2024 Rankings: Championship Season, Division 3

Week 3

The above link contains the best explanation of the year.

Week 4
Mid-Season Projections – Boys
Mid-Season Projections – Girls

These rankings contain meets through Saturday (9/28). If a runner has had a rated race since September 1st, they’re included (sadly, I have to account for injured athletes). These are for fun and done for free. Enjoy!

Recap

Skip ahead two weeks and it’s still the triumvirate of Traverse City St. Francis, Jackson Lumen Christi, and Ithaca. Neither of three faced off against one another over these past few weeks, but we did see the Glads and Yellowjackets both at Shepherd. The GladPack was still in form, placing five boys under 17:00 in the elite field, placing 10^th of 36, still ahead of many ranked teams in D1/D2. Placed in the Gold Division, Ithaca faced many ranked D3 teams (Covenant, Hart, Charlevoix, Bath), and escaped with a 9-point victory. Landen Styka and Miingen Bertrand were enough up front, quietly improving freshman Christopher Shemes pulling up in the fifth spot to secure the victory.

Lumen Christi came out ahead of ranked foes at both DeWitt and Jackson. This past weekend, a surging Lansing Catholic gave the Titans a test in the middle of the pack, but the front runnin’ of Ziggy Dinverno and Leo Swager gave enough of a gap to secure a win. Over the rolling Sharp Park hills, a similar match took place against D4’s Hillsdale Academy, the Green n’ Gold having the requisite strength through five to earn another win.

Looking Forward

There’s very little distinction between teams ranked 4^th and beyond. Luckily, there is a solution, the great separator: Portage

#1 Traverse City St. Francis
#2 Jackson Lumen Christi
#4 Saugatuck
#5 Pewamo-Westphalia
#7 Hanover-Horton
#8 Covenant Christian
#9 Central Montcalm
#10 Buchanan

Separation will occur.

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.	Last Week
1	Traverse City St. Francis	96	19	191.2	1
2	Jackson Lumen Christi	212	23	184.1	2
3	Ithaca	245	25	182.8	3
4	Saugatuck	326	22	173.7	4
5	Pewamo-Westphalia	347	24	173.6	7
6	Lansing Catholic	360	26	172.5	8
7	Hanover-Horton	363	23	175.3	6
8	Grand Rapids Covenant Christian	383	21	173.9	5
9	Stanton Central Montcalm	412	24	175.2	9
10	Buchanan	458	22	168.6	10
11	Charlevoix	474	19	173.3	11
12	Flat Rock	530	27	172.2	14
13	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	550	21	166.9	12
14	Reed City	556	20	169.7	15
15	Jonesville	563	23	168.0	13
16	Hart	619	20	162.5	16
17	Benzie Central	674	20	162.6	17
18	Bath	700	24	162.7	19
19	Leslie	716	26	159.5	20
20	Holland Black River	723	21	161.0	18
21	Union City	735	22	160.9	21
22	The Potter’s House	836	21	156.9	NR
23	Montague	842	21	156.5	22
24	Sanford-Meridian	904	25	156.8	24
25	Erie Mason	907	27	154.8	25
26	Lake City	909	20	155.2	23
27	Ann Arbor Greenhills	920	26	153.6	NR

Recap

The Pirates are making headways. Ranked #1 in the preseason, Pewamo-Westphalia had bided their time before a big performance at Bluejay. Running against all the big schools and elite teams, the Pirates proved they belong. Up front, with Whitney Werner and Alyssa Kramer. Packed up in the middle, all seven under 21:35. The kind of performance that gets on podiums in November.

The greatest divergence between the coaches poll and the speed ratings concerns the top spot here. Coaches have ranked Lansing Catholic fifth, trending towards second. I’ve had them first the entire time. Each could be valid. There’s a certainty to their running, putting six girls under 21 at both Cougar Falcon and DeWitt is enough to result in wins.

Looking Forward

Sadly, no matchup between the Cougars and Pirates, that’ll have to wait until Greater Lansing. However, at Portage, there’s ample opportunity for P-W to move up. The Blue n’ Yellow swashbucklers will go against:

#3 Traverse City St. Francis
#4 Central Montcalm
#5 Lumen Christi
#7 Benzie Central
#9 Hart
#10 McBain

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.	Last Week
1	Lansing Catholic	182	26	117.8	1
2	Pewamo-Westphalia	205	24	121.3	3
3	Traverse City St. Francis	222	19	117.4	2
4	Stanton Central Montcalm	277	24	119.1	4
5	Jackson Lumen Christi	288	23	109.2	5
6	Ithaca	355	25	101.9	6
7	Benzie Central	370	20	103.1	7
8	Leslie	434	26	100.4	8
9	GR Covenant Christian	492	21	93.3	10
10	Hart	497	20	91.5	9
11	McBain	608	20	87.4	11
12	Clare	621	19	86.6	12
13	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	629	21	92.1	16
14	Saugatuck	637	22	86.9	14
15	Blissfield	675	27	89.7	15
16	Grass Lake	678	27	80.0	18
17	Midland Bullock Creek	686	25	84.1	13
18	Remus Chippewa Hills	734	20	79.0	17
19	Grandville Calvin Christian	738	21	79.7	21
20	Onsted	749	23	85.6	19
21	Ann Arbor Greenhills	776	26	79.3	20
22	Laingsburg	821	24	74.5	26
23	Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian	894	21	70.3	22
24	Union City	937	22	73.2	25
25	Schoolcraft	946	22	68.0	27
26	Bronson	951	23	77.5	NR
27	Lake City	975	20	70.1	23

Individual Rankings

Recap

On the right day, he potentially has the best ability. We’ve seen it at last year’s State Finals. In June and a month earlier at Bluejay, too.That potential doesn’t mean much until it comes to fruition, showing it can be proved. Gus Rohde proved he’s entering the prime time of the year in a good enough condition to be in contention. His 15:40 at Bluejay matched his time from last year, in a setting that seemed a bit tougher than twelve months ago.

As the day wore on at Sharp Park, the temps heated up and so did the racing. Two winning candidates, Mitchell Hiatt and Ziggy Dinverno raced head-to-head, Hiatt claiming a 10-sec. victory while Dinverno sped to a PR. The following week at Stockbridge, the momentum gained from that win was able to pay off to the tune of a 15:22, 15 sec. faster than 2023 and now the #2 time in Division 3.

Looking Forward

Who will be at Portage? Five of the top-10 guys:

#2 Josh Slocum
#3 Gage Hoffman
#5 Ziggy Dinverno
#8 William Ready
#9 Levi Kamps

Gus Rohde will be testing his mettle on the tough Pine River course. Jacob Stanislawski has been on the move and will face another opportunity for growth in a competitive field at Wayne County.

Top 30

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating
1	12	Gus Rohde	Reed City	205.7
2	12	Josh Slocum	Traverse City St. Francis	205.4
3	11	Gage Hoffman	Stanton Central Montcalm	204.0
4	12	Mitchell Hiatt	Onsted	203.8
5	12	Isaiah Dinverno	Jackson Lumen Christi	203.0
6	11	Landen Styka	Ithaca	202.8
7	11	Jacob Stanislawski	Flat Rock	197.9
8	10	William Ready	Traverse City St. Francis	196.5
9	12	Levi Kamps	Grand Rapids Covenant Christian	196.2
10	12	Miingen Bertrand	Ithaca	196.2
11	12	Landon Pestrue	St. Louis	195.8
12	12	Leo Swager	Jackson Lumen Christi	194.9
13	12	Landen Boulis	Hanover-Horton	194.5
14	10	Hunter Eaton	Charlevoix	194.0
15	12	Matthias Morse	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	192.3
16	11	Noah Devereaux	Laingsburg	191.3
17	10	Caleb Blonde	Jonesville	191.2
18	10	Luke Herron	Caro	190.3
19	11	Tyler Leach	Otisville LakeVille	190.2
20	9	Nole Lorenzen	Rochester Hills Lutheran NW	189.6
21	12	Tyler Heal	Sanford-Meridian	189.3
22	12	Nathan Vargo	Flat Rock	188.1
23	11	Robert Dykhouse	Manton	187.9
24	9	Owen Poppema	Bath	187.9
25	12	Owen Read	Traverse City St. Francis	187.0
26	12	Robby Myler	Traverse City St. Francis	185.8
27	12	Daniel Mandujano	Watervliet	185.6
28	11	Jayden Fox	Saginaw Valley Lutheran	185.0
29	10	Ryder Hopkins	Charlevoix	184.8
30	9	Christian Craanen	Monroe St. Mary CC	184.6

Recap

The Bluejay Boost was in full effect at Shepherd, three D3 girls using the elite field as a great opportunity to move up in these rankings. Kyah Hoffman added another anecdote that proves her love of this course. She’s set personal bests there as a sophomore, junior, and now senior. Whitney Werner dropped 35+ seconds from her previous Shepherd performance. Alyssa Kramer dropped 150+ seconds. Golly, she’s a totally different runner.

Looking Forward

A rare scenario of two separate top-10 matchups!

At Portage:

#1 Kyah Hoffman
#3 Whitney Werner
#4 Betsy Skendzel
#6 Lila Volkers
#8 Alyssa Kramer

Over the fast track at Hudson:

#2 Emmry Ross
#9 Hailey Creisher
#10 Hope Miller

I’ll likely make an exception to do the math on this one, as Kamryn Salladay will attempt to conquer the State’s Toughest Course^TM, Baker Woods. Typical early season speed ratings show a 2-3 min. adjustment, though those are always volatile. I’m curious to see how the course runs on Friday.

Top 30

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating
1	12	Kyah Hoffman	Stanton Central Montcalm	163.6
2	12	Emmry Ross	Onsted	157.5
3	12	Whitney Werner	Pewamo-Westphalia	153.0
4	12	Betsy Skendzel	Traverse City St. Francis	150.9
5	12	Eliza Bush	Ypsilanti Arbor Preparatory	148.6
6	12	Lila Volkers	Kent City	146.6
7	10	Kamryn Salladay	Lakeview	146.2
8	10	Alyssa Kramer	Pewamo-Westphalia	145.5
9	11	Hailey Creisher	Leslie	143.2
10	11	Hope Miller	Blissfield	142.5
11	11	Bella LaFountain	Monroe St. Mary CC	141.0
12	12	Grace VanderKooi	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	138.9
13	10	Samantha Schroeder	Jackson Lumen Christi	137.9
14	12	Ashley Choponis	Stanton Central Montcalm	137.0
15	10	Isabelle Sliter	Fennville	135.8
16	9	Elliana Max	Kent City	133.3
17	10	Shelby Kuiper	GR Covenant Christian	130.1
18	12	Ava Hathaway	Bronson	129.8
19	9	Josie Bishop	Lansing Catholic	129.4
20	11	Grace Coston	Stanton Central Montcalm	128.6
21	9	Caelyn Torry	McBain	127.6
22	11	Mattie Gagne	Midland Bullock Creek	127.2
23	12	Chloe Stalhood	Hillsdale	126.6
24	10	Grace Wonch	Lansing Catholic	126.2
25	12	Nora Grossnickle	Benzie Central	125.9
26	12	Kaya Vrable	Caro	125.7
27	10	Sophia Buzzelli	Clare	123.5
28	9	Avery Kelly	Benzie Central	123.0
29	11	Ashlynn Harris	Bronson	121.8
30	12	Mary Masserant	Traverse City St. Francis	121.5