2024 Rankings: Week 3, Division 4

Race by race ratings, summer writeups, social media work, Excel, Word, Photoshop. Occasionally tedious, usually fun, but all leading to these – actual rankings!

If you’ve followed me over the past seven years (!), you know the gist of these and you know I’m always changing an aspect or three.

The individual ratings, which then are sorted into team rankings, take into account all the meets listed and linked here. An individual’s rating takes their best 2/3 of their rated races (rounding to the nearest whole number, so 3 of 5, 5 of 7, etc.). The races are weighed based on recency, field size, and competitiveness. The team rankings are compiled by combining all teams in a division into a hypothetical meet based on those individual ratings.

There are a few changes from last year:

• Coming back to rating weekday meets
  • Believe it or not, I’m still learning and I’ve figured out some ways to do these faster
  • I will be judicious in how many of these are performed
• Using the top 67% instead of last year’s 75%
  • More meets = a comparatively lower % that a runner will truly race all out
• Actual Upper Peninsula/Home School/other rankings
  • These more efficient methods mean I actually have data now and can post
• Writeups focused on the overall state of the division
  • Always a struggle here finding how much to write! Last year, I took up wayyy too much time writing about teams (who deserved the attention, but effort must be managed over here).  
  • I think this fall, I’ll briefly sum up how it’s looking like for the state title contenders, plus anything that catches my eye.

Similar to previous years:

• 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.
• One division at a time
  • I know I’d get lost sifting through every division in one post. Focusing on the smaller ones first gives attention to the divisions who might not receive as recognition as the more populated ones.

These are for fun. And I do this for free. I’m positive toward every runner in the state. Abiding by that golden rule, you should reciprocate. Capisce? Enjoy.

Recap

I love that both Royal Oak Shrine and Holland Calvary Christian are willing to test themselves against larger schools and more competitive fields. Shrine opened at Lamplighter, placing 12^th of 17 in the large division, even beating out a few D1/D2 teams. Calvary faced a D3-centric field at Under the Lights and more than held their own, earning 4^th out of 20. The mid-pack depth stands out for the Crusaders, with multiple youngsters in the 17’s.

There does not seem to be any distinct groupings in this division, somewhat equal gaps between the top teams. We’ll see in the next few weeks if a squad of contenders will emerge.

Looking Forward

Calvary Christian continues the award tour, undauntingly racing at Spartan Elite. Two top-5 teams in Maple City Glen Lake and Mason County Eastern will face off in the Glen Lake Invitational. We’ll learn about toughness, as that may be one of the grueling courses in the state.

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.
1	Holland Calvary Christian	185	31	165.4
2	Royal Oak Shrine	216	36	165.6
3	Hillsdale Academy	240	34	160.6
4	Mason County Eastern	267	29	162.3
5	Maple City Glen Lake	277	29	162.9
6	Harbor Springs	304	28	153.7
7	Kalamazoo Hackett	330	32	163.0
8	Whitmore Lake	420	33	150.5
9	Bridgman	516	32	144.3
10	Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart	547	30	138.0
11	Leland	550	29	136.6
12	Dryden	551	35	137.8
13	Riverview Gabriel Richard	585	36	137.8
14	Harbor Beach	608	35	136.3
15	Cardinal Mooney Catholic	617	36	133.9
16	Petoskey St. Michael	622	28	137.7
17	Auburn Hills Oakland Christian	646	36	131.8
18	Portland St. Patrick	654	31	130.5
19	Tri-Unity Christian	658	31	134.7
20	Grand Traverse Academy	659	29	131.0
21	Unionville-Sebewaing	665	35	130.7
22	Manchester	696	34	129.8
23	Marlette	699	35	127.9
24	Dansville	701	33	133.0
25	Lutheran Westland	711	36	126.6
26	Mesick	715	29	134.0
27	Frankfort	718	29	125.7

Recap

The Rams from Little Traverse Bay have raced a few times, East Jordan’s Party in the Park perhaps the most applicable one. There, they put six girls around 22:00 or under, the best depth shown thus far. Having six is always important, both for added insurance and displacers. Breckenridge comes off a narrow win in their home invite, besting a D3-ranked McBain team by one singular point. Earlier in the week, Whitmore Lake beat the Huskies by over 100 points at John Bruder (and placed 2^nd behind D3 power Ithaca), though Breckenridge was missing Maizy Matthews, who was their 3^rd girl on Saturday.

Looking Forward

The upcoming Breckenridge and Whitmore Lake battle at Holly. With five divisions at Holly, the field sizes are usually a little smaller in the D5 race, lower field sizes tending to lessen the depth advantage. The low sticks up front for the Trojans will likely be more of a bear to overcome. With that said, Whitmore is definitely the favorite, but I expect less of a time gap between the two squads.

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.
1	Harbor Springs	132	28	96.1
2	Whitmore Lake	170	33	100.8
3	Breckenridge	206	30	84.8
4	Kalamazoo Hackett	236	32	82.0
5	Bridgman	262	32	78.2
6	Hillsdale Academy	284	34	74.3
7	Gobles	287	31	82.1
8	Royal Oak Shrine	330	36	68.8
9	Ubly	340	35	68.6
10	Grand Traverse Academy	349	29	69.8
11	Vestaburg	402	30	71.1
12	Auburn Hills Oakland Christian	420	36	64.6
13	Unionville-Sebewaing	432	35	60.1
14	Lansing Christian	433	33	59.0
15	Buckley	446	29	57.7
16	Maple City Glen Lake	490	29	52.5
17	Holland Calvary Christian	512	31	51.2
18	Harbor Beach	514	35	51.7
19	Beal City	531	30	47.7
20	Martin	578	31	44.1
21	Clarkston Everest Collegiate	647	33	37.4
22	Frankfort	647	29	33.1
23	Petoskey St. Michael	670	28	31.3
24	Dryden	672	35	29.2
25	Genesee Christian Academy	683	33	31.5
26	Rogers City	687	28	31.6
27	Bear Lake-Onekama	699	29	27.0

Individual Rankings

Recap

Given that he lives and breathes running, Marek Butkiewicz was always going to come into the season in outstanding shape. But this good of shape? At the three invites he’s competed in both this fall and last, he’s run an average of 56 seconds faster. Will that keep up all year and extrapolate to his 16:12 at last November’s State Finals. Who knows, but the body of work is among the best in the entire state.

Looking Forward

Seeing if anyone can begin to close the gap on Butkiewicz. A good chunk of the top competitors are off this weekend, with one major exception. Colebrook Sutherland, Alex Tyndall, and the Redmans all are toeing the line at Glen Lake. The aforementioned tough track has the potential to separate individuals, as adverse conditions tend to exaggerate time gaps.

Top 30

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating	Region
1	11	Marek Butkiewicz	Kalamazoo Hackett	209.6	32
2	12	Alex Tyndall	Mason County Eastern	200.4	29
3	12	Theodore Davis	Dansville	199.9	33
4	11	Abenezer Cerone	Royal Oak Shrine	197.6	36
5	12	Mason Sinke	Bear Lake-Onekama	197.2	29
6	10	Kyle Redman	Mesick	196.6	29
7	12	Colebrook Sutherland	Maple City Glen Lake	194.4	29
8	11	Cody Bradley	Petoskey St. Michael	192.7	28
9	11	Landen Livingston	Whitmore Lake	190.4	33
10	11	Sean Siems	Kalamazoo Hackett	187.8	32
11	11	Landon Rogers	Three Oaks River Valley	186.7	32
12	10	Ty Redman	Mesick	185.4	29
13	12	Austin Sneed	East Jordan	184.5	28
14	10	Jacob Ferdubinski	Riverview Gabriel Richard	183.6	36
15	12	Tyler Laansma	Tri-Unity Christian	182.8	31
16	11	Brody Karg	Harbor Beach	181.6	35
17	12	Teddy Ippel	Bridgman	179.9	32
18	12	Andrew Mabry	Bridgman	179.1	32
19	10	Abraham Feeney	Maple City Glen Lake	178.9	29
20	9	Lincoln Laansma	Tri-Unity Christian	178.6	31
21	11	Grayson Rorick	Hillsdale Academy	176.8	34
22	10	Noah Schipper	Holland Calvary Christian	174.7	31
23	11	Grant Johnson	Manchester	174.6	34
24	10	Christian Getz	Holland Calvary Christian	173.8	31
25	10	Anthony Rowe	Breckenridge	173.6	30
26	12	Jeremiah Witt	Johannesburg-Lewiston	170.9	28
27	11	Cole Brege	Rogers City	168.0	28
28	12	Russell Vandermus	Petoskey St. Michael	167.2	28
29	11	Liam McCaw	Maple City Glen Lake	167.1	29
30	10	Wesley Chaffee	Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart	166.9	30

Recap

Kaylie Livingston is up to her usual shenanigans, winning races and running in the low-18’s. Boring and effective, which is needed in the Red & White’s hope for another title. Allie Nowak has just one race under her belt, the traditional J-L style that always works for the Cardinals. Her 18-flat at East Jordan was a school record, a sit n’ kick affair that draws eyeballs to what may occur in the future.

Looking Forward

Both Nowak and Livingston will be at Bluejay and Portage, a little mid-season treat.

Beyond those two, Izzy Brooks will be racing at Spartan’s D3/D4 race. She’s listed as the top seed and I don’t disagree. This will be the first opportunity for the senior to pop something this season.

Top 30

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating	Region
1	10	Kaylie Livingston	Whitmore Lake	159.0	33
2	12	Allie Nowak	Johannesburg-Lewiston	158.4	28
3	12	Abigail Davis	Vestaburg	144.3	30
4	10	Libby Smith	Gobles	139.7	31
5	12	Izzy Brooks	Adrian Lenawee Christian	134.5	34
6	12	Jane Manthei	Petoskey St. Michael	130.6	28
7	10	Stefi Reskevics	Harbor Springs	126.7	28
8	12	Eliza Keith	Auburn Hills Oakland Christian	125.2	36
9	11	Taylor Wiegand	Livingston Christian	118.3	33
10	12	Ella Knudsen	Leland	115.0	29
11	11	Emma Riker	Kalamazoo Hackett	114.3	32
12	11	Carina Burchi	Whitmore Lake	113.3	33
13	12	Natalie Gibbs	Birmingham Roeper	112.4	36
14	10	Addy Zeller	Bear Lake-Onekama	111.7	29
15	11	Lilah Kiley	Kingston	110.6	35
16	11	Ally Schmitz	Breckenridge	110.5	30
17	12	Presley Allen	Mendon	109.1	32
18	10	Harlie Fox	Johannesburg-Lewiston	108.7	28
19	11	Eleanor Cole	Lutheran Westland	107.1	36
20	10	Claire Long	Saginaw Nouvel	103.4	30
21	12	Kelcie Pung	Fowler	103.1	31
22	9	Carmella Julian	Maple City Glen Lake	102.7	29
23	11	Elodie Weaver	Whitmore Lake	101.6	33
24	10	Amelia McKinney	Grand Traverse Academy	101.2	29
25	11	Rowan Allen	Mendon	101.1	32
26	10	Veyda Conley	Martin	100.9	31
27	12	Juniper Rodham	Harbor Springs	100.7	28
28	12	Danica Aldrich	Breckenridge	98.2	30
29	12	Melanie Warren	Bridgman	98.1	32
30	12	Brianna Locke	Beal City	97.1	30