2023 Rankings: Week 3, Division 4

It’s that time! We’re back again with rankings, both for teams and individuals. Three weeks into the season, plenty of rust busted, times dropped, and a bit of clarity towards our top teams and athletes.

If you’ve followed these over the past few years, you may know the gist of these, but let’s break it down once again:

The individual ratings take into account all the meets listed here. There are a few meets missing that I’ll link to, but pretty much any meet with a significant number of athletes will have been calculated. An individual’s rating takes their best 75% of rated races (rounding up, so 4 of 5, 5 of 6, etc.), weighs them with more recent races having a higher weight, then spits out a final rating. The team rankings score those individuals as if they were in a meet against their entire division.

There are a few changes from previous years:

• No more ratings of weekday, conference meets
  • Why? One, often these aren’t raced all out and end up underrating a runner. Two, to lessen my workload. I’d rather concentrate on these rankings and use the weekend invites that are more likely to be raced hard to determine the rankings.
• Using the top 75% of races instead of 67%
  • Why? If I’m gonna use fewer overall races from a runner’s resume, I have to make up for it in some way.
• No more individual rankings posted to social media
  • Why? I hate instances where a runner stagnates or falls back over the course of the season and it’s posted for the world to see. I recognize people want to know where they’re ranked, so just having it on the website is a happy medium.
• More writeups focused on the top teams and individuals, rather than just handpicking one each week
  • I’ve found that when it comes toward state time, I know all the numbers and what a kid might run, but have a tough time pointing toward a narrative. Hopefully writing a little recap and what to look forward to will help in that regard. I’ll start the story with three teams/individuals this week, then expand in future weeks.
• Posting these one division at a time
  • If you’ve noticed, I always go Division 4 first, trending towards Division 1. This is done intentionally! Traditional media always focuses on the larger schools. By focusing on the smaller divisions first, they get the love that they might not normally receive. It’ll be Division 4 first this week, then next week I think I’ll have enough stats to start on the Upper Peninsula, so they’ll go first.

Now I need to be serious for a minute. These are for fun. If you don’t like these fun rankings, you don’t need to participate, you don’t need to call me names, talk trash to your fellow competitors, or send rude emails. We good here? Enjoy.

Whitmore Lake

Winners of the Small School division at John Bruder, winners of the entire Birch Run Early Invite. Went up against stacked D4 competition in USA, Kingston and came away victorious, held their own against D1 competition at Lamplighter. Emergence of Sofia Robertson has been a major help.

Johannesburg-Lewiston

Full squad hasn’t competed together yet. Half were at Under the Lights, half at Red Devil. Getting Harlie Fox, a middle school sprinter, to run a 21:00 opener keeps them in contention with Whitmore Lake.

Hillsdale Academy

Iris Millies has been a key early season contributor, continuing her 23:00 streak, but only faster. Then you have those usual suspects, the Brownlees and the last of the Roberts. Saturday, the Colts are going against Whitmore Lake, which I think will be a good depiction of their fitness.

Rank	Girls Team	Score	Region
1	Whitmore Lake	76	33
2	Johannesburg-Lewiston	125	28
3	Hillsdale Academy	255	34
4	Kingston	256	35
5	Gobles	256	31
6	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	293	31
7	Breckenridge	308	30
8	Harbor Springs	313	28
9	Auburn Hills Oakland Christian	354	36
10	Buckley	373	29
11	Saugatuck	406	31
12	Mason County Eastern	418	29
13	Unionville-Sebewaing	493	35
14	Grand Traverse Academy	513	29
15	Pittsford	530	34
16	Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart	531	30
17	Kalamazoo Hackett	567	32
18	Royal Oak Shrine	591	36
19	Concord	604	32
20	Allen Park Cabrini	629	36
21	Livingston Christian	656	33
22	Lansing Christian	671	33
23	Beal City	686	30
24	Fowler	695	33
25	Vestaburg	742	30
26	Leland	742	29
27	Ubly	760	35

Hillsdale Academy

Two invites, two wins. Perhaps most telling was their opener across town, where the Colts comfortably beat top D3 teams in Hanover-Horton and Jonesville. As with their girls, the boys should face another stiff test at Holly – going against the likes of Breckenridge, Lutheran Westland, Whitmore Lake, amongst others. Guess I’ll have to get to Holly early.

Johannesburg-Lewiston

Given their top 3 boys, it was always gonna be about what came from their 4^th and 5^th runners. I know it was a fast track at East Jordan, but having Layman under 18:00 and Fulton in the mid-18’s combined with Coach Marcum’s careful training gives the Cardinals much potential.

Holland Calvary Christian

Of their top nine runners at South Christian, eight were freshmen. When looking at the results as a whole, their 9^th place in the Starlight division might not seem impressive, but please pay attention to the field – it was primarily D1/D2 teams.

Rank	Boys Team	Score	Region
1	Hillsdale Academy	165	34
2	Johannesburg-Lewiston	254	28
3	Holland Calvary Christian	271	31
4	Mason County Eastern	304	29
5	Kalamazoo Hackett	325	32
6	Three Oaks River Valley	337	32
7	Royal Oak Shrine	393	36
8	Saugatuck	400	31
9	Maple City Glen Lake	456	29
10	Lutheran Westland	466	36
11	Marine City Cardinal Mooney	548	36
12	Frankfort	569	29
13	East Jackson	582	34
14	Breckenridge	597	30
15	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	602	31
16	Auburn Hills Oakland Christian	617	36
17	Harbor Beach	626	35
18	Muskegon Catholic Central	629	31
19	Whitmore Lake	647	33
20	Pentwater	656	29
21	Tri-Unity Christian	671	31
22	Battle Creek St. Philip	730	32
23	Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary	752	30
24	Morenci	777	34
25	Harbor Springs	783	28
26	Jackson Preparatory	785	34
27	St. Joseph Our Lady of the Lake Catholic	786	31

GIRLS INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS

Kaylie Livingston

Introduction to HS cross country has been a resounding success. Three races, three wins, three efforts in the low-18’s.

Aiden Harrand

Personal best at Benzie was two years in the making. Her 17:52 knocked 16 seconds off her previous record. Effort at Bear Country was likely a bit more controlled (and probably underrates her here), yet still another victory. I think we’ll get a matchup vs. Kaylie at Portage, only a month away.

Allie Nowak

Set the J-L school record with an 18:26 at Red Devil. For comparison’s sake, her opener as a sophomore was 20:32. By the end of her sophomore year, Allie had finished 3^rd in Division 4.

Rank	Grade	Name	Real Team	Rating	Region
1	9	Kaylie Livingston	Whitmore Lake	160.7	33
2	12	Aiden Harrand	Buckley	158.4	29
3	11	Allie Nowak	Johannesburg-Lewiston	145.1	28
4	12	Ava Teed	Allen Park Cabrini	142.7	36
5	11	Grace VanderKooi	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	138.8	31
6	11	Izzy Brooks	Adrian Lenawee Christian	136.4	34
7	11	Eliza Keith	Auburn Hills Oakland Christian	130.7	36
8	12	Miriam Murrell	Gaylord St. Mary	129.3	28
9	10	Carina Burchi	Whitmore Lake	127.4	33
10	11	Jane Manthei	Petoskey St. Michael	127.2	28
11	9	Libby Smith	Gobles	126.5	31
12	11	Ella Knudsen	Leland	122.6	29
13	12	Brooke Smith	Pittsford	119.6	34
14	10	Sofia Robertson	Whitmore Lake	118.8	33
15	9	Stefi Reskevics	Harbor Springs	117.6	28
16	12	Natalie Meadows	Whitmore Lake	116.3	33
17	11	Juniper Rodham	Harbor Springs	116.3	28
18	12	Madalyn Agren	Johannesburg-Lewiston	115.5	28
19	10	Yolanda Gascho	Johannesburg-Lewiston	112.2	28
20	10	Taylor Wiegand	Livingston Christian	110.2	33
21	11	Abigail Davis	Vestaburg	110.2	30
22	12	Isabella Yeoman	Genesee	110.0	33
23	11	Ava Mallar	Pittsford	108.5	34
24	12	Allison Glendening	St. Joseph Lake Michigan Catholic	108.4	31
25	9	Ava DeYoung	Gobles	106.2	31
26	11	Presley Allen	Mendon	105.7	32
27	11	Ella Walton	Hillsdale Academy	105.4	34
28	10	Ruth Brownlee	Hillsdale Academy	105.4	34
29	9	Harlie Fox	Johannesburg-Lewiston	104.5	28
30	9	Anna Sheppard	Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart	102.3	30

BOYS INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS

Owen Patton

The summer training and its added endurance have been paying off. Two wins, one in the small school division at John Bruder and the other in an opener at Chippewa Hills. But I’ve marveled at the consistency, through the tough or easy efforts, he’s run the equivalent of sub-16 each time out.

Abe VanDuinen

Pound for pound, the competition for the boys WMD title is as good a conference battle you’ll find. The Redmans, Mason Sinke, and Abe are all likely to finish in the top-15 at Division 4 State. Abe was victorious on Wednesday, then ripped a sub-16 on Saturday.

Tyler Lenn

Win in the D2-D4 division at the Muskrat Classic was his first of the year. His 16:27 at Eastwood was 6 seconds faster than his junior effort, on a much slower course mind you.   

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating	Region
1	12	Owen Patton	Vestaburg	205.1	30
2	12	Abe VanDuinen	Pentwater	193.4	29
3	12	Tyler Lenn	Marine City Cardinal Mooney	192.4	36
4	12	Thomas Holm	Hillsdale Academy	192.1	34
5	11	Colebrook Sutherland	Maple City Glen Lake	191.3	29
6	11	Mason Sinke	Bear Lake-Onekama	189.2	29
7	10	Abenezer Cerone	Royal Oak Shrine	188.4	36
8	9	Ty Redman	Mesick	188.0	29
9	9	Kyle Redman	Mesick	187.8	29
10	12	Michael Allen	East Jackson	186.9	34
11	10	Marek Butkiewicz	Kalamazoo Hackett	186.2	32
12	12	Malaki Gascho	Johannesburg-Lewiston	185.4	28
13	10	Grayson Rorick	Hillsdale Academy	181.9	34
14	12	Gavin Sehy	Kalamazoo Hackett	181.3	32
15	12	Sawyer Stoneman	Breckenridge	180.9	30
16	12	Blake Fox	Johannesburg-Lewiston	180.5	28
17	11	Tyler Laansma	Tri-Unity Christian	177.4	31
18	9	Riley Weed	Holland Calvary Christian	175.9	31
19	10	Charlie Gibson	Three Oaks River Valley	175.9	32
20	12	Javin Mericle	East Jackson	175.4	34
21	10	Lynus Cadarette	Petoskey St. Michael	174.3	28
22	12	Kaden Forward	Bear Lake-Onekama	172.5	29
23	10	Landen Livingston	Whitmore Lake	172.1	33
24	10	Carson Burgess	Brown City	171.9	35
25	11	Reece Poole	Hillsdale Academy	171.0	34
26	9	Noah Schipper	Holland Calvary Christian	171.0	31
27	12	Luke Niedzielski	Mason County Eastern	171.0	29
28	11	Matthias Morse	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	171.0	31
29	10	Brody Karg	Harbor Beach	170.7	35
30	9	Anthony Rowe	Breckenridge	170.4	30