Regional Previews: Division Two Boys

Time to get cracking on these regional previews. As with the 50 Tickets, these are a bit condensed compared to past years. I found the writing was getting excessive, repetitive, and more work than the actual season. But still, regional projections are in order. I thought I’d highlight a few of the battles, tough regions, and outstanding individuals.

Compared to Divisions 3 & 4, these are a bit more solid in terms of predicting which incoming freshmen are going where and all regions have a full assortment of teams.

Anyhow, here are your D2 Boys predictions. Similar to the 50 Tickets, these are based on last year’s XC season and track seasons, projected improvements, and a few bits of subjective shuffling.

Toughest Regions

Region 12 – five teams in the top-25. Think of it this way, normally teams ranked in the 20’s would have a good chance of being the third qualifier. Grand Rapids South Christian and Portland, ranked 24^th and 25^th, are projected to be nearly 50 points above 3^rd place.

Region 13 – five teams ranked within 11 spots. The positive aspect is that all of these spots are up for grabs, no prohibitive favorite. The negative, living near the Lake Michigan coast means you’re in a D2 hotbed.

Region 14 – four teams in the top-24. Alma and Parma Western are probably out of reach for DeWitt or Williamston, as the former are teeming with talent. Early on, it appears that the Hornets will be stronger up front, while the Panthers lose a ton, but have depth that could step up.

Intriguing Battles

Region 11 – five teams competing for two spots. Sparta and Allendale are projected to be neck and neck for 2^nd and 3^rd, but Holland, Hudsonville Unity Christian, and Grand Rapids Catholic Central are close behind. Sparta appears to be the strongest through all spots, Allendale extremely tough through three. It appears a bubble of kids will be around that 17:45-18:00 range on this quick course, if a team is able to put five ahead of the front end of that, they’ll have an excellent shot of moving on.

Region 12 – East Grand Rapids vs. Grand Rapids Christian, with a potential Forest Hills Eastern spoiler? The separating factor between the former two and Forest Hills Eastern appears to be the stronger depth of the first two. On the other hand, the Hawks have produced runners such as Henry Dixon and Aiden Sullivan, not to mention their team title two years ago. They can develop talent to move up in the field. Grand Rapids Christian appears to be stronger through four, East Grand Rapids deeper through seven. The Pioneers closed cross hard, but had a subpar spring. The Eagles return four kids who ran at least 4:40/10:20 this past spring.

Region 13 – top-3 teams separated by a mere 9 points. Between Three Rivers, Otsego, and Richland Gull Lake, the separating factor appears to be the work of the Wildcats’ 3^rd and 4^th kids. Last fall, Jonah Zietlow slipped under 17:00 in the clutch and this spring, David Kore showed he can potentially be one of D2’s better milers in future years. Last year, Three Rivers dethroned Otsego in both their dual meet and in the Wolverine Conference. For years, that’s been Otsego’s spot. Maybe the kick in the teeth the Bulldog program needed? We’ll see.

Region 16 – Fenton vs. Pinckney for the win, Lake Fenton vs. Country Day for the final qualifier. We get a little move down to D2 from Fenton. The Tigers go from finishing 6^th in Region 4 to being in the drivers seat early here. Pinckney’s Pirates have been traditionally strong here, but they lose 3 of their top-4. Detroit Country Day and Lake Fenton have very similar makeups. The Blue Devils are quick through three, the Yellowjackets can hang with their top-two. DCD’s depth seems a bit faster. Thus, it’ll likely be a contest of which pack steps up on this tough Linden course.

Region 18 – Adrian vs. Chelsea. Each team returns pretty much everyone from 2024’s regional squad. Among those returners, Chelsea brings back five that placed in front of Adrian’s four. But the Maples add a Parker Smith (last name sound familiar?) that won the MS Lenawee County title last fall.

Region 10

Top 27 Teams

Top-10 Cedar Springs
#14 Howard City Tri-County
#20 Petoskey

Proj. Place	Team	Score
1	Cedar Springs	48
2	Howard City Tri-County	91
3	Petoskey	112
4	Spring Lake	138
5	Whitehall	170
6	Fremont	181
7	Ludington	190
8	Clare	196
9	Gladwin	223
10	Cadillac	260
11	Muskegon Oakridge	269
12	Gaylord	284
13	Big Rapids	335
14	Fruitport	353

Top Athletes

Bobby Jazwinski – a fresh start.

Ethan Shoffner – after many years of trying, finally broke into the 15’s for a 7^th place finish here last year.

Aiden Weller – coming off a track season where some serious gains were made, including a 20 sec. drop in the 3200m.

Place	Grade	Name	Team
1	11	Bobby Jazwinski	Whitehall
2	12	Ethan Shoffner	Cedar Springs
3	12	Aiden Weller	Cedar Springs
4	12	Ben Verellen	Gladwin
5	12	Zahar Rush	Petoskey
6	11	Reeve Oberman	Petoskey
7	10	Kelan Monreal	Howard City Tri-County
8	12	Hunter Parsons	Whitehall
9	12	Alex Culver	Howard City Tri-County
10	12	Lukus Mendoza	Spring Lake
11	11	Bryce Falbe	Muskegon Oakridge
12	11	Gabe Grierson	Ludington
13	10	Tadhg Shoffner	Cedar Springs
14	11	Peyton Farrell	Cedar Springs
15	11	Myles Robinson	Gladwin
16	10	Declan Shoffner	Cedar Springs
17	11	Connor Schmidt	Clare
18	12	Chase Lowery	Fremont
19	12	Henry Kauffman	Howard City Tri-County
20	11	Owen Adams	Spring Lake

Region 11

Top 27 Teams

Top-10 Holland Christian
#27 Allendale

Proj. Place	Team	Score
1	Holland Christian	60
2	Sparta	94
3	Allendale	94
4	Holland	109
5	Hudsonville Unity Christian	113
6	Grand Rapids Catholic Central	117
7	Hopkins	192
8	Coopersville	232
9	Hamilton	248
10	Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills	261
11	South Haven	291
12	Grand Rapids West Catholic	292

Top Athletes

Ronnie Silveira – the speedster featured here

Mason Hill – late season rise unlike many others

Owen Metzger – has always been a fixture here, all three years in the top-10, the past two in the top-3.

Mitchell Dunlap – momentum began toward the end of his 9^th grade year and hasn’t let up since. Sub-16 halfway through last year then his first state qualifier.

Aden Ashworth – making steady progress, especially evident on the track, where he improved his speed and dropped over 10 sec. from his previous 1600m best.

Jack Estelle – his improvement may best by symbolized by what occurred in early November, a move from 218^th place in D2 to 73^rd, over 1.5 minutes better on the MIS track

Place	Grade	Name	Team
1	12	Ronnie Silveira	Allendale
2	11	Mason Hill	Allendale
3	12	Owen Metzger	Sparta
4	11	Mitchell Dunlap	Grand Rapids Catholic Central
5	12	Aden Ashworth	Allendale
6	12	Jack Estelle	Hopkins
7	12	Landon Gerritsma	Holland Christian
8	12	Carson Wood	Sparta
9	10	Aiden Lambers	Holland
10	11	Graeson Decker	Hudsonville Unity Christian
11	11	Cole Coffman	Holland Christian
12	12	Riley Hart	Holland Christian
13	10	Kash Moored	Hopkins
14	9	Zach Diller	Holland Christian
15	11	Alex Ten Haken	Hudsonville Unity Christian
16	9	Grant Lampen	Holland Christian
17	11	Kellen Chalupa	Allegan
18	10	Caelen Gray	Holland
19	9	Zander Stewart	Holland Christian
20	10	Macen White	Holland Christian

Region 12

Top 27 Teams

Top-10 East Grand Rapids
Top-10 Grand Rapids Christian
Top-10 Forest Hills Eastern
#24 Grand Rapids South Christian
#25 Portland

Proj. Place	Team	Score
1	East Grand Rapids	42
2	Grand Rapids Christian	49
3	Forest Hills Eastern	76
4	Grand Rapids South Christian	122
5	Portland	123
6	GR West Michigan Aviation	172
7	Wayland Union	195
8	Grand River Preparatory	231
9	Middleville Thornapple-Kellogg	232
10	Ionia	240
11	Lake Odessa Lakewood	274
12	Hastings	342
13	Battle Creek Pennfield	396

Top Athletes

Jonah Workman – writeup coming soon… very soon?

Sean Ryan – another big drop in the 1600m might be the ticket towards greatness in the fall, his 4:23 ranking 9^th amongst D2 returners.st

Steven Zawacki – had shown signs as a freshman, capitalized on those as a sophomore. Dropped as low as 15:39, placing 18^th in all of D2

Micah Becker – blossomed late, ripping two consecutive sub-16’s to close the year. Looks to be one of the better #2 men in the state.

Place	Grade	Name	Team
1	12	Jonah Workman	East Grand Rapids
2	12	Sean Ryan	Grand Rapids Christian
3	11	Steven Zawacki	Forest Hills Eastern
4	10	Micah Becker	East Grand Rapids
5	12	Jack Edison	East Grand Rapids
6	12	Micah Small	Grand Rapids Christian
7	12	Asher Jager	GR West Michigan Aviation
8	10	James Scholten-Holcomb	Grand Rapids Christian
9	10	Ashton Fink	Grand Rapids Christian
10	12	Shephard Bower	Forest Hills Eastern
11	12	Thad VanderLaan	Grand Rapids South Christian
12	12	Andrew Feldpausch	Portland
13	12	Owen Moore	Portland
14	11	Josiah Rozema	Grand Rapids South Christian
15	12	Tyler VanKuiken	East Grand Rapids
16	12	Cooper Donovan	Forest Hills Eastern
17	11	Lucas Aardema	East Grand Rapids
18	10	Liam DeWitt	Portland
19	11	Thomas Fisher	East Grand Rapids
20	12	Sam Hillary	East Grand Rapids

Region 13

Top 27 Teams

#15 Three Rivers
#17 Otsego
#19 Richland Gull Lake
#21 Edwardsburg
#26 Plainwell

Proj. Place	Team	Score
1	Three Rivers	118
2	Otsego	122
3	Richland Gull Lake	127
4	Edwardsburg	143
5	Plainwell	158
6	Marshall	172
7	Battle Creek Harper Creek	173
8	Niles	192
9	St. Joseph	202
10	Paw Paw	224
11	Vicksburg	243
12	Sturgis	251
13	Coldwater	291
14	Berrien Springs	385
15	Stevensville Lakeshore	487
16	Dowagiac Union	498

Top Athletes

Abraham McHugh – you thought we were done with Marshall kids? Not yet.

Donovan Ryan – there’s a Plainwell Trojan in the tickets seemingly every season.

Caiden Caswell – fresh off a track season that further validated his cross one. Personal bests in the 1600m and 3200m, including breaking 10:00 in early May.

George Scupham – over the years, has been known for his late-season bursts. As a sophomore, that was getting under 17:00 late. A junior, racing to a significant 16:07 PR at MIS.

Place	Grade	Name	Team
1	11	Abraham McHugh	Marshall
2	12	Donovan Ryan	Plainwell
3	11	Caiden Caswell	Vicksburg
4	12	George Scupham	Edwardsburg
5	12	Kenny Sheffer	Otsego
6	12	Cooper Gardner	Battle Creek Harper Creek
7	12	Hiro Nguyen	Plainwell
8	11	Christian Ayres	Battle Creek Harper Creek
9	12	Charlie Brauer	Three Rivers
10	12	Gavin Markucki	Richland Gull Lake
11	12	Trent Hansen	Plainwell
12	11	Christopher Vogt	Paw Paw
13	12	Benjamin Morales	Sturgis
14	12	Reece Howes	Three Rivers
15	11	Hunter Smith	Vicksburg
16	11	Gunnar Djerf	Otsego
17	11	Connor Beebe	Berrien Springs
18	12	Finn Tauren	Richland Gull Lake
19	9	John Brickley	Niles
20	12	Clark Erwin	Marshall

Region 14

Top 27 Teams

Top-10 Alma
Top-10 Parma Western
#16 DeWitt
#23 Williamston

Proj. Place	Team	Score
1	Alma	34
2	Parma Western	62
3	DeWitt	99
4	Williamston	118
5	Corunna	147
6	St. Johns	157
7	Haslett	167
8	Fowlerville	213
9	Jackson Northwest	274
10	Owosso	276
11	Eaton Rapids	276
12	Charlotte	315
13	Michigan Center	414
14	Lansing Sexton	447

Top Athletes

Edison Lopeman – writeup coming soon, perhaps extremely soon?

Thomas Larson & Ezekiel Baltierra – another season of breaking each other’s records?

Duncan Palmer – not just a 3-point shooter 800m runner, as Palmer hit top-10’s here and at Greater Lansing

Ryan Good – the same opening above applies, with Good screaming toward the 2024 finish with two straight sub-16’s and a 17^th place D2 finish.

Place	Grade	Name	Team
1	12	Edison Lopeman	Parma Western
2	12	Thomas Larson	Alma
3	11	Ezekiel Baltierra	Alma
4	10	Duncan Palmer	Williamston
5	11	Ryan Good	Parma Western
6	12	Reagan Ward	St. Johns
7	12	Elijah Baltierra	Alma
8	11	Mason Raborn	DeWitt
9	10	Teddy Weber	Williamston
10	11	Kevin Terpstra	Alma
11	11	Ryan Frantz	Haslett
12	12	Luca Lebron	Alma
13	12	Payton Chandler	Corunna
14	11	Ezra Nellis	Corunna
15	10	Logan Banner	St. Johns
16	10	Sam Johnson	Alma
17	9	Logan Cristian	Parma Western
18	9	Micah Good	Parma Western
19	12	Raymond Herek	Williamston
20	12	Joshua Carpenter	DeWitt

Region 15

Top 27 Teams

Top-10 Flint Powers Catholic
Top-10 Frankenmuth
Top-10 Shepherd

Proj. Place	Team	Score
1	Flint Powers Catholic	40
2	Frankenmuth	59
3	Shepherd	69
4	Freeland	142
5	Goodrich	166
6	Saginaw Swan Valley	193
7	Bay City John Glenn	237
8	North Branch	242
9	Ortonville Brandon	243
10	Flint Kearsley	256
11	Essexville-Garber	270
12	Birch Run	304
13	Imlay City	318

Top Athletes

Bryce Gross – with Naswell, a lead runner on a Powers team that could be vastly improved

Lennox Naswell – potentially one of the state’s better sophomores

Vincent Pattison – greatness ain’t just coming from the Goodrich girls

Bryce Cahoon – in late May, recaptured the form he’d found in the middle of cross, grabbing 15^th in the D2 3200m.

Brett Magnus – absolute consistency from Magnus late, racing between 16:05-16:20 from Saginaw County to MITCA.

Seth Betzold – may have been an under the radar All-State candidate after cross, but not so much after track. Bay County 3200m champion and 10^th in all of D2 in the same event.

Place	Grade	Name	Team
1	12	Bryce Gross	Flint Powers Catholic
2	10	Lennox Naswell	Flint Powers Catholic
3	12	Vincent Pattison	Goodrich
4	11	Bryce Cahoon	Shepherd
5	12	Brett Magnus	Frankenmuth
6	11	Seth Betzold	Essexville-Garber
7	11	Nicklas Parker	Frankenmuth
8	12	Anthony Plana	Frankenmuth
9	12	Thomas Beiter	Flint Powers Catholic
10	12	Ian McNeel	Shepherd
11	9	Charlie Fields	North Branch
12	12	Cole Pergram	Frankenmuth
13	12	Caleb Carignan	Flint Powers Catholic
14	12	Cole Fernandez	Flint Kearsley
15	10	Ryan Rathsburg	Flint Powers Catholic
16	12	Henry Schanbeck	Bay City John Glenn
17	11	Jakin Whitney	Shepherd
18	11	Drew Davis	Shepherd
19	11	Ben Bouchey	Flint Powers Catholic
20	10	Jack Krafft	Shepherd

Region 16

Top 27 Teams

#12 Fenton
#18 Pinckney

Proj. Place	Team	Score
1	Fenton	50
2	Pinckney	57
3	Lake Fenton	112
4	Detroit Country Day	117
5	Dearborn Divine Child	157
6	Orchard Lake St. Mary’s	165
7	Linden	223
8	Oak Park	224
9	Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood	239
10	Madison Heights Lamphere	263
11	Pontiac Notre Dame Prep	263
12	Garden City	314
13	Detroit Henry Ford	375
14	Detroit Cody	439

Top Athletes

Gavin Katic – if Fenton stays D2 in future years, we could have some fun duels between Naswell and Katic.

Cole McCraw – had the race of his life at State, a 15:49, missing the podium by one spot. I always love these scenarios where confidence is built through an amazing race, but there’s still a step to take. Judging off his track season, McCraw worked to move up that one spot (or more).

Cole Wisniewski – made the most of his return to full-time competing, his races at Gabriel Richard, State, and MITCA two years in the making, each significantly lower than the 16:44 he ran as a freshman.

Place	Grade	Name	Team
1	10	Gavin Katic	Fenton
2	11	Cole McCraw	Pinckney
3	12	Cole Wisniewski	Orchard Lake St. Mary’s
4	10	Gerard Gilmour	Fenton
5	12	Brodie Licata	Lake Fenton
6	11	Omar Elbashir	Detroit Country Day
7	10	Ethan Bray	Detroit Country Day
8	10	Gerard Gilmore	Fenton
9	11	Cooper Steckroth	Lake Fenton
10	12	Shondell Warren	Oak Park
11	10	Jackson Butts	Lake Fenton
12	9	Matthew Mcfall	Pinckney
13	12	Nate Sandula	Pinckney
14	11	Noah Neuman	Pinckney
15	12	Jake Yono	Orchard Lake St. Mary’s
16	9	Alex Hagerty	Pinckney
17	9	John Rochowiak	Pinckney
18	11	Jackson Defina	Fenton
19	10	Henry Golembiewski	Fenton
20	12	Bela Matyus	Orchard Lake St. Mary’s

Region 17

Top 27 Teams

#22 Macomb Lutheran North

Proj. Place	Team	Score
1	Macomb Lutheran North	48
2	St. Clair	65
3	Grosse Pointe North	67
4	Yale	95
5	Marysville	121
6	Croswell-Lexington	146
7	Armada	174
8	Detroit University Prep	270
9	Harper Woods	307
10	Detroit East English	314
11	Warren Lincoln	324
12	Harper Woods Chandler Park	370
13	Detroit Southeastern Tech	393

Top Athletes

Joshua Macri – underwent a transformation in track, coming from 2:14/4:38/10:10 to 1:59/4:25/9:38. State qualifier in the long distance events and definitely a contender to medal at MIS this fall.

Xavier Roman – stunning difference between his 10^th and 11^th grade years. Moved up 16 places here and dropped 80 seconds from his personal best.

Place	Grade	Name	Team
1	11	Joshua Macri	Macomb Lutheran North
2	12	Xavier Roman	Macomb Lutheran North
3	12	Paul Stephens	Grosse Pointe North
4	11	Ethan Kreger	St. Clair
5	9	Caleb Mcbride	Marysville
6	11	Connor Pepin	Croswell-Lexington
7	10	Mason Pietrykowski	Richmond
8	12	Brayden Prieskorn	St. Clair
9	12	Samuel Kochensparger	Macomb Lutheran North
10	12	Nolan Korolden	Yale
11	12	Neil Orlowski	Grosse Pointe North
12	12	Sam Parish	Grosse Pointe North
13	10	Brady VanConant	Yale
14	11	Brendan Koza	Marysville
15	11	Logan Rhodes	Yale
16	9	David Matthews	St. Clair
17	10	Dylan Phillips	Grosse Pointe North
18	11	Nino Biondo	Macomb Lutheran North
19	12	Luke McDonell	St. Clair
20	11	Jeremy Johnson	Marysville

Region 18

Top 27 Teams

#11 Adrian
#13 Chelsea

Proj. Place	Team	Score
1	Adrian	60
2	Chelsea	65
3	Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard	126
4	New Boston Huron	135
5	Carleton Airport	144
6	Flat Rock	151
7	Tecumseh	156
8	Monroe Jefferson	208
9	Grosse Ile	261
10	Trenton	265
11	Dundee	266
12	Milan	304
13	Riverview	341
14	Dearborn Henry Ford Academy	460

Top Athletes

Moises Salazar Jr. – can’t believe you’re already a senior!

Jacob Stanislawski – twice the Region 27 champ, now faced with a little more of a challenge, which should out the best in this 2x All-State competitor

Luke Dulecki – after a few years of running in the mid-16’s, blasted a 16:02 last October. Twice top-10 here, looking for three in a row.

Lucas Taraskiewicz – quite a different runner as a junior, dropping nearly a minute at MIS to finish 18^th in D3.

Place	Grade	Name	Team
1	12	Moises Salazar Jr.	Adrian
2	12	Jacob Stanislawski	Flat Rock
3	12	Luke Dulecki	New Boston Huron
4	12	Lucas Taraszkiewicz	Flat Rock
5	12	Henry Fredenberg	Chelsea
6	12	Matthew Carbajo	Grosse Ile
7	11	Wyeth Angus	Chelsea
8	10	Harrison Stamper	Tecumseh
9	12	Matthew Wright	Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard
10	11	Carter Fenner	Adrian
11	10	Eli Morris	Tecumseh
12	9	Parker Smith	Adrian
13	11	Owen Thorburn	Chelsea
14	11	Cameron Crane	New Boston Huron
15	11	Jonathan Rapoza	Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard
16	9	Mason Tulik	Monroe Jefferson
17	12	Linus Helzerman	Chelsea
18	10	Easton Coscarelli	Adrian
19	11	Landin Fisher	Adrian
20	12	William Dobbertin	Carleton Airport