Top Tens: Division 2 Boys

11 to 27

Rank	Team	Score
11	Sparta	656
12	Cedar Springs	667
13	Shepherd	684
14	DeWitt	689
15	Spring Lake	708
16	Pinckney	718
17	Flint Powers Catholic	758
18	Freeland	783
19	Big Rapids	783
20	Fremont	794
21	Adrian	803
22	Battle Creek Harper Creek	811
23	Parma Western	832
24	Petoskey	886
25	Grand Rapids South Christian	925
26	Holland	971
27	Gladwin	985

Overall Landscape

Rank	Team	2023 State Place	Scoring Returners	Varsity Returners
1	Allendale	4th	5 of 5	6 of 7
2	Grand Rapids Christian	6th	1 of 5	2 of 7
3	Alma	8th	4 of 5	6 of 7
4	Holland Christian	18th	5 of 5	7 of 7
5	Frankenmuth	12th	5 of 5	7 of 7
6	Otsego	10th	4 of 5	6 of 7
7	East Grand Rapids	3rd	3 of 5	4 of 7
8	Forest Hills Eastern	State Champion	2 of 5	2 of 7
9	Marshall	9th	4 of 5	4 of 7
10	Plainwell	11th	3 of 5	5 of 7

I wanted to change things up a bit regarding the Top Ten Teams. Over the past two summers, this has been a solid feature in the hype department, giving highlight to many kids on superb teams. One aspect I’ve felt that I’ve lacked is explaining how each team relates in comparison to others. I’ll attempt to do that here!

Included features are:

Strengths – characteristics making that team a contender.
Question Marks – any person or team that I write about here, I’m 100% confident you’ll shore up this “weaker” spot by year’s end. But this is a section that’ll look into why a team could be beat.
Looking Ahead – how the team might fare in their championship meets (conference, county, regional, state)

#1 Allendale

Strengths

A very strong top-six. Going six deep has tons of advantages. One, it puts less pressure on every runner, they now know that there’s backup in the case of an off day. Also, it gives the chance to take a bit more risk, because once again, there’s that extra guy just in case. Finally, against all but 1% of teams, the Falcon 6^th runner will be pushing back another team’s scorer. Anyhow, the Falcons wish to put six guys under 16:00. A doable goal.

Question Marks

It’ll take a true catastrophe for this to become a weakness, but to my eye now, a lack of prospects beyond those six. Perhaps a kid like Jaxon Ramos can continue improving? He was above 19:00 for a good chunk of cross, then ran a 11:16 3200m during his first track season.

Looking Ahead

Summer rankings have Allendale as the #3 team in the entire state, all divisions. They’ll be the favorites in Region 11, the new River Cities Alliance, and in a fun battle at Spartan (hopefully in the elite division?).

#2 Grand Rapids Christian

Strengths

Hard to believe that the Eagles are replacing four scorers and five varsity runners, yet still holding down the 2^nd rank. With eight returners that were under 18:00 in the fall and seven underclassmen that were sub-5 in the 1600m this past spring, quantity and quality depth is present.

Question Marks

The post-Jager era. At the helm of Grand Rapids Christian for over 30 years, he’d won countless conference and regional championships, along with the 2014 D2 Boys team title. Christian has such an outstanding culture that I’m sure the transition to a new head coach will be seamless.

Looking Ahead

I have the Eagles slotted right behind Allendale in the overall ranking, all divisions. Which then means they’ll be favorites in all meets, even the great OK White and the colossally tough Region 12.

#3 Alma

Strengths

Thomas Larson and Zeke Baltierra will be the best top-two in the division. The Panthers also have a stable of kids right near that 17-flat mark. Lebron, Elijah Baltierra, Heiss, and Terpstra. The Panthers had as good a 3200m spring season as anyone, putting five underclassmen under 10:20.

Question Marks

GR Christian and Allendale are probably a little stronger at the 3^rd and 4^th spots. This won’t impact Alma much throughout the regular season, but has a chance to make an impact late in the year. In comparison to Allendale (both teams return a ton), the Panthers lost 35 points at those spots during the State Finals.

Looking Ahead

Alma moves out of the wide-ranging Region 15 into Region 14, where they’ll be a heavy favorite. They won’t avoid Frankenmuth during the TVC season. Expect a tight battle between those two. The Panthers are also the defending Greater Lansing Champions, a race in which they’ll be favorites once again.

#4 Holland Christian

Strengths

All the returners and depth through so many spots. All seven boys from the Maroon state squad return. HC might have the best 7^th runner in the division. Currently, I have Nathan Steen at that spot (but it could be anyone else). Nathan comes off a track season where he rattled off 800 after 800. 5^th at Regionals, 4^th in the OK Blue, and part of HC’s state qualifying team. Combine that speed with a mid-17 runner and you have a quality that most other teams don’t have at the 7^th spot.

Question Marks

Wiping clean of the State Finals experience. The Maroons came into the Finals projected as the 12^th team, they placed 18^th. Though that type of experience can be motivating when slogging through a long summer and season.

Looking Ahead

Gotta imagine that the Maroons are glad to be avoiding Allendale in conference play. HC is moving from the OK Blue to the Black. Geographically, I like how this division is situated. XC strength-wise, HC looks to be the favorite. They also avoid the insanely difficult Region 12, instead they’re at Allendale for Region 11.

#5 Frankenmuth

Strengths

One of the better front fours in the entire state. Landen Wise has been featured in the 50 Tickets. Brett Magnus joined him in the 15’s. Cougar Clark showed tremendous strength in running a 9:49 in the 3200m. Anthony Plana was right there behind him, running 4:33/10:03.

Question Marks

Finding that fifth runner. One comparable (or even slightly slower) to Holland Christian and Alma could vault the Eagles into the top-3. Nick Parker seems to be the candidate (honest part, he’s listed as Nick Parker for track, then Nicklas Parker for cross, didn’t catch this when making calculations). He ran 4:31/10:10, which tends to equate to the mid-16’s.

Looking Ahead

The battles with Alma in the TVC will be incredible. Being in between the two cities, the Eagles travel to Greater Flint and Saginaw County for those championships, where they’ll be favorites in each. With Alma moving out of Region 15, Frankenmuth could surely step in and win.

#6 Otsego

Strengths

Potentially one of the better fifth runners in D2. That’s the spot where the most points are won or lost, where the runners in the pack tend to be separated by tenths of seconds. The Bulldogs return five boys who were under 17:00 last fall, a luxury not many in D2 have. Holten Mulherin was sub-17 early and late, most importantly hitting the mark at the State Finals, where he was the 4^th fastest 6^th guy in the field.

Question Marks

Otsego could use a guy to move towards Caleb Wesseldyk. In a few races, Kenny Scheffer was right there. If he can transform from a kid that was typically running 16:30’s to one closer to 16-flat, less of a gap will be formed in bigger meets. I don’t anticipate this second slot being an issue for much of the year, but could be a spot where a gap is formed at State.

Looking Ahead

The Bulldogs have dominated the Wolverine Conference. I’m sure they’ll welcome the challenge from cross-31 rival Plainwell. Otsego’s depth *should* win out. I think it’ll be enough at Region 13 as well.

#7 East Grand Rapids

Strengths

Strength at pretty much every spot. You’ve got the clutch Jonah Workman at the front, the ability to put all varsity boys in the low-17’s or faster. What looks to be an impactful freshman in Micah Becker (West Michigan MS champ) can be integrated into the lineup without much pressure.

Question Marks

Maybe a little weaker at the fifth spot comparable to other top teams. The Pioneers will need to find someone capable of breaking into the 16’s to competitive there. If Aiden VanKuiken channels his form from Distance Night, he’s a good candidate to get there.

Looking Ahead

EGR joins three other teams listed here in the OK White. Add in a Forest Hills Central and perhaps a Forest Hills Northern and you’ve got one of the more competitive divisions in Michigan. GRC is probably the favorite, but 2^nd is attainable. This should be good practice for the unevenly tough Region 12.

#8 Forest Hills Eastern

Strengths

Championship experience. Forest Hills Eastern is a team that’s truly “together”, being a part of the championship culture extends both into racing and into summer work. Henry Dixon is a sure low-stick up there, Tyler Endres has been there, and Steven Zawacki just finished a freshman track season where he ran 4:32.

Question Marks

The Replacements. Decent movie, maybe the best band of all-time. In the Hawks case, five replacements are coming in for their championship squad. Most of the kids were mid-17 types in XC. A few will need to make their way into the low-17’s by Regionals to avoid a Plainwell upset.

Looking Ahead

The Hawks make their way up into the great OK White. A little uptick in competition, where they could finish as low as 4^th or 5^th. They’ll be in the extremely difficult Region 12, where a poor performance of any of these top-10 teams could result in the team staying home in early November.

#9 Marshall

Strengths

Jack Bidwell and their top-three. Bidwell is a competitor, even if he wasn’t tremendously great, I feel that he’d stick his nose in there anyway. Both Abraham McHugh and Reece Davis were part of Marshall’s state title 4×8 squad and McHugh was a freshman that ran 4:32.

Question Marks

Not the deepest team of all-time, at least if you look to their cross country stats. However, if you peek to track, you’ll notice a Ty Winchell who ran 4:47/10:47. If he continues the pattern and moves into the low-17’s, the Redhawks become extremely dangerous.

Looking Ahead

Should be the best team in the Mid-State region. That extends to the I-8 and much of Region 13, except Otsego will be looming there.

#10 Plainwell

Strengths

Henry Cox at the front. He’s been detailed already in the 50 Tickets. In all but one race last fall, Henry finished in the top-10. That one race was State.

Question Marks

Compared to the other D2 teams, Plainwell’s team beyond Henry is solid. Compared to the other top-10 teams, relatively weaker. Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue, but they’re faced with a tough regional. Perhaps a Billy Pipkorn could stem that tide. He dropped nearly a minute in his 3200m times from 2023 to 2024.

Looking Ahead

Gonna be one of the better years in the Plainwell/Otsego rivalry, one of the older ones in Michigan. The two will meet in the Wolverine Conference, Allegan County, then part ways for separate Regionals. Wish we could see them face off in Region 13, sadly Plainwell is heading north to Region 12.