2023 Rankings: Division 3, County Week

We’re out of Portage, out of the bigger area meets (Oakland and Wayne County), now onto more of championship season. Many of the top teams competed in a meaningful meet and we’re better able to discern their intentions for this final month of the season.

The WEEK 3 RANKINGS contained the best explanation of the year, so click there. But I’ll add another sentence of emphasis: although this past weekend’s meets weigh the largest, they are not the end all be all, these are cumulative.

Here are the other rankings:

WEEK FOUR
CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON

Recap

Eight of the top-10 teams were present at Portage. There wasn’t much movement in the overall standings, save for Grand Rapids Covenant Christian moving up a few spots due to their depth having the best race of the year. Jackson Lumen Christi stayed at #2, but the gap has closed between them and St. Francis.

Why?

Only a minor upset! The Titans defied the usual 5^th runner philosophy by having unreal strength up front – three in the top-11. Rocky Bolton and Avery Morrow held as close as possible to the nearby Glads, assisting in Lumen Christi’s 15-point victory. The gap in the overall points has decreased from 116 to 91. The difference in top-5 avg. has dropped from 21 seconds to 16 seconds. Will the trend continue or is this the wakeup call for Traverse City St. Francis? We’ve got a little less than a month to find out.

Looking Forward

The Metro Detroit Catholic schools have much tradition and many trophies in their cases, but new addition Jackson Lumen Christi appears to be the best parochial cross team in southeast Michigan. I have no clue how the Ohio teams in the CHSL will fare, I do know that Detroit Catholic Central is rated slightly behind the Titans.

Lansing Catholic took the weekend off in preparation for Greater Lansing. Pewamo-Westphalia took the opportunity to grab PR’s at Portage, five of their top-7 earning a lifetime best. Both will be at Ledge Meadows, the top contenders of the D3 contingent.

Mentioned in the D4 rankings, Saugatuck will look to fight off the pesky Hacketts and Bridgmans of the world and win the SAC Championship.

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.	Last Week
1	Traverse City St. Francis	106	19	190.7	1
2	Jackson Lumen Christi	197	23	185.3	2
3	Ithaca	265	25	182.3	3
4	Saugatuck	328	22	174.2	4
5	Pewamo-Westphalia	337	24	174.6	5
6	Grand Rapids Covenant Christian	380	21	174.4	8
7	Lansing Catholic	381	26	172.5	6
8	Hanover-Horton	387	23	175.3	7
9	Stanton Central Montcalm	425	24	175.8	9
10	Buchanan	442	22	170.4	10
11	Charlevoix	495	19	173.3	11
12	Flat Rock	526	27	174.8	12
13	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	542	21	168.7	13
14	Jonesville	555	23	169.9	15
15	Benzie Central	593	20	165.5	17
16	Reed City	618	20	168.4	14
17	Hart	643	20	162.6	16
18	Bath	743	24	162.7	18
19	The Potter’s House	750	21	161.0	22
20	Holland Black River	755	21	161.4	20
21	Union City	780	22	161.0	21
22	Leslie	782	26	158.9	19
23	Montague	792	21	159.4	23
24	Monroe St. Mary CC	850	27	158.4	31
25	Sanford-Meridian	859	25	159.4	24
26	Erie Mason	905	27	156.5	25
27	Brooklyn Columbia Central	909	23	155.1	33

Recap

P-Dub played out their name at Portage, their low sticks up front performing as usual, the fastest fourth and the second-fastest fifth. The gap was closed on Lansing Catholic, mainly thanks to an outstanding race from freshman Adelyn Thelen. In merely two weeks, Thelen has dropped 50 sec. from her personal best, now a 3^rd Pirate under 20.

A huge leap came from Benzie Central, who has all the pieces humming at the right time. Four Huskie scorers achieved personal bests (and those four all erased those bests yesterday). Avery Kelly and Nora Grossnickle are proving reliable up front, the freshmen depth is improving by leaps and bounds. A scary proposition for the teams ahead of them.

Looking Forward

Doing their work at Portage, Pewamo-Westphalia lowered the gap on Lansing Catholic enough so that the top ranking is on the line. Obviously, more important than the top ranking here is how each team performs with three weeks to go. The Cougars and Pirates haven’t met up this year, however, we’ve got a picture of how it may shake out. P-W up front with Werner and Kramer, Lansing Catholic’s 3^rd-6^th all providing an advantage over their counterparts. The Greater Lansing field is probably a little stronger than the D3 final field, so point totals may be exaggerated later in the race. Regardless, we’ll get an honest picture of how the two teams stack up against one another.

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.	Last Week
1	Lansing Catholic	195	26	117.8	1
2	Pewamo-Westphalia	210	24	122.0	2
3	Traverse City St. Francis	232	19	117.6	3
4	Stanton Central Montcalm	284	24	121.4	4
5	Benzie Central	315	20	109.3	7
6	Jackson Lumen Christi	317	23	109.0	5
7	Ithaca	354	25	103.7	6
8	Hart	480	20	94.9	10
9	Leslie	489	26	98.8	8
10	McBain	498	20	96.3	11
11	Grand Rapids Covenant Christian	500	21	95.4	9
12	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	540	21	99.4	12
13	Remus Chippewa Hills	620	20	88.3	17
14	Clare	636	19	88.9	11
15	Blissfield	637	27	93.1	15
16	Saugatuck	653	22	88.8	13
17	Grass Lake	696	27	82.9	14
18	Midland Bullock Creek	751	25	84.0	16
19	Grandville Calvin Christian	800	21	79.9	18
20	Onsted	803	23	86.8	19
21	Ann Arbor Greenhills	846	26	79.2	20
22	Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian	867	21	75.3	22
23	Laingsburg	901	24	74.5	21
24	Buchanan	906	22	76.0	28
25	Manistee	910	20	73.3	38
26	Bronson	949	23	80.1	25
27	Schoolcraft	953	22	71.9	24

Individual Rankings

Recap

The award for the most sub-16’s has to go to Mitchell Hiatt, who just keeps quickly winning. There are very little poor efforts in his portfolio. 15:41 at Hudson, 15:22 at Stockbridge, 15:43 in Jackson, even a 15:57 in the rough Spartan conditions. As long as he keeps churning them out, he’ll be in a great spot come early November.

Likely feeling like he’s in a great spot is Gage Hoffman. Gage has returned to his PR form from Under the Lights, vanquishing the D3 Portage field en route to a 10+ second victory.

Gus Rohde moved down a few spots, but don’t be apprehensive, he did enough to win on a rugged Pine River course.

Looking Forward

Championships are on the line! Top-ranked Mitchell Hiatt will be at Lenawee County, no doubt dealing with Moises Salazar.

Ever rising Matthias Morse will look to win at Greater Muskegon, likely competing against Stewart Waters and Vincent Pollock.

I bet neither fathomed competing for these early in their career. As freshman, each finished over 30^th place. If you’re newcomer to the sport reading this, dream big, just as these two have.

Top 50

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating
1	12	Mitchell Hiatt	Onsted	204.5
2	12	Josh Slocum	Traverse City St. Francis	204.8
3	11	Gage Hoffman	Stanton Central Montcalm	204.0
4	12	Gus Rohde	Reed City	203.7
5	11	Landen Styka	Ithaca	202.4
6	12	Isaiah Dinverno	Jackson Lumen Christi	202.1
7	11	Jacob Stanislawski	Flat Rock	200.9
8	12	Levi Kamps	Grand Rapids Covenant Christian	196.9
9	12	Matthias Morse	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	196.5
10	10	William Ready	Traverse City St. Francis	195.7
11	12	Landon Pestrue	St. Louis	195.2
12	10	Caleb Blonde	Jonesville	195.2
13	12	Miingen Bertrand	Ithaca	195.2
14	12	Landen Boulis	Hanover-Horton	195.0
15	12	Leo Swager	Jackson Lumen Christi	194.2
16	10	Hunter Eaton	Charlevoix	194.1
17	11	Noah Devereaux	Laingsburg	191.6
18	12	Nathan Vargo	Flat Rock	190.9
19	10	Luke Herron	Caro	190.3
20	12	Tyler Heal	Sanford-Meridian	190.2
21	9	Nole Lorenzen	Rochester Hills Lutheran NW	190.1
22	11	Tyler Leach	Otisville LakeVille	189.8
23	12	Daniel Mandujano	Watervliet	189.0
24	11	Robert Dykhouse	Manton	187.9
25	9	Owen Poppema	Bath	187.9
26	12	Owen Read	Traverse City St. Francis	187.1
27	10	Cooper Flick	Hanover-Horton	186.3
28	12	Robby Myler	Traverse City St. Francis	185.1
29	11	Jayden Fox	Saginaw Valley Lutheran	185.0
30	10	Ryder Hopkins	Charlevoix	184.8
31	11	Gibson Shore	Jackson Lumen Christi	184.7
32	9	Christian Craanen	Monroe St. Mary CC	183.8
33	11	Lucas Taraszkiewicz	Flat Rock	183.7
34	10	Logan Youngman	Hillsdale	183.1
35	11	Matthew Solomon	Charlevoix	182.8
36	11	Lucas Gates	Lansing Catholic	181.8
37	10	Marshall Brandt	Midland Bullock Creek	181.7
38	11	Edward Mugisha	The Potter’s House	181.6
39	11	Ben Gautsche	Union City	181.4
40	10	Jonas Ballard	Holland Black River	180.9
41	11	Nicholas Fowler	Jonesville	180.8
42	11	Liam McBeth	Buchanan	180.6
43	12	Brayden Sweeney	Midland Bullock Creek	180.6
44	12	Joseph Carlson	Traverse City St. Francis	180.2
45	11	Trenton Fetter	Adrian Madison	180.2
46	10	John Kowatch	Pewamo-Westphalia	179.9
47	9	Jackson Bowman	Saugatuck	178.8
48	11	Kyler Fertig	Stanton Central Montcalm	178.4
49	12	Ian Waddell	Blissfield	178.3
50	10	Wyatt Werner	Pewamo-Westphalia	178.2

Recap

Kyah Hoffman continues her hold on the top spot, racing to another sub-18 effort at Portage. Just as last year, Hoffman is winning races at a high clip, with 7 of her 9 efforts resulting in victory. Unlike last year, one of these came at Portage, as she placed 3^rd in 2023.

Beyond Hoffman, most of these girls stayed similar to the previous week, with one exception: Betsy Skendzel. The ultra consistent Glad tied her best race of the year (Party in the Park), placing 2^nd and earning a Portage PR.

Looking Forward

Championships on the line yet again. Whereas the two mentioned boys had never won at Lenawee County or GMAA, Emmry Ross and Grace VanderKooi have. The two seniors have two area crowns and are looking to triple it up.

Whitney Werner, Alyssa Kramer, and Hailey Creisher will probably linger behind Ava Schafer and Rachel Smith, but a large meet such as Greater Lansing will provide ample opportunity to show worth and speed.

Top 50

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating
1	12	Kyah Hoffman	Stanton Central Montcalm	163.8
2	12	Emmry Ross	Onsted	157.5
3	12	Betsy Skendzel	Traverse City St. Francis	152.2
4	12	Whitney Werner	Pewamo-Westphalia	151.8
5	12	Eliza Bush	Ypsilanti Arbor Preparatory	148.6
6	12	Lila Volkers	Kent City	147.6
7	10	Alyssa Kramer	Pewamo-Westphalia	146.6
8	12	Grace Vanderkooi	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	146.2
9	10	Kamryn Salladay	Lakeview	143.6
10	11	Hailey Creisher	Leslie	142.6
11	10	Samantha Schroeder	Jackson Lumen Christi	141.8
12	11	Hope Miller	Blissfield	141.3
13	12	Ashley Choponis	Stanton Central Montcalm	140.6
14	9	Elliana Max	Kent City	139.1
15	11	Bella LaFountain	Monroe St. Mary CC	136.4
16	9	Caelyn Torry	McBain	135.0
17	10	Isabelle Sliter	Fennville	134.7
18	10	Shelby Kuiper	Grand Rapids Covenant Christian	131.0
19	11	Grace Coston	Stanton Central Montcalm	130.8
20	12	Nora Grossnickle	Benzie Central	130.6
21	9	Avery Kelly	Benzie Central	130.2
22	9	Josie Bishop	Lansing Catholic	129.5
23	12	Ava Hathaway	Bronson	129.4
24	10	Sophia Buzzelli	Clare	127.4
25	12	Chloe Stalhood	Hillsdale	126.6
26	10	Grace Wonch	Lansing Catholic	126.1
27	11	Mattie Gagne	Midland Bullock Creek	126.1
28	12	Kaya Vrable	Caro	125.9
29	11	Ashlynn Harris	Bronson	121.8
30	12	Mary Masserant	Traverse City St. Francis	121.3
31	11	Anna Poppema	Bath	120.8
32	10	Molly Kate Hollandsworth	Traverse City St. Francis	119.6
33	10	Makinna Foglesong	Ithaca	119.5
34	12	Alaina Klooster	Kalamazoo Christian	118.1
35	9	Isabelle Currie	Lansing Catholic	118.0
36	9	Khloe Lehnst	Ithaca	117.3
37	9	Madisyn Wanstead	Leroy Pine River	116.1
38	9	Maisey Toteff	Hanover-Horton	115.9
39	11	Frances Melinn	Lansing Catholic	115.4
40	12	Madeline Young	Buchanan	114.9
41	9	Adelyn Thelen	Pewamo-Westphalia	114.1
42	12	Skyler Fraley	Union City	113.6
43	10	Lyvia Curtis	Saugatuck	113.3
44	9	Madison Wils	Bath	113.0
45	12	Megan Gottschall	Lake City	113.0
46	10	Natalie Rosema	Hart	111.8
47	11	Macy Fazekas	Jackson Lumen Christi	111.7
48	11	Abigail Reis	Millington	110.8
49	12	Lola Bryce	Grandville Calvin Christian	110.0
50	9	Avalynne Allee	Leroy Pine River	109.4