2024 Rankings: Division 1, 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

Portage was illuminating, mostly in the fact of Jenison’s increased candidacy for the second podium spot and perhaps, even a win. Jacob Tanner highlighted just how close this race was, a few seconds improvement or a few seconds added in the final month, both scenarios could play a pivotal role in deciding a state title. For ranking purposes, the Wildcats moved up a spot and gained 50 points on Northville. Grand Haven also had a superb day, moving past two higher-ranked teams to nearly grab 3^rd.

Clarkston and Livonia Churchill won Oakland and Wayne Counties, neither having a particularly great day.

Looking Forward

Sorta that odd week between huge meets and conference meets. I call it County Week here, as the usual progression is County, Conference, Regional, State. But anyhow, Willow is home to the River Rat Open, a regional preview for many western suburb teams and a great spot to gain confidence before championships truly begin. Saline will be there, the Hornets quietly hanging in there with their young group, Canton will look to rebound after a Wayne County defeat.

On Friday night, Livonia Churchill has Livonia bragging rights to claim. Similar to Willow is the ultra-quick South course at Hudson Mills, where Brighton will look to rip some PRs.

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.	Last Week
1	Northville	93	6	204.1	1
2	Jenison	224	1	199.8	3
3	Brighton	259	4	197.1	2
4	Canton	381	6	195.5	4
5	Livonia Churchill	395	6	194.7	5
6	Saline	396	5	192.9	6
7	Clarkston	410	8	193.3	7
8	Grand Haven	439	1	194.2	9
9	Traverse City Central	501	2	191.0	10
10	Kalamazoo Central	519	3	190.2	8
11	Portage Central	539	3	189.5	12
12	Ann Arbor Pioneer	544	5	194.4	11
13	Oxford	577	8	191.6	14
14	East Kentwood	577	3	190.0	13
15	Forest Hills Central	605	3	189.5	15
16	Plymouth	615	6	189.1	16
17	Utica	679	9	188.3	17
18	White Lake Lakeland	725	7	185.3	23
19	Macomb Dakota	741	9	186.1	18
20	Midland	745	2	185.6	20
21	Okemos	747	2	185.8	21
22	Rockford	774	1	184.5	19
23	Highland-Milford	804	7	188.1	22
24	Traverse City West	814	2	184.6	24
25	Salem	843	6	183.3	26
26	Caledonia	910	3	183.1	25
27	Kalamazoo Loy Norrix	939	3	184.2	45

Recap

I think Romeo unequivocally answered the call. Five girls in the top-15, all scorers under 18:35. You could take out Guaresimo and Annie, Romeo still would’ve won.

Where other teams faltered in the final miles, Saline and Ann Arbor Pioneer were able to move up. Staton, Gady, and Schlack found bodies to pass, each moving up 10+ places throughout the race. Brighton may have finished 5^th, but the Bulldogs were closer to the top-4 than projected, enough to move up a spot here.

More and more, it’s appearing that Rochester is a contender for a top-5 placing at MIS. Experienced, battle-tested senior up front. Raw, yet wise junior slightly behind her. And then different girls who step up in different weeks. At Oakland County, the Falcons comfortably cruised to a victory.

Looking Forward

The Romeo squad attained a perfect score in all of my Macomb County simulations. Even in an appropriate season for spooky events, that’s scary. We’ll see if Brighton and Saline keep the momentum rolling at Gabriel Richard and River Rat Open.

Mentioned in the D2 rankings was a battle between DeWitt and Okemos at Greater Lansing. I pointed out DeWitt’s patient racing as an advantage, now I’ll tell you that Okemos halved DeWitt’s score last year, ravaging Ledge Meadows en route to a 58-point victory.

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.	Last Week
1	Romeo	81	9	151.2	1
2	Holland West Ottawa	140	1	148.6	2
3	Saline	216	5	140.7	3
4	Brighton	273	4	136.3	5
5	Ann Arbor Pioneer	283	5	143.3	4
6	Rockford	341	1	134.0	6
7	Okemos	398	2	133.9	7
8	Rochester	427	8	133.0	9
9	Traverse City West	462	2	128.1	8
10	Grand Haven	513	1	127.6	10
11	Portage Central	516	3	126.6	11
12	Midland Dow	537	2	132.3	12
13	Northville	545	6	124.3	13
14	Jenison	585	1	123.3	14
15	Ann Arbor Skyline	592	4	123.2	19
16	Utica	608	9	123.1	15
17	White Lake Lakeland	618	7	122.3	16
18	Dexter	676	4	119.9	17
19	Hartland	677	4	120.3	18
20	Rochester Adams	718	8	119.4	20
21	Macomb Dakota	788	9	116.0	21
22	Clarkston	789	8	116.4	23
23	Hudsonville	816	1	115.3	22
24	Bay City Western	841	2	115.9	24
25	Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills	843	3	114.2	26
26	Traverse City Central	881	2	112.8	25
27	Ann Arbor Huron	887	6	114.2	27

Individual Rankings

Recap

Seemingly, everyone had a tough day at Willow save for one – Aidan Pengelly. The Cobra junior ran away with a 13-second victory, winning his first Wayne County title.

Running away was what Kyle O’Rourke did in the second mile at Possum Hollow, opening up a sizable gap on the field, challenging the course record in an Oakland County win.

Kamari Ronfeldt summoned a sprint at the end in a battle with Seth Conner. The two pulled away from the field early, Conner attempted to pull away mid-race, but Kamari hung tough and had just enough on the long finishing stretch. Surely, we’ll see these two lock heads once again, perhaps joined by a few more.

Looking Forward

Many weekends off in anticipation of the finishing stretch, but a matchup we haven’t yet seen. Heading east on 94 is Kalamazoo Hackett’s big gun, Marek Butkiewicz. Heading west towards Dexter is Ann Arbor Pioneer. Butkiewicz has been dominating D4 races without much of a test, Kamari Ronfeldt, the wise youngster, is coming off Portage’s emotional high.

On the quick Willow grounds, we’ll witness Kyle O’Rourke and Aidan Pengelly. Pengelly has raced there on many occasions, but the sledding hill won’t be too daunting compared to the Milford mountains.

Top 50

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	CW Rating
1	11	Kyle O’Rourke	Highland-Milford	216.5
2	10	Kamari Ronfeldt	Ann Arbor Pioneer	215.4
3	12	Seth Conner	Jenison	213.1
4	10	Jack MacGregor	Howell	212.7
5	12	Carter Livermore	Grandville	212.6
6	11	Aiden Pengelly	Canton	212.3
7	12	Ethan Powell	Northville	209.7
8	12	Alexander McArthur	Oxford	207.8
9	12	Joseph Rohmfeld	Livonia Churchill	207.3
10	12	Taye Levenson	Bloomfield Hills	207.2
11	11	Jackson Lam	Kalamazoo Loy Norrix	206.4
12	11	Beckett Crooks	Ann Arbor Pioneer	206.0
13	11	Ben Hartigan	Northville	205.8
14	10	Luka Hammond	Grand Haven	205.2
15	12	Kian Schneeweis	Troy	204.7
16	12	Tyler Brock	Brighton	204.0
17	10	Caden Livermore	Grandville	203.8
18	12	Nick Barretto	Northville	203.5
19	11	Ryan Barnes	Clarkston	203.3
20	12	Ben Eisnor	Grand Haven	202.8
21	12	James Cusick	Oxford	202.0
22	11	Ian Morgan	Okemos	201.7
23	10	Ben Romero	Forest Hills Central	201.1
24	12	Lucas LaMilza	Macomb Dakota	201.1
25	12	Julian Linebaugh	Dexter	200.9
26	12	Ishaan Kundapur	Northville	200.9
27	11	Aron Gal	Grand Haven	200.6
28	12	Sawyer McCarthy	Forest Hills Central	200.6
29	10	Brandon Cloud	Northville	200.5
30	12	Parker Strelecki	Jenison	200.5
31	12	Chase Wolters	Livonia Churchill	200.1
32	11	Harper Wesley	Utica	199.9
33	11	Caleb Keller	Traverse City Central	199.8
34	12	Mason Lucas	Jenison	199.6
35	12	Cayden DeGrendel	Clarkston	199.0
36	12	Kort Thompson	Caledonia	198.9
37	12	James Latstetter	Flushing	198.7
38	12	Evan Nickoles	East Kentwood	198.5
39	10	Liam Wierzba	Traverse City West	198.1
40	12	Luke Morehouse	Utica	197.8
41	11	Benjamin Rottier	Grand Ledge	197.8
42	12	Lucas Wood	Howell	197.8
43	10	Blake Kulesza	Brighton	197.7
44	12	Isaac Tanis	East Kentwood	197.5
45	12	Matthew Schwartz	Jenison	197.5
46	12	Spencer Parker	Portage Central	197.3
47	12	Mitchell Jeruzal	Byron Center	197.2
48	12	Jack Chadwick	Plymouth	197.1
49	11	Brennan LaRusso	Saline	197.0
50	12	Malcolm Speigle	Livonia Churchill	197.0

Recap

Nearly 20 seconds at one, 35 at two, a clean 40 at the finish. Another stupendous victory for Helen Sachs. The Panther senior is clearly the class of D1 at this point. The one questions is – who will come in behind her?

Natasza Dudek ran an impressive race in second. All alone, she trailed Sachs, yet was able to hold off any impending kick from the rest of the field. Natalia Guaresimo tried to close, but ran out of real estate.

No one could close on Lucy Cook, a familiar veteran on the Possum Hollow course. A four-time Oakland County champion, Cook sprinted down the first hill and left the field in her dust. The script is playing out as it commonly has, usually ending in a top finish at MIS.

Looking Forward

With Romeo projected to score a perfect 15 at Macomb County, one of the Bulldog girls is predicted to win. Natalia Guaresimo has been running better than anyone, Annie Hrabovsky won last year, maybe another will spring an upset or maybe they’ll all run together? It may not be together, but we’ll likely see a sea of purple up front at River Rat. Hopefully, we’ll see a rebound from Rachel Smith, who could be contending with Ava Schafer for Greater Lansing.

Top 50

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	CW Rating
1	12	Helen Sachs	Holland West Ottawa	177.1
2	9	Natasza Dudek	Ann Arbor Pioneer	166.0
3	12	Victoria Garces	Midland Dow	162.7
4	9	Rachel Smith	Okemos	162.4
5	11	Natalia Guaresimo	Romeo	160.3
6	12	Lucy Cook	Rochester	159.8
7	9	Emilia Garces	Midland Dow	159.0
8	9	Sienna Klemmer	Ann Arbor Pioneer	155.0
9	11	Hana Boggess	Ann Arbor Pioneer	154.9
10	10	Daisy Cox	Rockford	154.2
11	9	McKinley Jones	Saline	154.0
12	12	Mallory Bigelow	Oxford	153.0
13	10	Annie Hrabovsky	Romeo	152.4
14	12	Valerie Beeck	Grand Haven	151.3
15	12	Kaelin Hughes	Livonia Stevenson	150.3
16	12	Annie Alkema	Kalamazoo Central	150.0
17	10	Annabeth Hazlewood	Salem	150.0
18	12	Lillian Deskins	Romeo	149.5
19	9	Savannah Staton	Saline	148.8
20	11	Lydia LaMarra	Brighton	148.8
21	9	Avery Scott	Portage Central	147.1
22	12	Olivia Purdy	Romeo	147.0
23	12	Violet Hrabovsky	Romeo	146.9
24	11	Ava Porras	Holland West Ottawa	144.7
25	12	Isabelle Becker	Bay City Western	144.3
26	12	Emma Gunnett	Holland West Ottawa	144.2
27	10	Collette Wierks	Holland West Ottawa	144.2
28	10	Tessa Mascari	Traverse City West	143.5
29	11	Leah Corby	Rochester Hills Stoney Creek	143.3
30	12	Grace Tykocki	Grand Blanc	143.2
31	11	Ella Abraham	Rochester	142.8
32	11	Emmerson Clor	Romeo	142.8
33	12	Ava Alicandro	White Lake Lakeland	142.5
34	12	Lucinda Paliani	Ann Arbor Huron	141.8
35	12	Corynn Gady	Saline	141.1
36	9	Lucia Llanes	Ann Arbor Skyline	140.3
37	10	Paige McMeans	Jenison	139.8
38	10	Gabriella Fugazzi	Okemos	139.5
39	9	Charley McKay	Brownstown Woodhaven	139.5
40	10	Katelynn Egli	Novi	139.4
41	11	Olivia Stacy	Portage Northern	139.3
42	12	Chloe DeRidder	Grandville	139.2
43	11	Ava Lawrence	East Kentwood	138.5
44	12	Elle Bissett	Brighton	138.5
45	12	Ava Peters	Livonia Franklin	138.4
46	10	Colette Lozo	Northville	137.6
47	9	Ainsley Kelm	Portage Northern	137.6
48	11	Aviana Skinner	Grand Ledge	136.7
49	11	October Harns	Okemos	136.7
50	10	El McMahan	Rochester Adams	136.3