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SUMMER PREVIEW

Race to Watch

Half the reason I do these previews is to give a midseason update. The other half is to figure out how much content I can bring for Regional Week. Writing about teams that have improved, individuals who have stood out is enlightening and I’m sure feels good for those listed, but it sure as heck takes time. Perhaps concentrating on one race is better for me? We’ll find out.

That third qualifier for the girls looks to be it. You have three teams with a range of identities, the tightly-knit pack of White Lake Lakeland, the strong top three of Walled Lake Western, and Novi as a mix of the two.

One thing Western did last fall was improve throughout the year, exponentially with each championship race. Two examples are Alisia Olteanu and Genavieve Kushner-Lopez. Olteanu began her season at Coaching Legends, running 21:40 and progressed all the way down to the low-19’s. Yesterday, she ran her season best of 19:34, now what if the rest of the Western girls follow suit? Oh by the way, at that City Meet yesterday, the Warriors were sneakily close to the projected regional champ.

In a field comprised of many girls running in that 20:30 to 22:00 range, Lakeland’s girls find a crucial role. We saw evidence of their potential impact at Jackson, where Alena Tiernan ran 20:54 personal best (two minutes faster than her 2021 PB). That race also saw season/personal bests from Natalie Joiner, Mia McDonald, and Trinity Mann. If three of those four girls can find their way before the main troop of females, Lakeland may punch their ticket.

The one common matchup between the three teams was early on at Lamplighter, where Western placed a few spots ahead of Novi. But one must realize, Novi ran without Joanna Phillip. Joanna’s been their 3^rd-5^th girl throughout the season. As the KLAA (I almost called it KVC) runs duals, the only invitationals we’ve seen her compete at have been Spartan and Averill. That Averill experience will pay dividends in a month, but I’m curious to see how she can perform with these ideal conditions of the past week. Perhaps Novi moves up?

Place	Team	Score	1st Boy	2nd Boy	3rd Boy	4th Boy	5th Boy	6th Boy	7th Boy
1	Detroit Catholic Central	75	9	13	16	18	19	20	22
2	White Lake Lakeland	84	1	7	24	25	27	38	60
3	Walled Lake Northern	89	2	12	15	29	31	49	63
4	Farmington	114	8	11	21	35	39	53	65

Place	Team	Score	1st Girl	2nd Girl	3rd Girl	4th Girl	5th Girl	6th Girl	7th Girl
1	Walled Lake Northern	46
2	Farmington	93
3	White Lake Lakeland	112	14	15	23	29	31	35	44
4	Walled Lake Western	121	3	5	16	40	57	62	70
5	Novi	129	9	13	25	37	45	47	54

Place	Grade	Name	Team	Rating
1	12	Jared Platt	White Lake Lakeland	201.9
2	11	Ty Parker	Walled Lake Northern	199.8
3	12	Griffin Conway	Novi	198.2
4	12	Nathan Riddering	Novi	194.3
5	10	Logan Mullan	Detroit U-D Jesuit	194.2
6	12	Matthew Short	Berkley	193.5
7	11	Pierce Grzymkowski	White Lake Lakeland	191.9
8	12	Eddie King	Farmington	191.7
9	12	Matthew Atkinson	Detroit Catholic Central	189.5
10	9	Kyle O’Rourke	Highland-Milford	189.4
11	12	Gavin Steele	Farmington	186.1
12	11	Evan Rice	Walled Lake Northern	185.9
13	12	Jack Kelly	Detroit Catholic Central	184.9
14	12	Sebastian Cervelli	West Bloomfield	184.4
15	11	Lucas Karbel	Walled Lake Northern	182.7
16	12	Michael Ehresman	Detroit Catholic Central	182.6
17	12	Quaid Schimetz	Highland-Milford	181.9
18	12	Miles Buckley	Detroit Catholic Central	180.2
19	12	Josh Lassaline	Detroit Catholic Central	180.0
20	11	Ryan Illikman	Detroit Catholic Central	179.7

Place	Grade	Name	Team	Rating
1	10	Molly Baracco	Farmington	135.1
2	12	Grace Harkenrider	Highland-Milford	129.4
3	12	Genavieve Kushner-Lopez	Walled Lake Western	129.3
4	11	Ava Kurczewski	Walled Lake Northern	126.8
5	11	Alisia Olteanu	Walled Lake Western	125.9
6	11	Madelyn Gordon	Walled Lake Northern	125.8
7	12	Jacie Remtema	Highland-Milford	125.3
8	12	Taylor Regester	Walled Lake Northern	122.1
9	12	Abigail German	Novi	121.4
10	10	Isabelle Krause	Walled Lake Northern	119.2
11	11	Faylinn Wong	Farmington	118.5
12	12	Emily Wade	Walled Lake Central	115.9
13	12	Anjali Kidambi	Novi	115.5
14	12	Ava Walsh	White Lake Lakeland	115.1
15	10	Ava Alicandro	White Lake Lakeland	115.0
16	11	Emma Hoffmeyer	Walled Lake Western	114.9
17	10	Catherine Steele	Farmington	108.9
18	11	Mia Czarnowski	Walled Lake Northern	108.1
19	11	Talia Sachs	Birmingham Seaholm	106.4
20	12	Ava Porter	Walled Lake Northern	105.5

SUMMER PREVIEW

Race to Watch

Half the reason I do these previews is to give a midseason update. The other half is to figure out how much content I can bring for Regional Week. Writing about teams that have improved, individuals who have stood out is enlightening and I’m sure feels good for those listed, but it sure as heck takes time. Perhaps concentrating on one race is better for me? We’ll find out.

Both the Boys and Girls races for the victory, for 3^rd place seem set in stone, Carina Burchi has been dominantly improving, let’s think about the top Boys. Three contenders: Landen Livingston, Caleb Howard, and Logan Cooper.

The only head to head race between the three was this past weekend here at Happy Acres, where Logan Cooper finished 2^nd in the Josh Lott Memorial Invite.

Caleb was 8^th, but was by far his best time of the year. Caleb had shown he’s in this type of shape, running 18:18 at Saranac on a brutally hot day, he’s also shown he can perform under pressure, placing top-50 at State the previous two seasons.

We saw it first on the track, where Logan dropped his 800m best from 2:41 to 2:08. We’re seeing it now on the grass, Logan was north of 19:00 for much of the 2021 season. His magical year isn’t just evident in times, the medals are racking up as well, top-10 finishes at his last 5 invites.

Livingston is the wild card. Just a freshman, he’s had his ups and downs. Three sub-18’s, most recently in a competitive field at New Balance. Holly didn’t go his way, but I’m sure it was a great learning experience. Let’s watch to see if he can establish a bit of consistency in this next month.

Place	Grade	Name	Team	Rating
1	12	Logan Cooper	Potterville	170.1
2	9	Landen Livingston	Whitmore Lake	165.2
3	12	Caleb Howard	Webberville	162.2
4	12	Braylan Majesky	Whitmore Lake	159.4
5	12	Deegan Bodell	Carson City-Crystal	158.7
6	11	Cameron Griffin	Whitmore Lake	155.7
7	12	Jacob Skidmore	Novi Christian Academy	153.0
8	11	Reily Henderson	Whitmore Lake	146.1
9	11	Jobe Skaff	Novi Christian Academy	144.8
10	9	Emmanuel Mehari	Plymouth Christian Academy	144.6
11	9	Quentin Smith	Fowler	141.7
12	12	Drew Peckens	Webberville	140.2
13	12	Dennis Wilson	Novi Christian Academy	136.6
14	12	Vincenzo Lewan	Plymouth Christian Academy	136.1
15	11	Trevor Feldpausch	Fowler	135.9
16	12	Adam Moore	Plymouth Christian Academy	132.8
17	9	Timothy Chamberlain	Portland St. Patrick	131.2
18	12	Brayden Clark	Carson City-Crystal	131.0
19	9	Kristian Coon	Carson City-Crystal	130.6
20	12	Oisin O’Grady	Carson City-Crystal	128.9

Place	Grade	Name	Team	Rating
1	9	Carina Burchi	Whitmore Lake	127.7
2	12	Ashlyn Kephart	Lansing Christian	100.5
3	11	Ellayna Meredith	Portland St. Patrick	100.3
4	11	Natalie Meadows	Whitmore Lake	95.2
5	9	Elodie Weaver	Whitmore Lake	94.2
6	10	Kelcie Pung	Fowler	85.2
7	11	Josie Dubuc	Novi Christian Academy	84.5
8	12	Brooke Craven	Whitmore Lake	83.4
9	9	Madi Hare	Plymouth Christian Academy	82.4
10	10	Erica Walker	Clarkston Everest Collegiate	79.5
11	9	Sofia Robertson	Whitmore Lake	70.6
12	9	Taylor Wiegand	Livingston Christian	70.1
13	12	Cozette Brown	Portland St. Patrick	68.5
14	11	Mya Guillermo	Novi Christian Academy	66.0
15	10	Landry Gomez	St. Charles	57.8
16	0	Grace Bell	Novi Christian Academy	52.8
17	11	Eve Herrgott	Clarkston Everest Collegiate	51.9
18	12	Grace Piggott	Fowler	51.6
19	11	Ciara Parsons	Whitmore Lake	44.7
20	9	Alaina Driver	Potterville	43.5

SUMMER PREVIEW

• I received a bit of pushback over the summer for ranking the Royal Oak Shrine boys so high, well look who’s still here in first
  • Okay, they didn’t add the great number of 8^th graders as projected, but unless anyone finds a better method than assuming 8^th graders running cross will run 9^th grade cross, let me know
  • The 9^th graders that have competed for the Knights, Michael Bowker and Abenezer Cerone, have made a noticeable impact on their fortunes
    • Bowker has run in the 18’s on a variety of courses – Holly, Goodells, Algonac
    • Cerone has followed the same pattern, albeit a tad faster, high-17’s at those venues
• Although the top three remain the same for the boys, Lutheran Westland has moved down significantly in terms of points
  • Year to year, the Warriors have raced at the same places, and in those races (OCS Small School, Holly, Ramblin Rock, Whitmore Lake), Nathan Betke has finished almost 100 seconds faster on average in 2022 compared to 2021
  • Nathan clocks in as Westland’s 5^th runner on the chart below, and as you can see, he’s the best 5^th runner in the field
• The Girls section remains a similar order and range of scores compared to earlier
  • Rochester Hills Lutheran NW has absorbed the absence of one of their key contributors, who I believe will be back soon, and heck, they’re still in first
    • Kendall Zaliwski has stepped up for the Crusaders, at Holly she ran 64 seconds faster than in 2021, and a 2022 season best
  • Auburn Hills Oakland Christian doesn’t have a few of the girls that I had anticipated joining the team, but that’s been offset by Leah Zarilli, who just placed 8^th in the first MIAC Jamboree, 4 spots better than any placing last year

Place	Team	Score	1st Boy	2nd Boy	3rd Boy	4th Boy	5th Boy	6th Boy	7th Boy
1	Royal Oak Shrine	78	4	8	10	26	30	35	43
2	Lutheran Westland	80	11	12	13	21	23	31	38
3	Marine City Cardinal Mooney	80	2	9	18	22	29	32	37

Place	Team	Score	1st Girl	2nd Girl	3rd Girl	4th Girl	5th Girl	6th Girl	7th Girl
1	Rochester Hills Lutheran NW	46	4	6	8	9	19	24	26
2	Auburn Hills Oakland Christian	54	2	5	12	17	18	25	28
3	Royal Oak Shrine	58	7	10	11	14	16	20	23

Place	Grade	Name	Team	Rating
1	12	Christopher Russelburg	Allen Park Cabrini	191.2
2	11	Tyler Lenn	Marine City Cardinal Mooney	177.3
3	12	Alex Meszaros	Riverview Gabriel Richard	171.9
4	9	Abenezer Cerone	Royal Oak Shrine	162.9
5	12	Merrick Michaelson	West Bloomfield Frankel Jewish Academy	161.1
6	12	Johnny Benko	Riverview Gabriel Richard	156.9
7	11	TJ Donnan	Southfield Christian	153.1
8	9	Michael Bowker	Royal Oak Shrine	150.5
9	11	Isaac Zammit	Marine City Cardinal Mooney	150.2
10	12	Arline Lile	Royal Oak Shrine	148.1
11	9	Max Brannan	Lutheran Westland	146.2
12	11	Jeffrey McGuire	Lutheran Westland	146.2
13	10	Tom Shafer	Lutheran Westland	139.2
14	11	AJ Owen	Birmingham Roeper	138.7
15	11	Luke Douglas	Auburn Hills Oakland Christian	137.9
16	11	Tommy Abazi	Southfield Christian	133.6
17	12	Brayden McKay	Allen Park Cabrini	128.7
18	12	Matthew Zammit Jr.	Marine City Cardinal Mooney	127.1
19	12	Dean Moshier	Auburn Hills Oakland Christian	124.3
20	12	Samuel Wenzel	Austin Catholic	123.5

Place	Grade	Name	Team	Rating
1	11	Ava Teed	Allen Park Cabrini	130.0
2	12	Erika Van Loton	Huron Valley Lutheran	120.5
3	10	Eliza Keith	Auburn Hills Oakland Christian	119.8
4	12	Helana Napiorkowski	Austin Catholic	101.2
5	12	Madeleine Barge	Rochester Hills Lutheran NW	98.1
6	11	Leah Zarrilli	Auburn Hills Oakland Christian	91.9
7	11	Abby Rice	Rochester Hills Lutheran NW	85.6
8	10	Natalie Gibbs	Birmingham Roeper	83.5
9	9	Eleanor Cole	Lutheran Westland	75.1
10	12	Michaela Kurth	Lutheran Westland	75.0
11	12	Natalie Malczyk	Huron Valley Lutheran	71.9
12	10	Tess Tillman	Royal Oak Shrine	71.6
13	9	Ellee Cole	Lutheran Westland	70.4
14	12	Julia Troxel	Rochester Hills Lutheran NW	66.4
15	11	Morgan McNally	Academy of the Sacred Heart	66.3
16	11	Kendall Zaliwski	Rochester Hills Lutheran NW	63.5
17	12	Maura Gum	Royal Oak Shrine	63.1
18	10	Rose Losey	Royal Oak Shrine	62.8
19	11	Karis Keith	Auburn Hills Oakland Christian	59.0
20	11	Nicole Teed	Allen Park Cabrini	57.4