2024 Rankings: Division 1, Week 3

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 contain races through Saturday.

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

Same old story as previous years. Northville’s depth is overwhelming folks. In Tuesday’s Tri Meet of the Year (facing #2 Brighton and #5 Canton), the Mustangs asserted their presence on the second loop through the north side of Cass Benton, putting six boys in front of either team’s two. At Bath, all of their varsity runners were under 16:50, at Lamplighter’s season opener, the same was true, but now 16:30.

Looking Forward

Concentrating on two races: Ottawa Hills and Spartan Elite. I anticipate some great movement in the rankings when we come out of Riverside Park, between 6^th and 15^th contain six teams that will be where their feet are. Earlier in the afternoon, at Spartan’s Elite race, we’ll get to see the top-3 teams face off. Jenison will try their hand at Northville. Upsets are possible here, if you remember correctly, Brighton won on the 6^th runner here last fall.

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.
1	Northville	88	6	202.3
2	Brighton	157	4	198.5
3	Jenison	221	1	197.6
4	Clarkston	327	8	193.9
5	Canton	338	6	194.0
6	Traverse City Central	357	2	192.5
7	Saline	375	5	191.2
8	Livonia Churchill	446	6	191.2
9	Grand Haven	486	1	190.1
10	Portage Central	498	3	188.0
11	Rockford	508	1	187.8
12	East Kentwood	514	3	189.9
13	Kalamazoo Central	583	3	186.5
14	Midland	680	2	183.9
15	Traverse City West	689	2	184.6
16	Ann Arbor Pioneer	692	5	185.7
17	Okemos	703	2	184.2
18	Highland-Milford	735	7	186.8
19	Grand Ledge	782	2	182.5
20	Macomb Dakota	803	9	181.6
21	Lowell	804	3	183.0
22	Utica	808	9	182.6
23	White Lake Lakeland	827	7	180.8
24	Temperance Bedford	839	5	182.5
25	Oxford	876	8	182.9
26	Salem	891	6	179.5
27	Kalamazoo Loy Norrix	919	3	181.0

Recap

Once again, appearing as the same setup as last year. Romeo’s got a pack and they’re deep. The Bulldogs have even added to their amazing top-5, Ella Goodsell and Reese Rosbolt learning as they go, varsity runners on 99% of the other teams but competing for a spot in the top-7 over on Jewell Road. The field behind them HAS gotten stronger however, Holland West Ottawa throwing out 10+ girls capable of running sub-20’s and Saline’s freshmen giving the Hornets a boost to their already impactful pack.

Looking Forward

Again, a mix of Ottawa Hills and Spartan. I’m glad Ottawa Hills has become a viable option this weekend. Spartan is a massive meet, but perhaps too much going on for some. The quiet, fast, and local race on the banks of the Grand River can be ideal, too. Anyhow, five top-10 teams at Spartan (#4 Brighton, #5 Ann Arbor Pioneer, #8 Northville, #9 Okemos, and #10 Grand Haven). Coming down from Up North are both Traverse City West and Central, hoping to knock off Portage Central or Rockford.

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.
1	Romeo	86	9	144.8
2	Holland West Ottawa	150	1	143.3
3	Saline	165	5	134.2
4	Brighton	254	4	133.7
5	Ann Arbor Pioneer	266	5	136.8
6	Traverse City West	283	2	131.7
7	Rockford	329	1	129.3
8	Northville	407	6	125.7
9	Okemos	410	2	129.4
10	Grand Haven	450	1	125.2
11	Utica	510	9	121.7
12	White Lake Lakeland	579	7	118.3
13	Portage Central	589	3	117.9
14	Jenison	643	1	115.9
15	Rochester Adams	663	8	115.9
16	Traverse City Central	696	2	113.3
17	Hartland	702	4	113.2
18	Macomb Dakota	716	9	113.2
19	Ann Arbor Skyline	730	4	112.9
20	Midland Dow	750	2	116.8
21	Hudsonville	805	1	109.7
22	Salem	806	6	112.8
23	Rochester	815	8	109.9
24	Dexter	819	4	110.0
25	Farmington	834	6	110.6
26	Grandville	908	1	108.0
27	Fraser	915	9	107.0

Individual Rankings

Recap

You just don’t break 16:00 at Possum Hollow this early in the year. At Averill, only three have: James Gedris, Jack Spamer, and Kyle O’Rourke. Heading away from the crowds, KOR put a gap on the field, then emerging towards the double hill, had opened up a significant lead that became a 25 sec. victory. He now sits 3^rd in Milford history on the famed course. He’s looking like the early favorite in Division 1, but we also haven’t seen the record-breaking freshmen compete just yet.

Looking Forward

Finally, a little attention toward Holly. Aidan Pengelly and Jack MacGregor have each shown themselves to be tough racers, Pengelly giving Ethan Powell everything he could handle at both Lamplighter and the Tri of the Year, MacGregor won’t back down either. Powell will find Seth Conner in the elite race at Spartan. Milford races sparingly through September, but it looks like we’ll see them on Jackson’s fast course in a week.

Top 30

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating	Region
1	11	Kyle O’Rourke	Highland-Milford	217.6	7
2	11	Aiden Pengelly	Canton	210.1	6
3	10	Jack MacGregor	Howell	209.5	4
4	12	Ethan Powell	Northville	209.4	6
5	12	Seth Conner	Jenison	207.3	1
6	11	Beckett Crooks	Ann Arbor Pioneer	207.3	5
7	11	Ryan Barnes	Clarkston	205.6	8
8	12	Alexander McArthur	Oxford	205.1	8
9	11	Jackson Lam	Kalamazoo Loy Norrix	205.0	3
10	12	Evan Nickoles	East Kentwood	205.0	3
11	11	Ben Hartigan	Northville	204.3	6
12	12	Tyler Brock	Brighton	203.2	4
13	12	Joseph Rohmfeld	Livonia Churchill	203.1	6
14	12	Taye Levenson	Bloomfield Hills	202.8	8
15	12	Parker Strelecki	Jenison	202.3	1
16	12	Andrew Kaczmarczyk	Bay City Western	202.0	2
17	11	Jack Steen	Traverse City Central	202.0	2
18	12	Ben Eisnor	Grand Haven	201.7	1
19	10	Luka Hammond	Grand Haven	200.5	1
20	10	Liam Wierzba	Traverse City West	200.4	2
21	11	Benjamin Rottier	Grand Ledge	200.3	2
22	12	Ishaan Kundapur	Northville	200.0	6
23	11	Ian Morgan	Okemos	199.9	2
24	10	Brandon Cloud	Northville	199.1	6
25	12	Jaxson Nowik	Clarkston	198.6	8
26	10	Cameron Varner	Temperance Bedford	198.6	5
27	12	Nick Barretto	Northville	198.6	6
28	12	Chase Wolters	Livonia Churchill	198.4	6
29	11	Cooper Byrne	Lowell	198.4	3
30	10	Blake Kulesza	Brighton	198.0	4

Recap

Back. Better. Breathtaking. Hitting sub-17 in your opener is an affirmative statement by Helen Sachs. In the previous three years that the Under the Lights Invite has taken place, the best time was 17:11, set by her former teammate Arianne Olson. A few weeks in, she’s already daring others to match. Of course, going to the well isn’t needed in every single race, and she’s held back in her past two wins. It’s a long season.

Looking Forward

The best of both worlds will be taking place at Holly. Romeo’s girls will look to assert their attitude at the front of the race, girls such as Emilia Garces, Mallory Bigelow, and Kaelin Hughes will be hoping to split up that sea of red. Over at Spartan, the Pioneer freshmen will get some big race experience, Leah Corby has been waiting for this day to etch her name in the state conversation.

Top 30

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating	Region
1	12	Helen Sachs	Holland West Ottawa	166.9	1
2	9	Emilia Garces	Midland Dow	159.3	2
3	9	Natasza Dudek	Ann Arbor Pioneer	157.5	5
4	11	Leah Corby	Rochester Hills Stoney Creek	154.9	8
5	12	Kaelin Hughes	Livonia Stevenson	153.6	6
6	11	Lydia LaMarra	Brighton	151.7	4
7	12	Valerie Beeck	Grand Haven	150.7	1
8	12	Mallory Bigelow	Oxford	149.9	8
9	9	Sienna Klemmer	Ann Arbor Pioneer	149.8	5
10	10	Annabeth Hazlewood	Salem	149.8	6
11	9	Rachel Smith	Okemos	149.5	2
12	10	Daisy Cox	Rockford	148.8	1
13	11	Natalia Guaresimo	Romeo	147.8	9
14	9	Savannah Staton	Saline	147.8	5
15	12	Violet Hrabovsky	Romeo	146.2	9
16	10	Annie Hrabovsky	Romeo	144.9	9
17	12	Lucinda Paliani	Ann Arbor Huron	144.0	6
18	12	Grace Tykocki	Grand Blanc	143.9	4
19	12	Lillian Deskins	Romeo	143.2	9
20	11	Hana Boggess	Ann Arbor Pioneer	143.1	5
21	11	Ava Porras	Holland West Ottawa	142.6	1
22	11	Abby Veit	Traverse City West	142.1	2
23	12	Olivia Purdy	Romeo	141.7	9
24	11	October Harns	Okemos	141.7	2
25	10	Tessa Mascari	Traverse City West	141.5	2
26	12	Emma Gunnett	Holland West Ottawa	141.0	1
27	10	Gabriella Fugazzi	Okemos	140.9	2
28	12	Catherine Steele	Farmington	140.8	6
29	12	Annie Alkema	Kalamazoo Central	139.2	3
30	12	Cassie Garcia	Northville	139.0	6