2024 Rankings: Division 2, Championship Season

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

We’ve gotten plenty of action between the GR area teams. Grand Rapids Christian has led the D2 contingent in the OK White, Forest Hills Eastern and East Grand Rapids trading places behind the Eagles. When the latter two traveled northeast to Bluejay, EGR was able to pull ahead, mainly based on the strength of their top-three, one of the better trios in the entire state.

Holland Christian locked heads with Grand Rapids Christian twice, at Otsego Bulldog and Cougar Falcon. The former produced a tiny upset, the Maroons winning by 2 points.

Following a dominant Spartan performance, Allendale went back on the grind, then emerged to hold serve on their home course.

Looking Forward

Haha, Portage:

#1 Allendale
#2 Grand Rapids Christian
#3 Holland Christian
#4 Alma
#5 East Grand Rapids
#6 Forest Hills Eastern
#9 Plainwell

But don’t forget about Greater Flint, where a rapidly improving Flint Powers Catholic will test Frankenmuth in an early preview of Region 15.

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.	Last Week
1	Allendale	198	11	195.0	1
2	Grand Rapids Christian	253	12	193.4	2
3	Holland Christian	326	11	190.0	4
4	Alma	328	14	191.8	3
5	East Grand Rapids	366	12	189.4	6
6	Forest Hills Eastern	378	12	189.9	5
7	Otsego	438	13	184.2	9
8	Frankenmuth	445	15	184.2	7
9	Plainwell	486	12	182.8	10
10	Flint Powers Catholic	530	15	185.4	15
11	Sparta	534	10	182.9	8
12	Cedar Springs	561	10	181.3	13
13	Marshall	561	13	187.5	11
14	Shepherd	602	15	182.5	12
15	Gladwin	632	10	182.5	14
16	DeWitt	731	14	176.1	17
17	Three Rivers	752	13	177.6	16
18	Pinckney	754	16	177.0	18
19	Freeland	771	15	180.2	19
20	New Boston Huron	787	18	176.6	20
21	Grand Rapids Catholic Central	838	11	177.0	22
22	Corunna	841	14	172.7	NR
23	Fremont	865	10	172.5	21
24	Zeeland East	896	11	171.6	23
25	Edwardsburg	925	13	171.0	24
26	Hudsonville Unity Christian	984	11	169.0	25
27	Adrian	1007	18	170.0	27

Recap

You had a couple huge performances from teams down the rankings. Up in Shepherd, Goodrich asserted their championship form, racing to their best overall performance of the season. Contributions from all scorers, five under 19:40. The Martians may not have the low sticks just yet, but their advantage in the pack could be enough.

Repeats on Mount Bulldog must’ve gained an advantage for Otsego, who defended their home course beautifully. PR/SR’s from their top six girls, all scorers under 20, a showing that they’re in contention for a podium spot. The Bulldogs beat #1 Zeeland East, who had a solid race. Otsego was just that good. No chance in the actual rankings, but check the point totals, they’re on the path forward.

Looking Forward

A bit more diversity than the boys side. DeWitt and Otsego taking the weekend off and Goodrich hoping to win amongst the D1/D2 teams at Greater Flint.

But there’s still Portage, with:

#1 Zeeland East
#3 Grand Rapids Christian
#4 Holland Christian
#7 East Grand Rapids
#8 Adrian
#10 Unity Christian

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.	Last Week
1	Zeeland East	149	11	137.5	1
2	Goodrich	193	15	131.0	3
3	Grand Rapids Christian	208	12	130.4	2
4	Holland Christian	248	11	126.8	4
5	Otsego	266	13	130.4	5
6	DeWitt	306	14	123.5	6
7	East Grand Rapids	332	12	122.3	7
8	Adrian	395	18	124.8	8
9	Freeland	459	15	118.6	9
10	Hudsonville Unity Christian	495	11	115.0	10
11	Forest Hills Eastern	549	12	110.0	14
12	Linden	568	16	110.8	12
13	Spring Lake	579	10	109.5	15
14	St. Joseph	645	13	113.8	11
15	Grand Rapids South Christian	711	12	104.2	20
16	Ludington	724	10	108.0	18
17	Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard	725	18	105.8	17
18	Sturgis	748	13	108.7	19
19	Cadillac	752	10	106.4	16
20	Frankenmuth	773	15	107.3	13
21	Pontiac Notre Dame Prep	859	16	99.9	24
22	Coopersville	885	11	99.6	21
23	Dearborn Divine Child	897	16	96.8	22
24	Plainwell	898	12	96.9	27
25	Shepherd	929	15	97.0	23
26	Owosso	933	14	95.9	26
27	Middleville Thornapple-Kellogg	999	12	96.8	NR

Individual Rankings

Recap

Continually running the even splits, TJ Hansen sped to another personal best. 4:39, 4:48, 5:14 (4:43 pace) all added up to a 14:41 at Shepherd. Behind him in the elite field were Henry Dixon and Jonah Workman, coming into his own.

Further establishing that D2 has the best individuals in the state, Jack Bidwell ripped a 14:56 at Stockbridge.

Another hub of D2 activity took place at Otsego, the patient Colin Murray running nearly 20 sec. faster than 2023 and holding off Will Engbers and Simon Triezenberg.

Looking Forward

TJ Hansen will be the lone Falcon representative at Nike Town’s Race of Champions. Gotta admire the competitive spirit, going out of state and sticking his nose in there with the Midwest’s best. I’m sure it’ll be a helpful experience in the championship races to come.

With Divine Child at Wayne County, Marshall at Calhoun County, TJ in Terredise, competition between the top dudes won’t take place. Thankfully, a little meet on the west side will play a role in determining D2’s best. Following a rare defeat at Shepherd, Henry Dixon will look to continue his winning ways. He’ll be chased by Thomas Larson, Zeke Baltierra, Jonah Workman, Simon Triezenberg, Will Engbers, amongst many others.

Top 30

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating
1	12	TJ Hansen	Freeland	223.6
2	12	Jack Bidwell	Marshall	216.0
3	12	Colin Murray	Dearborn Divine Child	211.8
4	12	Henry Dixon	Forest Hills Eastern	211.4
5	11	Thomas Larson	Alma	207.8
6	12	Simon Triezenberg	Grand Rapids Christian	206.0
7	10	Ezekiel Baltierra	Alma	205.8
8	11	Jonah Workman	East Grand Rapids	205.7
9	11	Bryce Gross	Flint Powers Catholic	205.5
10	12	Dominic Lowrie	Battle Creek Harper Creek	205.4
11	12	Will Engbers	Holland Christian	204.8
12	12	Jeb Hillary	Grand Rapids Catholic Central	204.3
13	12	Elijah Christensen	Gladwin	204.1
14	9	Lennox Naswell	Flint Powers Catholic	203.8
15	12	Sullivan Zietlow	Three Rivers	203.7
16	10	Bryce Cahoon	Shepherd	203.6
17	11	Edison Lopeman	Parma Western	201.8
18	10	Abraham McHugh	Marshall	201.5
19	11	Vincent Pattison	Goodrich	201.5
20	11	Moises Salazar	Adrian	200.4
21	11	Ronnie Silveira	Allendale	200.3
22	12	Kilian Whalen	Allendale	199.6
23	12	Seth Mead	Gladwin	199.5
24	12	Lucas Kuhn	New Boston Huron	199.4
25	11	Owen Metzger	Sparta	199.3
26	12	Ben Gross	Allendale	198.9
27	12	Alex Doneth	Mason	198.8
28	10	Cole McCraw	Pinckney	198.7
29	12	Jack Lillywhite	Flint Kearsley	198.6
30	12	Abatu Dykstra	Hamilton	198.3

Recap

The tour of vast improvements and stunning results has only continued for Emma Hoffman. She traveled to the land of Spotted Cow to show those Wisconsin folks one of her many sub-18’s. Then blew away the D2 field on her home course, further lowering the Otsego school record to 17:22.

Other than Emma, not too much movement in the individual rankings. Ava Schafer quietly running her 17:40’s and winning in the CAAC Red, Emma Drnek and Courtney Bovair continually lowering their school records, Elena Figueroa dominatingly winning in the SMAC West, back-to-back sub-18’s for Katie Berkshire. Normally, any one of these would result in a drastic move, however, these girls just match each other in great performances.

Looking Forward

Again, a separating of the top folks. Emma and her Bulldog girls having the weekend off, Ava preparing for Greater Lansing. Portage again saves the day, with Katie Berkshire, Emma Drnek, Elena Figueroa, and Courtney Bovair all facing one another.

In championship action, perhaps Natalie Foltz in line for a Greater Flint crown? Mea D’Agostino hoping to crack the top-five against Oakland County’s best?

Top 30

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating
1	11	Emma Hoffman	Otsego	168.2
2	10	Ava Schafer	St. Johns	164.2
3	11	Katie Berkshire	Gaylord	159.9
4	12	Emma Drnek	Zeeland East	159.0
5	12	Elena Figueroa	St. Joseph	156.1
6	12	Courtney Bovair	Carleton Airport	155.8
7	10	Clara Kaczor	Freeland	153.6
8	11	Berkley Holtz	Sturgis	151.0
9	10	Jaelyn Ray	Pinckney	148.7
10	12	Sophy Skeels	Adrian	147.2
11	11	Natalie Foltz	Frankenmuth	146.9
12	11	Ellie Scholma	Grand Rapids Christian	144.9
13	12	Ayla Holben	DeWitt	144.6
14	10	Adeline Armstrong	East Grand Rapids	144.2
15	11	Marie Gates	Hudsonville Unity Christian	143.8
16	10	Ayda Skeels	Adrian	143.0
17	9	Adalyn Raab	Zeeland East	142.1
18	12	Mea D’Agostino	Orchard Lake St. Mary’s	141.2
19	10	Johanna Mulder	Holland	140.9
20	12	Grace Evanoff	Flint Powers Catholic	140.3
21	11	Meredith Cook	Zeeland East	139.3
22	10	Alivia Ottinger	Goodrich	138.8
23	10	Annabelle Lowman	Ludington	137.7
24	9	Remie Ellis	Eaton Rapids	137.4
25	12	Ava Crews	Middleville Thornapple-Kellogg	137.1
26	11	Lilah Poel	Grand Rapids Christian	137.1
27	9	Avery Engbers	Holland Christian	136.6
28	10	Mia May	Sparta	136.4
29	12	Kamryn Lauinger	Goodrich	135.5
30	10	Lane Isom	Richland Gull Lake	134.8