Michael is Mr. October to me, because in the past two seasons, he’s stepped up his game late in the season
As a freshman, he opened October by busting out a 16:32 at Wayne County, nearly a 30 second PB
As the season progressed, he turned that into a 16:23 and a 19th place finish at D2 State
As a sophomore, it appeared early on that he hadn’t made much progress from his outstanding freshman year, but at Otsego’s Bulldog Elite, he did it again – a 15:51 and his first jaunt under 16:00
He stayed at that high level for the rest of the year, breaking 16:00 twice more, once at an always tough Kensington course and again at the Meet of Champions
That resurgence resulted in another Top 3 finish at Regionals and Top 20 finish at State
Spring saw his first track campaign and again coming in clutch when it mattered most, running a 1600m PB at State (not an easy task in the heat)
Jayden didn’t waste any time in 2020, she just decided to come out and dominate the Macomb County scene
She only lost 3 races total in the cross country season, all to runners outside her area
Among those victories: Macomb County, Region 9, and the MAC Red
She even got better as the season went on, running a PB at Regionals, then two weeks later, shattering that time in a sub-18 performance at the Meet of Champions
In track, she showed that her talent isn’t just on the grass and that she has plenty of range
You name the event, and Jayden has potential in it
400m? 62.8
800m? She’s split 2:15
3200m? Sub-11 in both a torrential downpour and blistering heat
Dakota has shown throughout time that they can train athletes through a whole gamut of events and I’m excited to see how she develops in time
Where: Allendale HS. Runs pretty fair throughout the year, and about 5-10 seconds FAST come championship season. 2018’s Allendale Falcon is the baseline for these ratings.
2020 Boys: East Grand Rapids, Allendale, Spring Lake
2020 Girls: East Grand Rapids, Forest Hills Eastern, Spring Lake
Top 25 Boys Teams: Grand Rapids Christian (6), Spring Lake (16)
Top 25 Girls Teams: Grand Rapids Christian (Top Four), Spring Lake (16), Allendale (21), Grand Rapids West Catholic (25)
Top 50 Boys (Division 2): Ian Hill (2), Kilian Whalen (10), Tinsae Nelson (13), Ben Zwart (18), Gavin VanSolkema (28)
