2024 Rankings: Week 4, Division 2

The second weekend in September is always a relief. Typically two huge meets, now three with Ottawa Hills joining Holly and Spartan. Teams leaving the nest, taking on the best throughout the state. Very illuminating as far as rankings go, no doubt enlightening as well to a runner when they face great competition.

Week Three’s Rankings tell the tale of how these are created.

This week’s rankings contain meets through Saturday (9/14).

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

The top-two teams toed the line at Riverside, but Allendale stole the show at Spartan. The pre-season #1 Falcons had lofty goals coming into the season, returning their first six runners from the squad that placed 4^th at last year’s State Finals. At Spartan’s Bronze race, the D2 division with 36 scoring teams (a huge field), Allendale placed five in the top-16, good enough for 42 points. To put this in perspective, Alma, who is probably a top-5 team and who I thought had a good day, was over 2.5x higher in their point total at 110.

Back to that top-two matchup though, Grand Rapids Christian was overwhelming early, putting five in front of the maroon three. I don’t say that lightly, as Holland Christian placed their top-four under 17 on that humid morning.

Looking Forward

The Grand Rapids area, the traditional D2 stronghold, is home to a few meets concentrated on the 2^nd Division powers. First, tonight’s OK White Jamboree (I wrote this in the morning), with Grand Rapids Christian, Forest Hills Eastern, and East Grand Rapids. Christian is the favorite, though we’ll get a glimpse of how the Hawks and Pioneers can split up their packs, able to judge the rest of the season from there. And then again at Cougar Falcon, with Holland Christian and Grand Rapids Christian. Field size and composition is different, but we can compare the top-5 avg. (GRC 11-12 sec. faster) and dual meet scoring (23-33 Grand Rapids Christian) at Ottawa Hills.

Top 27

Place	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.	Last Week
1	Allendale	193	11	195.7	6
2	Grand Rapids Christian	246	12	192.9	1
3	Holland Christian	325	11	189.3	2
4	Alma	346	14	190.8	3
5	Forest Hills Eastern	367	12	189.3	4
6	East Grand Rapids	437	12	185.7	5
7	Plainwell	442	12	184.0	20
8	Frankenmuth	465	15	183.3	7
9	Otsego	479	13	182.3	8
10	Marshall	521	13	188.4	9
11	Gladwin	588	10	182.5	10
12	Flint Powers Catholic	607	15	182.4	15
13	Cedar Springs	623	10	178.8	13
14	Shepherd	624	15	181.0	12
15	Three Rivers	645	13	178.6	11
16	DeWitt	663	14	176.2	14
17	Pinckney	725	16	176.8	16
18	Sparta	736	10	177.3	17
19	New Boston Huron	757	18	176.1	18
20	Freeland	787	15	178.7	19
21	Grand Rapids Catholic Central	814	11	176.2	21
22	Fremont	874	10	171.1	NR
23	Edwardsburg	901	13	170.9	24
24	Zeeland East	953	11	169.1	23
25	Adrian	983	18	169.5	27
26	Petoskey	985	10	168.0	35
27	Hudsonville Unity Christian	989	11	167.2	25

Recap

I have a feeling these top-three squads will swap spots on many occasions throughout these next six weeks. After Ottawa Hills, it was Zeeland East’s turn. Many complained of tougher conditions in the evening race, that didn’t dissuade the Chix from attaining the highest average ratings of the entire day and beating multiple top D1 teams.

Earlier in the day, Grand Rapids Christian had the lowest score of any team, ahead of a few high-quality teams, including #4 Holland Christian. Over in the Elite section at Spartan, Goodrich continued their travels around the state, placing 7^th in the ringer-filled field.

Looking Forward

The Chix are right back at it, with an OK Black Jamboree against Hudsonville Unity Christian, then another matchup with the Crusaders at Autumn Sunrise. Of course, Cougar Falcon has Holland Christian and Grand Rapids Christian, who we’ll be able to compare via the same metrics as above (12 sec. differential and 25-30 victory by GRC).

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.	Last Week
1	Zeeland East	186	11	132.1	3
2	Grand Rapids Christian	194	12	128.5	1
3	Goodrich	208	15	127.1	2
4	Holland Christian	243	11	124.3	4
5	DeWitt	293	14	122.5	7
6	Otsego	298	13	126.7	6
7	East Grand Rapids	379	12	117.3	5
8	Adrian	381	18	123.2	8
9	Freeland	411	15	118.6	9
10	Hudsonville Unity Christian	523	11	111.2	10
11	Forest Hills Eastern	572	12	106.7	23
12	Frankenmuth	577	15	110.9	11
13	Linden	595	16	107.0	12
14	St. Joseph	630	13	110.8	16
15	Spring Lake	658	10	103.8	14
16	Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard	680	18	104.0	17
17	Cadillac	681	10	106.0	15
18	Sturgis	753	13	106.1	21
19	Grand Rapids South Christian	774	12	98.1	18
20	Ludington	806	10	102.4	13
21	Coopersville	808	11	99.2	25
22	Shepherd	877	15	96.5	22
23	Dearborn Divine Child	886	16	94.4	20
24	Pontiac Notre Dame Prep	901	16	95.4	24
25	Plainwell	920	12	94.1	27
26	Owosso	939	14	93.0	19
27	Middleville Thornapple-Kellogg	956	12	95.7	26

Individual Rankings

Recap

Division 2 runners dominated early on at Spartan Elite. The times maybe didn’t match what previous years had run, but XC is about place and if you look at times, you gotta judge the context. Overbearing sun, muddy stretches, and unusual humidity made TJ Hansen’s 15:24, Jack Bidwell’s 15:28, and Colin Murray’s 15:46 super impressive

Although perhaps Bidwell’s mid-15 wasn’t that difficult, as the kid came back the next day smiling and talking through a 16-flat at Holly, selflessly leading Abraham McHugh to a minute+ Holly PR. Considering the conditions, that sort of mark vaults McHugh into the upper echelon of D2 runners.

Looking Forward

With Holly, Spartan, and Ottawa Hills taking up much headspace and energy, many teams take this weekend off to get themselves right and rested. We do have a major meet at Cougar Falcon, where Jeb Hillary, Simon Triezenberg, and Will Engbers will all compete. The three were separated by 5 seconds in the early session at Ottawa Hills.

Top 30

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating	Region
1	12	TJ Hansen	Freeland	223.0	15
2	12	Jack Bidwell	Marshall	216.6	13
3	12	Henry Dixon	Forest Hills Eastern	211.9	12
4	12	Colin Murray	Dearborn Divine Child	211.8	16
5	11	Thomas Larson	Alma	209.0	14
6	10	Ezekiel Baltierra	Alma	205.8	14
7	11	Bryce Gross	Flint Powers Catholic	205.5	15
8	12	Dominic Lowrie	Battle Creek Harper Creek	205.4	13
9	12	Elijah Christensen	Gladwin	205.0	10
10	12	Will Engbers	Holland Christian	204.9	11
11	12	Sullivan Zietlow	Three Rivers	204.8	13
12	12	Jeb Hillary	Grand Rapids Catholic Central	204.8	11
13	10	Bryce Cahoon	Shepherd	204.1	15
14	9	Lennox Naswell	Flint Powers Catholic	203.8	15
15	12	Simon Triezenberg	Grand Rapids Christian	203.8	12
16	11	Jonah Workman	East Grand Rapids	203.2	12
17	10	Abraham McHugh	Marshall	202.4	13
18	11	Vincent Pattison	Goodrich	201.4	15
19	11	Ronnie Silveira	Allendale	200.9	11
20	12	Ben Gross	Allendale	200.9	11
21	11	Moises Salazar	Adrian	200.7	18
22	12	Seth Mead	Gladwin	200.2	10
23	12	Kilian Whalen	Allendale	200.1	11
24	12	Lucas Kuhn	New Boston Huron	199.7	18
25	11	Edison Lopeman	Parma Western	199.3	14
26	11	Owen Metzger	Sparta	199.1	10
27	12	Alex Doneth	Mason	198.8	14
28	12	Abatu Dykstra	Hamilton	198.5	11
29	12	Reece Davis	Marshall	198.1	13
30	10	Cole McCraw	Pinckney	197.9	16

Recap

Untouched from the gun, Emma Hoffman continued her fiery start to the season, racing to a 50 sec. victory (18:11) in the Bronze race at Spartan. The gap decreased by 20 seconds for Ava Schafer, who comfortably defeated many podium finishers in a blazing 17:47 in the early session at Ottawa Hills. Later on in the day, Emma Drnek opened a similar margin on her competitors, racing to her 2^nd sub-18 of her career. Elsewhere, you had Katie Berkshire dominate from the gun at Holly, Clara Kaczor sprint through an aggressive last mile at the same spot, and Courtney Bovair continue to vanquish SE Michigan competition at Willow.

Looking Forward

As with the boys, you have many D2 going their separate ways before converging at Bluejay, Otsego, and Portage. Down ballot, you do see some potential matchups such as Sophy Skeels and Berkley Holtz on the rolling hills of Sharp Park. A crossover looks to be in store up in Cadillac, with the fearless Katie Berkshire toeing the line against Betsy Skendzel and Emilia Garces.

Top 30

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating	Region
1	11	Emma Hoffman	Otsego	167.9	13
2	10	Ava Schafer	St. Johns	164.1	14
3	11	Katie Berkshire	Gaylord	157.9	10
4	12	Emma Drnek	Zeeland East	153.3	11
5	12	Courtney Bovair	Carleton Airport	152.5	18
6	12	Elena Figueroa	St. Joseph	152.0	13
7	10	Clara Kaczor	Freeland	151.8	15
8	11	Berkley Holtz	Sturgis	151.7	13
9	10	Jaelyn Ray	Pinckney	148.8	16
10	12	Sophy Skeels	Adrian	147.0	18
11	11	Natalie Foltz	Frankenmuth	146.6	15
12	12	Ayla Holben	DeWitt	145.6	14
13	10	Ayda Skeels	Adrian	142.7	18
14	11	Ellie Scholma	Grand Rapids Christian	142.7	12
15	11	Marie Gates	Hudsonville Unity Christian	141.8	11
16	12	Mea D’Agostino	Orchard Lake St. Mary’s	141.4	16
17	10	Adeline Armstrong	East Grand Rapids	139.3	12
18	12	Grace Evanoff	Flint Powers Catholic	139.0	15
19	10	Johanna Mulder	Holland	138.8	11
20	11	Meredith Cook	Zeeland East	137.9	11
21	9	Remie Ellis	Eaton Rapids	137.8	14
22	12	Ava Crews	Middleville Thornapple-Kellogg	137.3	12
23	10	Lane Isom	Richland Gull Lake	134.8	12
24	10	Mia May	Sparta	134.6	10
25	10	Alivia Ottinger	Goodrich	134.6	15
26	11	Brooklynn Brown	Cadillac	134.3	10
27	10	Annabelle Lowman	Ludington	134.3	10
28	12	Joy Evans	Alma	132.7	14
29	11	Lilah Poel	Grand Rapids Christian	132.7	12
30	12	Eva Thompson	Croswell-Lexington	131.7	17