe being in the presence of Ms. Maginity will do that to ya). He’s lowered his 100m time by a second, 800m by seven seconds, and 1600m by six seconds. Those gains have surely helped in his 8 lap races, where he’s whittled his personal best down to 9:23. But past results beg the question: how fast can he truly go with everything on the line? With five All-States in his career, you know he brings his best when it’s all on the line.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points	Event
		8:09.2	Hart	1147	4×8
12	Clayton Ackley	9:23.6	Hart	434	3200m
12	Clayton Ackley	4:24.2	Hart	398	1600m
12	Wyatt Dean	1:59.7	Hart	385	800m
12	Seth Ackley	9:43.6	Hart	376	3200m
12	Clayton Ackley	2:01.3	Hart	359	800m
12	Wyatt Dean	4:30.1	Hart	353	1600m
12	Guillermo Ortega	2:01.8	Hart	350	800m
12	Seth Ackley	4:33.1	Hart	331	1600m
12	Caleb Bitely	2:03.9	Hart	317	800m
12	Seth Ackley	2:03.9	Hart	316	800m
12	Wyatt Dean	10:23.6	Hart	260	3200m
10	Kaden Bond	2:08.8	Hart	239	800m
9	Jack Slotman	2:08.8	Hart	238	800m
12	Easton Vander Zwaag	2:10.1	Hart	218	800m
12	Josef Bromley	10:54.3	Hart	170	3200m
9	Jack Slotman	4:58.6	Hart	136	1600m
12	Caleb Bitely	4:59.1	Hart	133	1600m

D3 Rank	Team	800m	1600m	3200m	4×8	Total
1	Hart	1412	1217	1241	1147	5017
2	Traverse City St. Francis	1226	1059	1149	994	4427
3	Benzie Central	1047	1136	1111	904	4198
4	Ithaca	1091	895	1003	1025	4014
5	Hanover-Horton	1160	1087	938	663	3847
6	Reed City	771	1051	831	1016	3668
7	Clare	1172	773	828	857	3630
8	Pewamo-Westphalia	1003	919	772	850	3544
9	Erie Mason	910	920	702	890	3421
10	GR Covenant Christian	1009	411	674	681	2775
11	Olivet	647	772	283	962	2664
12	Constantine	988	493	372	699	2553
13	Grandville Calvin Christian	458	683	898	384	2422
14	Ottawa Lake-Whiteford	605	657	583	462	2307
15	Kalkaska	480	561	452	785	2278
16	Grayling	785	764	0	577	2127
17	Chesaning	896	365	181	667	2110
18	Adrian Madison	522	421	440	681	2064
19	Onsted	328	535	703	470	2036
20	Saranac	1071	272	335	322	2000
21	Jonesville	607	424	201	745	1977
22	Caro	875	580	488	0	1943
23	Montague	783	433	0	699	1915
24	Saugatuck	282	416	788	384	1871
25	Bloomingdale	337	467	470	553	1827
26	Centreville	487	326	372	610	1796
27	Remus Chippewa Hills	606	340	311	539	1796
28	Hillsdale	492	274	275	726	1767
29	Bath	211	532	502	446	1691
30	Hudson	426	357	373	475	1630
31	Sanford-Meridian	480	387	205	549	1621
32	St. Louis	0	428	655	477	1560
33	Stockbridge	0	317	634	563	1513
34	White Cloud	234	351	170	698	1452
35	Kent City	268	351	381	439	1440
36	North Muskegon	205	262	372	533	1373
37	Elk Rapids	197	268	517	391	1373
38	Manistee	433	221	241	464	1358
39	Bronson	541	210	0	571	1321
40	Union City	192	202	402	500	1297
41	Bridgman	326	167	0	798	1291
42	Leslie	218	166	273	614	1271
43	Brooklyn Columbia Central	212	298	362	399	1270
44	Manton	566	378	308	0	1251
45	Lansing Catholic	303	147	165	619	1234
46	Ovid-Elsie	210	137	201	677	1225
47	Holland Black River	327	204	242	402	1175
48	Blissfield	318	196	0	616	1130
49	Ravenna	454	0	0	673	1127
50	Coloma	363	359	328	0	1050

I agree with Jacob Tanner’s D4 State analysis here, that the Pumas will have a chance at a team title, but an uphill fight. One unexpected point scorer could be Noah Finton. Osterink, Swiney, and Rodriguez are almost guarantees to score significant individual points, but Noah has quietly started knocking on the door of 3200m contention. Unlike many of the top runners in the division, he’ll likely be fresh for the 3200m. He’s already dropped 50 seconds from his 2022 best. And he’s only run one race at that speed, surely there are some areas for improvement. It may be even be one point, but each and every one of them counts.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points	Event
		8:17.4	The Potter’s House	1008	4×8
12	Lezawe Osterink	9:06.9	The Potter’s House	483	3200m
12	Lezawe Osterink	4:15.3	The Potter’s House	466	1600m
12	Lezawe Osterink	1:58.9	The Potter’s House	396	800m
12	Logan Swiney	9:38.5	The Potter’s House	391	3200m
11	Jackson Rodriguez	4:26.4	The Potter’s House	381	1600m
11	Jackson Rodriguez	2:01.1	The Potter’s House	361	800m
11	Jackson Rodriguez	9:54.4	The Potter’s House	345	3200m
12	Logan Swiney	4:34.1	The Potter’s House	323	1600m
11	Noah Finton	10:16.9	The Potter’s House	279	3200m
12	Logan Swiney	2:08.2	The Potter’s House	248	800m
9	Edward Mugisha	2:09.6	The Potter’s House	226	800m
11	Noah Finton	4:50.7	The Potter’s House	196	1600m
11	Ezra Hagedorn	4:51.1	The Potter’s House	193	1600m
11	Ezra Hagedorn	10:50.0	The Potter’s House	183	3200m
11	Noah Finton	2:13.8	The Potter’s House	159	800m
9	Edward Mugisha	4:59.9	The Potter’s House	127	1600m

D4 Rank	Team	800m	1600m	3200m	4×8	Total
1	The Potter’s House	1231	1366	1498	1008	5103
2	Petoskey St. Michael	991	966	1321	473	3752
3	Hillsdale Academy	1053	895	988	794	3730
4	Kalamazoo Hackett	1088	978	759	837	3661
5	Harbor Springs	809	558	825	628	2820
6	Johannesburg-Lewiston	827	1112	792	0	2731
7	Three Oaks River Valley	620	563	496	720	2399
8	East Jackson	695	424	571	706	2396
9	Mason County Eastern	566	552	467	740	2325
10	Marine City Cardinal Mooney	713	693	431	450	2288
11	Maple City Glen Lake	534	586	205	778	2102
12	Reading	534	393	483	612	2021
13	Frankfort	512	389	347	568	1816
14	Whitmore Lake	175	370	426	582	1553
15	Buckley	558	230	78	660	1526
16	Carson City-Crystal	181	343	569	356	1449
17	Concord	584	140	139	548	1411
18	Adrian Lenawee Christian	195	435	442	307	1379
19	St Philip Catholic Central	334	269	108	643	1354
20	Vestaburg	585	376	391	0	1352
21	Lutheran Westland	396	286	96	572	1351
22	Pentwater	337	509	476	0	1321
23	Montabella	388	458	457	0	1303
24	Petersburg-Summerfield	640	333	245	0	1218
25	Dansville	171	346	293	368	1177
26	Fowler	330	255	151	409	1145
27	Southfield Christian	167	270	242	456	1135
28	Riverview Gabriel Richard	296	277	0	555	1128
29	Potterville	461	246	126	284	1116
30	Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary	262	239	138	447	1086
31	Royal Oak Shrine	277	260	157	374	1068
32	Allen Park Cabrini	0	328	321	378	1027
33	Muskegon Western Mich. Christian	284	228	0	310	821
34	Detroit Frederick Douglass	563	101	126	0	790
35	Plymouth Christian Academy	213	354	140	0	708
36	Martin	338	0	0	346	685
37	Eau Claire	335	132	0	196	663
38	Novi Christian Academy	0	226	174	257	657
39	Beal City	224	282	122	0	628
40	Muskegon Catholic Central	203	0	94	300	596
41	Birmingham Roeper	0	175	208	183	566
42	Brown City	0	156	207	201	564
43	Ubly	222	53	0	287	562
44	Mayville	178	161	0	211	550
45	Genesee	150	153	226	0	528
46	Deckerville	0	53	0	461	514
47	East Jordan	213	0	271	0	483
48	Manistee Catholic	140	155	180	0	475
49	Kingston	0	198	258	0	457
50	Morenci	156	76	0	223	455

When you’re as dominating as Marquette, I tend to notice names. Vanderschaaf, White, Thomson, Papin. But one name throughout time that I haven’t noticed is James Barch. For two reasons mainly, he didn’t run cross country and his best 800m as a freshman was a 2:28. In this sophomore year, he’s already knocked a giant 16 seconds off that 800m, coming in at 2:12. Which by the way, is the third fastest time of any 10^th grader north of the bridge.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points	Event
		8:14.6	Marquette	1055	4×8
12	Colin Vanderschaaf	4:25.7	Marquette	387	1600m
12	Colin Vanderschaaf	2:02.4	Marquette	342	800m
11	Cullen Papin	2:02.9	Marquette	334	800m
12	Carson Vanderschaaf	2:04.6	Marquette	306	800m
10	Chase Thomsen	10:11.5	Marquette	295	3200m
11	James Kraeg	10:14.0	Marquette	288	3200m
12	Braden Ketzenberger	10:17.5	Marquette	278	3200m
12	Adam White	10:20.3	Marquette	269	3200m
12	Carson Vanderschaaf	4:41.4	Marquette	267	1600m
10	Chase Thomsen	4:44.6	Marquette	243	1600m
11	James Kraeg	4:46.5	Marquette	228	1600m
12	Adam White	2:10.2	Marquette	216	800m
12	Adam White	4:48.3	Marquette	215	1600m
10	Evan Balko	2:10.4	Marquette	214	800m
10	Evan Balko	4:48.4	Marquette	213	1600m
12	Brian Belkowski	2:10.4	Marquette	213	800m
11	James Kraeg	2:11.9	Marquette	190	800m
10	James Barch	4:53.5	Marquette	175	1600m
10	James Barch	2:13.0	Marquette	172	800m
9	Peter Argeropolous	10:57.5	Marquette	161	3200m
10	Chase Thomsen	2:14.0	Marquette	156	800m
9	Peter Argeropolous	4:57.4	Marquette	145	1600m
12	Drew White	11:06.2	Marquette	136	3200m
12	Drew White	5:02.4	Marquette	108	1600m
9	Ben Kuhl	5:05.0	Marquette	87	1600m
10	Marlow Quigley	5:05.9	Marquette	81	1600m
12	Brian Belkowski	5:06.9	Marquette	73	1600m

UP Rank	Team	800m	1600m	3200m	4×8	Total
1	Marquette	1197	1125	1130	1055	4506
2	Sault Ste. Marie	763	613	665	396	2437
3	Gladstone	681	601	227	591	2101
4	Houghton	246	333	339	365	1282
5	Manistique	144	176	163	460	943
6	Pickford	202	167	144	429	943
7	Ironwood	219	248	115	353	936
8	Negaunee	347	167	0	325	840
9	Munising	0	238	254	290	783
10	Dollar Bay	197	191	170	211	770
11	Stephenson	179	172	0	208	560
12	Chassell	0	169	235	0	404
13	Kingsford	0	0	0	389	389
14	Forest Park	143	137	79	0	359
15	Escanaba	0	0	0	355	355
16	Ishpeming	0	0	0	277	277
17	St. Ignace	235	0	0	0	235
18	Calumet	211	0	0	0	211
19	Newberry	161	0	0	0	161
20	Painesdale-Jeffers	0	126	0	0	126
21	Holy Name	0	77	0	0	77