mixcspeedratings

Where: Kensington Metropark, Possum Hollow

The readers, the followers voted this storied venue as a top-2 course in Michigan and I agree. Idyllic setting on the waters of Kent Lake. The first mile has a bit of a rise and dip, the second mile is flat, and the third mile is where all hell breaks loose. You’ve got a hill, wait TWO hills, back to back, then a thrilling downhill finish. Such an iconic last mile that someone made a Strava segment to document it all (oh wait, that’s me – but don’t let this affect your race).

Three main races were held here during championship season, Oakland County (-39), LVC (-33), Catholic League (-26). Oakland County was on a soggy day and that stretch down by the water is especially mushy, LVC after school, so Catholic League is the best point of comparison. Like Hess Hathaway, this should be a slower course compared to the rest of the state.

2021 Boys: Highland-Milford (12^th), White Lake Lakeland (3^rd), Walled Lake Northern (21^st)

2021 Girls: Walled Lake Northern (18^th), Highland-Milford (21^st), Grand Blanc (16^th)

Last year’s race had it all: Lakeland, high off a LVC victory, on their path to a top-3 finish at MIS. Milford, with their usual pattern of laying low and bringing it on strong towards the end, Walled Lake Northern looking to prove me wrong, Farmington devising strategy in Auer-like fashion. In the end, Sal’s Magic came through for Milford, helped by Tyler Ristau, who placed a whole 20 places above his seeding. Thanks to Tyler’s great effort, Hansons Running Shop gained some more memorabilia:

Walled Lake Northern came in with a chip on their shoulder, projected to be one measly point away from advancing. The Knights more than took care of business, William Thomas coming back to race, the senior leading his band to the promised land. Lakeland didn’t have their best day, but that can’t always happen. The great thing about late October is that if you have a good race, you get to keep the train rollin’ one week later. A poor race, a quick turnaround to get the bad taste out of your mouth. Those Eagles more than responded, crashing the party with a 3^rd place finish in Brooklyn.

What’s gonna happen this year? Look forward two months and all I see is more drama. Five boys teams within 11 points of one another, all competing for two spots. Three girls teams in the running for one. Teams to watch for might by UD Jesuit’s boys and Walled Lake Western’s girls. Alisia Olteanu is criminally underrated by these rankings, her ratings were greatly affected by 21+’s early, she was in the low-19’s late. I expect the main boys conglomeration to be between 17:20 and 18:20, Jesuit could have 4-5 boys in that range. In a tightly bound race, four boys passing a rival team can mean volumes.

Top 25 Boys Teams: Detroit Catholic Central (10^th), Highland-Milford (24^th), White Lake Lakeland (23^rd), Detroit Jesuit (21^st)

Top 25 Girls Teams: Walled Lake Northern (16^th), Highland-Milford (17^th)

Here, I’m writing at least a little anecdote about kids that are in the top-15 but aren’t freshman (Kyle), in the 50 Tickets (Nicholas, Ty, Kylee – congrats on the national title, Eddie, Jared, and Griffin), or on Top 10 teams (Catholic Central). Want to spread love but also not overwork myself. All in all, my estimation is through all these previews, I’ll be writing at least a sentence about 1000+ kids. If there’s an error in here, let me know.

Logan Mullan, UD Jesuit: Jesuit is known for their sprints and relays, but over on 7 Mile, Logan is working his hardest to alter that reputation just a little. At Larry Steeb, ran a 4:25 to close his individual season, then gained valuable state meet experience with his 4×8 brothers the following Saturday.

Matthew Short, Berkley: Began to transform late in his junior year, breaking 17:00 for the first time. But the first show of his talent and training was a 15:48 at the SVSU Distance Fest. A similar distance, a bit different surface, all in all one of the better indicators of one of the better, unheralded runners we’ll see.

Nathan Riddering, Novi: Major reason for his inclusion was track, where his 9:47 in the Oakland County 3200m placed him 8^th.

Lucas Karbel, Walled Lake Northern: Along with Ty Parker, was part of a Knight 3200 relay squad that took home an Oakland County crown and nearly slipped into the 7’s. This guy has range too, he’s been below 10:00 for that 3200m in both 2021 and 2022.

Gavin Steele, Farmington: A mid-distance darkhorse within the ranks. Gavin had the race of his life at Farmington’s track regional, a three second personal best that qualified him for State.

Sebastian Cervelli, West Bloomfield: Zero 800s for a month was no problem for Sebastian, his 1:57 at Oakland County was only a 3+ second personal best.

Pierce Grzymkowski, White Lake Lakeland: Just a few months ago, lit up the 400m distance with a string of 51-52 second performances.

Genavieve Kushner-Lopez, Walled Lake Western: There’s a reason I was hoping to snag her in the later rounds of the Meet of Champions draft. Western ran a series of tough courses (Holly, Hess, Possum Hollow), and Genavieve kept getting better, each time out. At Shepherd, she struck down her previous PB, racing to a 18:54.

Grace Harkenrider, Highland-Milford: Another one that could work their way onto that MIS podium. 2:20/5:07 this past spring, finished 21^st in the D1 State 1600m.

Jacie Remtema, Highland-Milford: Quantum leap obtained at the State Finals was backed up by a similar time the next week. Her 19:19 at MIS was a 30+ second personal best.

Molly Baracco, Farmington: Fairly recognizable last name, but she ain’t gonna rest on those laurels. 19:30 at the State Finals in cross. She didn’t quite get there as an individual in track, but with three other teammates, ran on both the 4×4 and 4×8. You run there once and can’t wait to get back, I know that’s a real possibility come spring of ’23.

Mia McDonald, White Lake Lakeland: Ten seconds out of a qualifying spot as a sophomore. One year later, her 12^th place finish left no doubt.

Madelyn Gordon, Walled Lake Northern: I think she closes her season as hard as she closes her 400s. Third in Oakland County on the track, 60.1 as her personal best. Two consecutive cross seasons that she smashed the 20 min. mark towards the end of the fall.

Alisia Olteanu, Walled Lake Western: As said earlier, completely underrated by the math. Luckily, math is thrown out the window on all these races. Sub-5 on the track, 2^nd place finishes in the 1600m at Regionals, Counties, and the LVC.

Anjali Kidambi, Novi: Anjali battled the mudpits and generally nasty conditions on the North Course at Hudson Mills, gaining another week to her debut cross season.

Elaine Burkmyre, Walled Lake Western: Unfortunately, was not able to showcase her talents here last October. If she did, I know she would shine, as she had been 22^nd at Oakland County and hit a personal best a week earlier.

Emily Wade, Walled Lake Central: Another one of those girls who just races well with everything on the line. As a freshman, snatched a personal best at State, found her first sub-20 of the year at last year’s version.

Faylinn Wong, Farmington: Cross season didn’t end with a trip to Brooklyn as her freshman year. Faylinn hit the reset button and gave us another solid track season, ending with a 2^nd place spot at the Oakland County 3200m.

Isabelle Krause, Walled Lake Northern: Such steadiness at such a young age. Other than a few great outliers (sub-20 at both WLN and MIS), she was between 20:10 and 20:45 all year.

Mia Czarnowski, Walled Lake Northern: In both of her seasons, she’s finished all-Oakland County and has been sub-20.

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Regional Previews: Division 1, Region 8

August 16, 2022August 16, 2022 mixcspeedratings

Regional Previews

50 Tickets

Top Tens

Where: Hess Hathaway

Home of the “Beautiful Lady”, a massive hill ran twice en route to regional glory. But don’t discount the other rollers – and leave a bit for that last stretch. Based on the tight packs for qualifying spots and team trophies, there will be races won or lost down the stretch. Last year’s OAA Blue course ran curiously fast, the remainder of the meets held here were a solid -30 or so. My guess is this runs a little slower than other regionals, a perfect test for the mix of Macomb and Oakland County teams. Course map and elevation chart:

2021 Boys: Royal Oak (24^th), Troy (26^th), Grosse Pointe South (25^th)

2021 Girls: Troy (25^th), Birmingham Seaholm (19^th), Royal Oak (28^th)

Well, this was a major shakeup. Region 8, or the Grosse Pointe South Regional, had typically been an urban, inner-ring suburb, blue-collar, low to middle-class affair, teams from lower Oakland and Macomb County mixing it up with the Detroit schools at either the Beach or Chandler Park. Grosse Pointe South is curiously no longer hosting regionals (in track as well), 100% understandable as they’ve held that burden for as long as I can remember.

With the change comes a new location and a new mix of teams, coming from all walks of the Metro area. Waterford Mott to Warren Cousino, Oxford to Royal Oak. This should be a welcome respite for the Oxford, Clarkston, Utica, and Rochester’s of the world, no longer battling it out with Romeo or Stoney Creek. But it’ll be tougher for Troy. The Colts appear up for the task, bringing back young studs such as D’Souza and Ravishankar, along with their girl pack that’s been a consistent force for years.

I’m extremely excited for the new blood, potentially both in winning and qualifying. Utica’s girls narrowly missed a spot last year, defeated by Macomb Dakota by a mere three points. New competition, new course, new freshmen, could that get the Chieftains over the hump? Oxford’s boys were far back over at Anchor Bay. I don’t even have Lucas Ames listed here in the top-20, but based on his track season, there’s no doubt he can make his way in here, bumping Oxford to what could be a top-10 outfit.

*note – an earlier version of this post contained an Oxford runner that apparently isn’t competing. This shouldn’t impact the team standings too much, but will definitely move Oxford down within Division 1. Tremendous depth in that program.*

Top 25 Boys Teams: Utica (12^th), Oxford (13^th), Clarkston (25^th)

Top 25 Girls Teams: Oxford (5^th), Rochester (14^th)

Here, I’m writing at least a little anecdote about kids that are in the top-15 but aren’t freshman (Camryn), in the 50 Tickets (D1, Alexandra, Ethan, Mallory, Sebas, and a quiet assassin), or on Top 10 teams (Oxford). Want to spread love but also not overwork myself. All in all, my estimation is through all these previews, I’ll be writing at least a sentence about 1000+ kids. If there’s an error in here, please message me. After 250+ pages worth of writing, there might be a few mistakes.

Bryce Nowik, Clarkston: Coming from a running family and a strong Clarkston tradition, it’s hard not to shoot for success. Bryce got there as a freshman in track, finishing with medals in both the 1600 and 3200m at the Freshman County meet. He expanded on his speed this spring, an enormous breakthrough of 4:28 at Brighton Bulldog that was matched at Region 9 a few weeks later.

Vishvaa Ravishankar, Troy: There’s a reason I mentioned Troy above, and that reason is track seasons like Vishvaa’s. His 9:39 in the 3200m placed 5^th in Oakland County.

James Cusick, Oxford: Andrew Nolan, Gage Killewald, Ty Parker are all athletes that won the 1600m at the Freshman County Meet. Two compete for Michigan State, one is setting all sorts of records over at Walled Lake Northern. Having captured that crown with a 4:36, the future is bright.

Louis D’Souza, Troy: Following just behind Vishvaa is another talented youngster. First it was a 16:57 at his final race at State, then it was sub-10 at the Oakland County meet.

Ethan Muraszewski, Utica: Over here being a student of the sport and great teammate. After two years of consistent work, the payoffs are coming. Last year, it was an upset at Anchor Bay and a sub-10 on track. This summer, setting the junior class record at Utica’s camp time trial. What’s next to come?

Luke Peardon, Lake Orion: An important contributor behind Lake Orion’s sendoff to Stan Ford, a 9^th place finish in Division 1. His leadership will be important with the transition to a new coach, that leadership was present when he turned a disappointing close in October/November into another sub-2 800m in May.

Nathan D’Souza, Rochester Adams: He had only come close once – a 17:09 at Holly, but the majority of Nathan’s races throughout his career were above 17:30. Not the OAA Red Championship, that was a 16:54, a 10^th place finish, his greatest finish yet.

Andrew Floros, Clarkston: I have a feeling his miles this spring will be a boon for his races this fall. Andrew got down as low as 4:37 in the 1600m during his first track season at the HS level.

Addison Johnson, Utica: Love her ability to bounce back when things don’t go her way. After a 11:18 at the New Balance 3200m, a state qualifier seemed a sure thing. But when that didn’t occur, the next week she went out and grabbed a Macomb County 3200m title.

Chloe Nixon, Rochester: At the 2021 Lake Orion track regional, Chloe narrowly missed a qualifying spot, running 11:15, only a few seconds away. I was glad to see her grab that second place up in Lapeer this year.

Amanda Soldan, Rochester Adams: Is it a coincidence that she’s run a season or personal best at Regional/State? I think not.

Meagan Verellen, Utica: Meagan excels when the conditions are toughest, a great attribute for this course. Projected 15^th at the Anchor Bay Regional, she crossed the line in 10^th, her second consecutive state qualifier.

Maisie Konwinski, Troy: 20+ races into her career, Maisie had to be elated coming through the line in 19:59 at the OAA Red Championship. Over two weeks later, that was followed up by her best placing at MIS.

Elaina Rondeau, Troy: Nabbed a sub-20 for the third straight year and at Chandler Park, had the best place she’s had in her career, a 2^nd to Haley Deighan.

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50 Tickets to Brooklyn: #5