2024 Rankings: Week 4, Division 1

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

When they attack, there ain’t an army that can strike back. Past two miles, Northville attacked with a vengeance, erasing their 18-point gap behind Sycamore and opening up a 48-point difference of their own. The big mover was Nick Barretto, who passed body after body, moving from 50^th at one to 32^nd at two, finally finishing in 15^th place.

Northville is looking like one of the better teams in recent memory and perhaps the best collection of individuals since I’ve started tracking. In a normal, non-Northville year, Jenison would be a real candidate to win the title. Though even now, they’ve made a very strong case for a podium spot. The Wildcats’ group of 2^nd to 4^th runners did work, all placing in the top-35. Nolan Wenglikowski was the real key, Spartan was far and away his best race of the year. When the conditions are more favorable, he’ll likely see a significant time drop.

Looking Forward

Jackson is the spot this weekend. None of the top-3 teams will be there, but beyond those three, the field is stacked. #4 Clarkston, #5 Canton, #6 Saline, #8 Traverse City Central, #9 Livonia Churchill. Then you have the typically underrated two, #18 Ann Arbor Pioneer and #19 Highland-Milford. I’m particularly interested in four of these squads who have lightened their September schedule, seemingly in anticipation of popping big times on this quick course: Clarkston, Saline, Churchill, and Milford.

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.	Last Week
1	Northville	67	6	204.6	1
2	Jenison	195	1	199.9	3
3	Brighton	214	4	197.4	2
4	Clarkston	341	8	193.6	4
5	Canton	342	6	195.3	5
6	Saline	418	5	191.3	7
7	Grand Haven	452	1	192.5	9
8	Traverse City Central	467	2	190.5	6
9	Livonia Churchill	479	6	191.2	8
10	Portage Central	496	3	189.0	10
11	East Kentwood	531	3	189.6	12
12	Oxford	551	8	190.6	25
13	Kalamazoo Central	562	3	188.4	13
14	Rockford	649	1	185.5	11
15	Midland	666	2	185.8	14
16	Plymouth	682	6	186.5	29
17	Macomb Dakota	716	9	184.4	20
18	Ann Arbor Pioneer	742	5	185.2	16
19	Highland-Milford	792	7	186.9	18
20	Kalamazoo Loy Norrix	837	3	183.9	27
21	Salem	845	6	181.4	26
22	Utica	860	9	182.6	22
23	Caledonia	865	3	181.9	31
24	Temperance Bedford	872	5	182.8	24
25	Lowell	886	3	183.1	21
26	Lake Orion	899	8	182.0	34
27	White Lake Lakeland	901	7	180.8	23

Recap

You can say the same about Romeo as you would Northville’s boys. Even with an Emmerson Clor on the comeback or without an Annie Hrabovsky, the Bulldogs placed all five of their scorers in the top-ten, clearing the second-place team by nearly 100 points.

We were hoping for a little separation from the pack of teams running Ottawa Hills and Spartan. Over on the Grand River, Rockford provided a little. The Rams had juuust enough from senior Melana Karsten to stave off Portage Central and Traverse City West. In the sunny Forest Akers pastures, Ann Arbor Pioneer threw tons of girls up front, escaping with a ten-point victory. Even if their rank is the same, they’ve moved up points wise, Brighton still holding the edge because of their depth.

Looking Forward

Jackson may be even more loaded for these girls. Five of the top-eight teams, including #1 Romeo, #3 Saline, #4 Brighton, #5 Ann Arbor Pioneer, and #8 Northville. You’ve even got a Utica, fresh off a restful weekend, ready to assert themselves into the top-10. Holland West Ottawa is seeking competition out of state, you can never turn down a road trip.

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.	Last Week
1	Romeo	79	9	147.4	1
2	Holland West Ottawa	142	1	144.8	2
3	Saline	254	5	136.4	3
4	Brighton	274	4	133.3	4
5	Ann Arbor Pioneer	274	5	140.2	5
6	Rockford	279	1	133.2	7
7	Traverse City West	372	2	128.7	6
8	Northville	447	6	124.9	8
9	Grand Haven	448	1	126.9	10
10	Okemos	449	2	128.2	9
11	Portage Central	515	3	121.9	13
12	Utica	534	9	121.6	11
13	Jenison	546	1	121.9	14
14	Hartland	599	4	119.0	17
15	Rochester Adams	601	8	119.9	15
16	White Lake Lakeland	602	7	118.3	12
17	Hudsonville	702	1	114.7	21
18	Macomb Dakota	719	9	114.1	18
19	Rochester	752	8	113.2	23
20	Ann Arbor Skyline	779	4	113.6	19
21	Midland Dow	782	2	117.3	20
22	Dexter	807	4	110.5	24
23	Traverse City Central	825	2	110.0	16
24	Salem	887	6	111.2	22
25	Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills	900	3	107.4	30
26	Fraser	939	9	107.0	27
27	Farmington	943	6	107.8	25

Individual Rankings

Recap

Last week, I stated that Aidan Pengelly and Jack MacGregor have both shown themselves as racers. If you were there, you’d have seen how accurate this was. Pengelly set the early pace, Jack closely following. 4:55 at one, 10:06 at two. Entering the final fall and rise, MacGregor was calculating when to go, after cresting the final hill, he’d opened up a minor gap, crossing the line in 15:41 during the hottest part of the day.

At Spartan, hidden within the D2 boys stealing the show, Seth Conner greatly stayed clear of his D1 competition. His 15:38 was the best D1 time of the Elite section by 20+ seconds. Back a year ago, he rounded into his final form in mid-October, this time around, it appears he’s already there.

Looking Forward

We’ll get to see how Kyle O’Rourke does when not traversing the Kensington Mountains. If last year is any indication, he’ll do quite well. Milford will be at Jackson, as will Jack MacGregor, coming off that Holly victory. His rival from last week, Aidan Pengelly will also be there. You may also see a Beckett Crooks, Joey Rohmfeld, Kian Schneeweis, or Jackson Lam. Any time that Pengelly is in the race, you can expect an honest pace, so I’m sure we’ll be cookin’ on Saturday.

Top 30

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating	Region
1	11	Kyle O’Rourke	Highland-Milford	217.6	7
2	10	Jack MacGregor	Howell	212.5	4
3	12	Seth Conner	Jenison	212.4	1
4	11	Aiden Pengelly	Canton	212.3	6
5	12	Carter Livermore	Grandville	211.7	1
6	12	Ethan Powell	Northville	210.5	6
7	12	Alexander McArthur	Oxford	207.8	8
8	11	Ben Hartigan	Northville	206.0	6
9	11	Beckett Crooks	Ann Arbor Pioneer	205.8	5
10	11	Jackson Lam	Kalamazoo Loy Norrix	205.5	3
11	10	Luka Hammond	Grand Haven	204.9	1
12	12	Nick Barretto	Northville	204.1	6
13	12	Kian Schneeweis	Troy	203.3	8
14	12	Tyler Brock	Brighton	203.2	4
15	12	Joseph Rohmfeld	Livonia Churchill	203.2	6
16	11	Ian Morgan	Okemos	202.3	2
17	12	Taye Levenson	Bloomfield Hills	202.2	8
18	12	Parker Strelecki	Jenison	202.0	1
19	12	Ishaan Kundapur	Northville	201.7	6
20	12	Ben Eisnor	Grand Haven	201.6	1
21	12	Julian Linebaugh	Dexter	201.2	4
22	10	Brandon Cloud	Northville	200.7	6
23	11	Ryan Barnes	Clarkston	200.2	8
24	12	Evan Nickoles	East Kentwood	200.1	3
25	12	James Cusick	Oxford	200.0	8
26	11	Andrew Wright	Kalamazoo Central	199.6	3
27	12	Mason Lucas	Jenison	199.6	1
28	11	Jack Steen	Traverse City Central	199.4	2
29	11	Aron Gal	Grand Haven	198.7	1
30	12	Lucas LaMilza	Macomb Dakota	198.7	9

Recap

Splitting up of the Romeo pack did occur on Saturday. Emilia Garces battled back, climbing four spots in the final 1800m to take 2^nd. Mallory Bigelow improved 13 seconds from last year (under tougher conditions) to place 4^th. As good as they are as a team, the Bulldog girls had some individual victories too. Natalia Guaresimo’s lead kept increasing and increasing, eventually ending up with a 30+ second victory. Lillian Deskins hung in the chase pack through one, made a move through the south hills to surge into 2^nd, then held on the best she could for a 3^rd place finish.

Freshmen proved the Spartan stage wasn’t too bright, a great omen for the large, looming meets. Both Natasza Dudek and Rachel Smith displayed patient, winning racing. The two hung in the back of the lead pack through two, sitting in 2^nd and 5^th, before capitalizing on the tired legs of the leaders and grabbing 1^st and 3^rd. Ranked 2^nd and 3^rd now, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about the state stage.

Also, I have to apologize to McKinley Jones. Last week’s ranking didn’t have the speedy Saline freshman listed. There was an erroneous initial result from Rambling Rock that listed her running a 30:48. As these ratings are a weighted average, that mistake dropped her far out of the top-ranked girls. With thousands of names and time NOT on my side, I didn’t catch it. And if you were wondering, she’s lived up to her earned hype, running under 19:00 in her last two races, winning at Bath and finishing 2^nd in the first SEC Jamboree.

Looking Forward

The two winners from Spartan and Holly will bash heads at Jackson. Each have shown a mastery of tactics thus far, waiting until the right moments to assert their race strategy. Expect Natalia Guaresimo and Natasza Dudek to have a memorable race up front. Beyond those two, a host of Pioneer, Romeo, and Saline girls will be racin’.

Of course, Helen Sachs will be in Indiana, hoping to spread her winning wings to another state. We’ll have to wait until Otsego or Portage to see again how she stacks up against her Michigan competitors.

Top 30

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating	Region
1	12	Helen Sachs	Holland West Ottawa	167.6	1
2	9	Natasza Dudek	Ann Arbor Pioneer	162.6	5
3	9	Rachel Smith	Okemos	159.3	2
4	9	Emilia Garces	Midland Dow	159.3	2
5	11	Natalia Guaresimo	Romeo	154.9	9
6	10	Daisy Cox	Rockford	153.2	1
7	11	Hana Boggess	Ann Arbor Pioneer	152.9	5
8	11	Lydia LaMarra	Brighton	152.7	4
9	9	McKinley Jones	Saline	152.4	5
10	9	Sienna Klemmer	Ann Arbor Pioneer	152.2	5
11	12	Valerie Beeck	Grand Haven	151.5	1
12	12	Kaelin Hughes	Livonia Stevenson	150.7	6
13	10	Annabeth Hazlewood	Salem	149.9	6
14	9	Savannah Staton	Saline	149.1	5
15	12	Lillian Deskins	Romeo	148.6	9
16	12	Mallory Bigelow	Oxford	147.5	8
17	12	Lucinda Paliani	Ann Arbor Huron	144.9	6
18	10	Annie Hrabovsky	Romeo	144.9	9
19	12	Violet Hrabovsky	Romeo	144.8	9
20	12	Annie Alkema	Kalamazoo Central	144.7	3
21	11	Ava Porras	Holland West Ottawa	144.5	1
22	12	Olivia Purdy	Romeo	144.0	9
23	10	Tessa Mascari	Traverse City West	142.6	2
24	12	Emma Gunnett	Holland West Ottawa	142.2	1
25	11	Emmerson Clor	Romeo	141.2	9
26	10	Paige McMeans	Jenison	141.2	1
27	10	Collette Wierks	Holland West Ottawa	141.1	1
28	10	El McMahan	Rochester Adams	140.8	8
29	9	Lucia Llanes	Ann Arbor Skyline	140.8	4
30	12	Catherine Steele	Farmington	140.8	6