Blog

Race by race ratings, summer writeups, social media work, Excel, Word, Photoshop. Occasionally tedious, usually fun, but all leading to these – actual rankings!

If you’ve followed me over the past seven years (!), you know the gist of these and you know I’m always changing an aspect or three.

The individual ratings, which then are sorted into team rankings, take into account all the meets listed and linked here. An individual’s rating takes their best 2/3 of their rated races (rounding to the nearest whole number, so 3 of 5, 5 of 7, etc.). The races are weighed based on recency, field size, and competitiveness. The team rankings are compiled by combining all teams in a division into a hypothetical meet based on those individual ratings.

There are a few changes from last year:

• Coming back to rating weekday meets
  • Believe it or not, I’m still learning and I’ve figured out some ways to do these faster
  • I will be judicious in how many of these are performed
• Using the top 67% instead of last year’s 75%
  • More meets = a comparatively lower % that a runner will truly race all out
• Actual Upper Peninsula/Home School/other rankings
  • These more efficient methods mean I actually have data now and can post
• Writeups focused on the overall state of the division
  • Always a struggle here finding how much to write! Last year, I took up wayyy too much time writing about teams (who deserved the attention, but effort must be managed over here).  
  • I think this fall, I’ll briefly sum up how it’s looking like for the state title contenders, plus anything that catches my eye.

Similar to previous years:

• No more individual rankings posted to social media
  • Why? I hate instances where a runner stagnates or falls back over the course of the season and it’s posted for the world to see. I recognize people want to know where they’re ranked, so just having it on the website is a happy medium.
• One division at a time
  • I know I’d get lost sifting through every division in one post. Focusing on the smaller ones first gives attention to the divisions who might not receive as recognition as the more populated ones.

These are through Saturday’s meets.

These are for fun. And I do this for free. I’m positive toward every runner in the state. Abiding by that golden rule, you should reciprocate. Capisce? Enjoy.

Recap

Early on, Grand Rapids Christian has put their stamp on the top D2 spot. Five under 16:45 at Pete Moss, which allowed the Eagles to hang right there with Jenison, one of the better D1 teams. They were overwhelmingly dominant at Christian Schools, with 4 boys in the top-5 spots. Just reloading over here. Their Christian brothers down the road at Holland Christian have been pretty darn successful as well, racking up wins in D1-centric fields at Bredeweg and Under the Lights.

Looking Forward

Two races in particular are loaded: the D2 race at Spartan, which features five teams in the top-14 (#3 Alma, #6 Allendale, #8 Otsego, #11 Three Rivers, #14 DeWitt) and an early morning sesh at Riverside Park that only has #1 and #2 toeing the white line together.

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.
1	Grand Rapids Christian	225	12	192.2
2	Holland Christian	282	11	188.9
3	Alma	339	14	190.0
4	Forest Hills Eastern	347	12	189.2
5	East Grand Rapids	364	12	185.9
6	Allendale	413	11	184.9
7	Frankenmuth	431	15	182.3
8	Otsego	462	13	181.1
9	Marshall	469	13	186.8
10	Gladwin	524	10	183.0
11	Three Rivers	551	13	179.8
12	Shepherd	572	15	180.5
13	Cedar Springs	583	10	178.0
14	DeWitt	614	14	175.9
15	Flint Powers Catholic	627	15	179.4
16	Pinckney	640	16	176.4
17	Sparta	699	10	175.1
18	New Boston Huron	746	18	173.9
19	Freeland	756	15	178.1
20	Plainwell	799	12	171.1
21	Grand Rapids Catholic Central	832	11	173.0
22	Corunna	843	14	168.9
23	Zeeland East	857	11	169.0
24	Edwardsburg	863	13	168.7
25	Hudsonville Unity Christian	897	11	167.2
26	Parma Western	901	14	169.1
27	Adrian	950	18	167.0

Recap

I expected Goodrich and Grand Rapids Christian to be in the mix, Zeeland East is a bit of a surprise. Megan Kuzma and Meredith Cook both matched or hit their personal bests at Under the Lights, helping the Chix win the Starlight Division. Missing Kuzma at Bredeweg, ZE still picked up a 3^rd place finish in the D1-filled field. At Benzie, we already received a little preview of GRC and Goodrich, the Eagles claiming a little 3-point victory. This race is gonna be tight.

Looking Forward

Similar to the boys, the D2 elites will be concentrated around Ottawa Hills and Spartan. Although it’s not the highly anticipated top-2 matchup, #1 and #4 ain’t too bad. Early morning XC spectators and athletic.net viewers will be able to see how Grand Rapids Christian and Holland Christian relate to one another. Spartan will be split into the D2 race (#6 Otsego and #7 DeWitt) and the Elite (#2 Goodrich and #11 Frankenmuth). Coming back to Ottawa Hills, Zeeland East and Unity Christian will be in the evening session. A fun-filled day.

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.
1	Grand Rapids Christian	184	12	127.7
2	Goodrich	191	15	126.2
3	Zeeland East	198	11	128.2
4	Holland Christian	239	11	122.0
5	East Grand Rapids	269	12	121.6
6	Otsego	301	13	124.6
7	DeWitt	306	14	118.9
8	Adrian	381	18	119.2
9	Freeland	397	15	115.4
10	Hudsonville Unity Christian	461	11	111.2
11	Frankenmuth	522	15	110.9
12	Linden	536	16	107.0
13	Ludington	600	10	107.7
14	Spring Lake	645	10	100.9
15	Cadillac	725	10	100.1
16	St. Joseph	726	13	104.9
17	Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard	737	18	98.5
18	Grand Rapids South Christian	765	12	95.4
19	Owosso	839	14	93.0
20	Dearborn Divine Child	847	16	92.5
21	Sturgis	850	13	98.4
22	Shepherd	886	15	92.7
23	Forest Hills Eastern	911	12	90.8
24	Pontiac Notre Dame Prep	913	16	92.1
25	Coopersville	925	11	91.4
26	Middleville Thornapple-Kellogg	934	12	93.1
27	Plainwell	955	12	88.8

Individual Rankings

Recap

4:43, 4:47, 5:18 (4:47 pace). TJ Hansen in his opener did his best to affirmatively shut the door on any doubts concerning his senior year. Last year, we were in awe of his win at Bluejay when pushed, last week at John Bruder contained a 10+ second gap at the mile, 30+ seconds at two. In any normal year, Henry Dixon and Jack Bidwell would be dueling for the win. Both have had wow-inducing moments, Bidwell laying down a dominant win at Bath and Dixon the same at Under the Lights.

Looking Forward

Both TJ Hansen and Bidwell will be elites on the line at Spartan. Usually, you’ll see some of the better teams in Ohio bring their ringers, and it appears Ohio’s D1 4^th place finisher in the 1600m will be there. I expect Michigan to hold the home court, adding in the fact that we have D2 standouts such as Colin Murray and Seth Mead in that section as well.

Top 30

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating	Region
1	12	TJ Hansen	Freeland	227.2	15
2	12	Henry Dixon	Forest Hills Eastern	214.5	12
3	12	Jack Bidwell	Marshall	214.3	13
4	12	Colin Murray	Dearborn Divine Child	210.7	16
5	11	Thomas Larson	Alma	208.3	14
6	12	Sullivan Zietlow	Three Rivers	206.3	13
7	10	Ezekiel Baltierra	Alma	206.0	14
8	12	Dominic Lowrie	Battle Creek Harper Creek	205.4	13
9	11	Bryce Gross	Flint Powers Catholic	205.1	15
10	12	Elijah Christensen	Gladwin	205.0	10
11	10	Bryce Cahoon	Shepherd	204.1	15
12	12	Will Engbers	Holland Christian	203.0	11
13	9	Lennox Naswell	Flint Powers Catholic	202.5	15
14	12	Jeb Hillary	Grand Rapids Catholic Central	202.4	11
15	12	Simon Triezenberg	Grand Rapids Christian	201.8	12
16	11	Ronnie Silveira	Allendale	201.4	11
17	11	Vincent Pattison	Goodrich	200.8	15
18	12	Seth Mead	Gladwin	200.5	10
19	11	Jonah Workman	East Grand Rapids	200.5	12
20	12	Lucas Kuhn	New Boston Huron	199.7	18
21	11	Edison Lopeman	Parma Western	199.3	14
22	11	Sean Ryan	Grand Rapids Christian	198.9	12
23	12	Alex Doneth	Mason	197.9	14
24	12	Reece Davis	Marshall	197.9	13
25	12	Nolan Longuski	Shepherd	197.8	15
26	12	Jack Lillywhite	Flint Kearsley	196.7	15
27	12	Abatu Dykstra	Hamilton	196.6	11
28	10	Abraham McHugh	Marshall	196.6	13
29	12	Zachary Newman	Pinckney	196.1	16
30	12	Simon Erfourth	Owosso	195.7	14

Recap

Emma Hoffman has been the story of the season thus far. The Otsego junior had already operated at a high level, racking up All-States on the grass and around the oval. She’s seemingly hit a new level, extending her school record well into the 17’s. Ava Schafer is up there too, under 18:00 in a much quicker fashion than her wildly successful freshman year. Elena Figueroa has been a bit more judicious in her efforts, cruising to two victories, though truly pushing it in her Under the Lights opener.

Looking Forward

The Redwings are traveling over to Ottawa Hills, so we’ll get to see Schafer experience that lightning quick course. We’ll get a little rematch of the D2 finals (Elena Figueroa placing 3^rd and Ava 4^th) and an early look into the fitness of the two. Hoffman’s world tour of outstanding performances will be taking a stop at Forest Akers, where she’ll be at the front, hopefully leading her top-10 Bulldogs to success.

Top 30

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating	Region
1	11	Emma Hoffman	Otsego	167.9	13
2	10	Ava Schafer	St. Johns	163.6	14
3	11	Katie Berkshire	Gaylord	155.9	10
4	10	Jaelyn Ray	Pinckney	150.6	16
5	12	Elena Figueroa	St. Joseph	150.4	13
6	12	Emma Drnek	Zeeland East	148.3	11
7	12	Courtney Bovair	Carleton Airport	147.6	18
8	11	Natalie Foltz	Frankenmuth	146.6	15
9	10	Clara Kaczor	Freeland	146.5	15
10	12	Ayla Holben	DeWitt	145.6	14
11	11	Berkley Holtz	Sturgis	145.4	13
12	12	Mea D’Agostino	Orchard Lake St. Mary’s	145.1	16
13	10	Adeline Armstrong	East Grand Rapids	143.4	12
14	12	Sophy Skeels	Adrian	143.1	18
15	11	Ellie Scholma	Grand Rapids Christian	141.9	12
16	10	Johanna Mulder	Holland	141.4	11
17	11	Marie Gates	Hudsonville Unity Christian	140.8	11
18	10	Ayda Skeels	Adrian	137.9	18
19	12	Ava Crews	Middleville Thornapple-Kellogg	137.4	12
20	11	Meredith Cook	Zeeland East	135.9	11
21	10	Annabelle Lowman	Ludington	135.8	10
22	10	Lane Isom	Richland Gull Lake	134.7	12
23	10	Alivia Ottinger	Goodrich	134.6	15
24	12	Grace Evanoff	Flint Powers Catholic	134.1	15
25	10	Mia May	Sparta	133.0	10
26	12	Joy Evans	Alma	132.0	14
27	12	Nadia Grierson	Ludington	131.7	10
28	11	Brooklynn Brown	Cadillac	130.2	10
29	11	Lilah Poel	Grand Rapids Christian	129.9	12
30	12	Layla Jordan	Goodrich	129.4	15

Race by race ratings, summer writeups, social media work, Excel, Word, Photoshop. Occasionally tedious, usually fun, but all leading to these – actual rankings!

If you’ve followed me over the past seven years (!), you know the gist of these and you know I’m always changing an aspect or three.

The individual ratings, which then are sorted into team rankings, take into account all the meets listed and linked here. An individual’s rating takes their best 2/3 of their rated races (rounding to the nearest whole number, so 3 of 5, 5 of 7, etc.). The races are weighed based on recency, field size, and competitiveness. The team rankings are compiled by combining all teams in a division into a hypothetical meet based on those individual ratings.

There are a few changes from last year:

• Coming back to rating weekday meets
  • Believe it or not, I’m still learning and I’ve figured out some ways to do these faster
  • I will be judicious in how many of these are performed
• Using the top 67% instead of last year’s 75%
  • More meets = a comparatively lower % that a runner will truly race all out
• Actual Upper Peninsula/Home School/other rankings
  • These more efficient methods mean I actually have data now and can post
• Writeups focused on the overall state of the division
  • Always a struggle here finding how much to write! Last year, I took up wayyy too much time writing about teams (who deserved the attention, but effort must be managed over here).  
  • I think this fall, I’ll briefly sum up how it’s looking like for the state title contenders, plus anything that catches my eye.

Similar to previous years:

• No more individual rankings posted to social media
  • Why? I hate instances where a runner stagnates or falls back over the course of the season and it’s posted for the world to see. I recognize people want to know where they’re ranked, so just having it on the website is a happy medium.
• One division at a time
  • I know I’d get lost sifting through every division in one post. Focusing on the smaller ones first gives attention to the divisions who might not receive as recognition as the more populated ones.

The below rankings are through Saturday’s meets.

These are for fun. And I do this for free. I’m positive toward every runner in the state. Abiding by that golden rule, you should reciprocate. Capisce? Enjoy.

Recap

Traverse City St. Francis is as good as advertised, perhaps even better. Benzie is probably the truest test of their abilities, where the Gladiators raced in the big division. Traverse City West, Frankenmuth, and Gladwin are all top teams in D1 and D2, TCSF was comfortably ahead of all three in their 3^rd place finish. Super low-sticks and the best depth.

But Ithaca and Jackson Lumen Christi are closer than I had anticipated. At John Bruder, the Yellowjackets had a massive 200+ point win in the small school division. The Titans are unbeaten on the team side, winning the small school division at Lakeview and besting all other Catholic teams at Michigan Catholic.

Looking Forward

A gigantic 40-team field in the D3/D4 race at Spartan. Top-27 D3 teams include: #2 Ithaca, #3 Lumen Christi, #9 Buchanan, #12 Hanover-Horton, #16 Benzie Central, and #22 Onsted.

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.
1	Traverse City St. Francis	125	19	187.3
2	Ithaca	210	25	183.6
3	Jackson Lumen Christi	235	23	180.6
4	Saugatuck	266	22	175.2
5	Grand Rapids Covenant Christian	316	21	174.7
6	Charlevoix	331	19	176.7
7	Pewamo-Westphalia	354	24	172.0
8	Lansing Catholic	377	26	170.0
9	Buchanan	390	22	169.7
10	Stanton Central Montcalm	424	24	173.0
11	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	489	21	166.7
12	Hanover-Horton	512	23	166.3
13	Jonesville	512	23	166.8
14	Reed City	512	20	168.7
15	Flat Rock	532	27	168.9
16	Benzie Central	552	20	162.3
17	Hart	554	20	161.9
18	Leslie	586	26	161.0
19	Holland Black River	725	21	157.6
20	Bath	729	24	158.8
21	Union City	754	22	157.4
22	Onsted	767	23	158.3
23	Montague	840	21	153.5
24	Ann Arbor Greenhills	853	26	151.9
25	Lake City	858	20	153.3
26	Blissfield	906	27	151.9
27	Sanford-Meridian	908	25	152.7

Recap

Lansing Catholic’s girls have been attacking the hills early on. First, a hoisting of the Bishop’s Cup in their Michigan Catholic win. Then, a trip down 96 to Kensington, placing an admirable 3^rd in the large school division (hint: they were the smallest school in that division). Pewamo-Westphalia and Traverse City St. Francis have stuck to their areas, the former dominatingly winning at Happy Acres, Marauder, and Yellowjacket. The Glads took to a little tougher competition at Pete Moss, though they still stuck their nose in to the tune of a 5^th place big school finish.

Looking Forward

Just as the boys, you have another great Spartan lineup. #6 Ithaca, #7 Benzie Central, #11 Chippewa Hills, #17 Onsted, #24 Grass Lake, and #27 Buchanan.Sadly, but understandably, LC, TCSF, and P-W will not face one another this time around.

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.
1	Lansing Catholic	197	26	113.2
2	Traverse City St. Francis	230	19	111.9
3	Pewamo-Westphalia	230	24	113.7
4	Stanton Central Montcalm	273	24	116.1
5	Jackson Lumen Christi	279	23	105.0
6	Ithaca	319	25	101.7
7	Benzie Central	382	20	99.0
8	Leslie	394	26	98.0
9	Grand Rapids Covenant Christian	497	21	89.7
10	Hart	543	20	84.0
11	Remus Chippewa Hills	560	20	83.3
12	McBain	593	20	83.8
13	Blissfield	599	27	89.7
14	Clare	608	19	82.6
15	Midland Bullock Creek	651	25	81.4
16	Ann Arbor Greenhills	732	26	75.0
17	Onsted	780	23	77.9
18	Saugatuck	781	22	73.4
19	Lake City	830	20	70.8
20	Boyne City	842	19	67.8
21	Grandville Calvin Christian	852	21	68.9
22	Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian	869	21	67.2
23	Laingsburg	883	24	65.6
24	Grass Lake	903	27	65.3
25	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	914	21	65.9
26	Union City	923	22	65.8
27	Buchanan	950	22	63.3

Individual Rankings

Recap

A little surprise there at the top. Gage Hoffman has been a name we’ve known for awhile, hitting top-10’s at State each of the past two years. But this unbeaten level is a new stratum. His 15:40 opener was his first sub-16 ever. Josh Slocum has the fastest time in the division, which means something even if the Buckley course is a little *suspect* (in last year’s regionals, runners that competed both there and MIS ran 30-40 seconds faster at Buckley). Gus Rohde has been a bit inconsistent, but one steady theme is that he’s better than last year, 15 seconds on average in comparable invites.

Looking Forward

Hoffman really trying his hand, this time in the elite field at Spartan. There will be Hansens and Murrays and Conners to chase after, amongst many other elite runners.

Top 30

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating	Region
1	11	Gage Hoffman	Stanton Central Montcalm	203.8	24
2	12	August Rohde	Reed City	202.9	20
3	12	Josh Slocum	Traverse City St. Francis	202.6	19
4	11	Landen Styka	Ithaca	201.4	25
5	12	Miingen Bertrand	Ithaca	199.5	25
6	12	Isaiah Dinverno	Jackson Lumen Christi	197.5	23
7	11	Jacob Stanislawski	Flat Rock	196.8	27
8	12	Mitchell Hiatt	Onsted	196.0	23
9	12	Levi Kamps	Grand Rapids Covenant Christian	194.2	21
10	11	Noah Devereaux	Laingsburg	193.8	24
11	10	Hunter Eaton	Charlevoix	193.6	19
12	11	Robert Dykhouse	Manton	193.0	20
13	12	Matthias Morse	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	193.0	21
14	12	Landon Pestrue	St. Louis	192.0	25
15	10	William Ready	Traverse City St. Francis	191.6	19
16	12	Leo Swager	Jackson Lumen Christi	191.1	23
17	12	Tyler Heal	Sanford-Meridian	189.7	25
18	10	Caleb Blonde	Jonesville	189.4	23
19	12	Landen Boulis	Hanover-Horton	188.1	23
20	10	Ryder Hopkins	Charlevoix	187.7	19
21	9	Owen Poppema	Bath	186.3	24
22	12	Nathan Vargo	Flat Rock	185.5	27
23	11	Jayden Fox	Saginaw Valley Lutheran	185.0	25
24	11	Tyler Leach	Otisville LakeVille	184.8	24
25	10	Logan Youngman	Hillsdale	184.6	23
26	11	Jacob Mankey	Ithaca	183.8	25
27	9	Nole Lorenzen	Rochester Hills Lutheran NW	182.7	26
28	12	Robby Myler	Traverse City St. Francis	182.4	19
29	12	Ian Waddell	Blissfield	182.3	27
30	11	Lucas Gates	Lansing Catholic	182.1	26

Recap

Let’s be honest, the loss of Jessie Jazwinski really opened things up here. A number of names here were in the 50 Tickets, each girls’ odds of a title have increased. Kyah Hoffman probably has the early lead, with three consecutive low-18 wins to open things up. Betsy Skendzel has the quickest time in the division, but of course Buckley caveats apply. Eliza Bush patiently let others do the work early at Rambling Rock before pulling away in the final miles. And of course, Emmry Ross who’s nailed two top-5 finishes these past two years and a sub-18 already this fall.

Looking Forward

May be one of the rare instances where these two are in the same race, yet in a pack of girls. Both Eliza Bush and Kyah Hoffman will don their singlets for Spartan Elite. Where many will be paying attention to the bigger team picture, I’ll be seeing how these two stack up.

Top 30

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating	Region
1	12	Kyah Hoffman	Stanton Central Montcalm	158.6	24
2	12	Eliza Bush	Ypsilanti Arbor Preparatory	153.9	27
3	12	Betsy Skendzel	Traverse City St. Francis	151.7	19
4	12	Emmry Ross	Onsted	151.6	23
5	12	Whitney Werner	Pewamo-Westphalia	147.9	24
6	10	Kamryn Salladay	Lakeview	147.0	20
7	12	Lila Volkers	Kent City	145.0	21
8	11	Hope Miller	Blissfield	142.6	27
9	11	Bella LaFountain	Monroe St. Mary CC	141.6	27
10	11	Hailey Creisher	Leslie	138.9	26
11	10	Alyssa Kramer	Pewamo-Westphalia	137.7	24
12	12	Ashley Choponis	Stanton Central Montcalm	135.9	24
13	9	Elliana Max	Kent City	133.4	21
14	10	Isabelle Sliter	Fennville	132.2	22
15	10	Samantha Schroeder	Jackson Lumen Christi	128.4	23
16	10	Grace Wonch	Lansing Catholic	126.7	26
17	11	Mattie Gagne	Midland Bullock Creek	125.5	25
18	12	Ava Hathaway	Bronson	125.4	23
19	12	Kaya Vrable	Caro	125.3	25
20	12	Chloe Stalhood	Hillsdale	125.3	23
21	9	Isabelle Currie	Lansing Catholic	125.0	26
22	9	Caelyn Torry	McBain	124.9	20
23	10	Shelby Kuiper	Grand Rapids Covenant Christian	124.6	21
24	9	Avery Kelly	Benzie Central	124.3	20
25	11	Grace Coston	Stanton Central Montcalm	123.2	24
26	10	Sophia Buzzelli	Clare	122.4	19
27	12	Nora Grossnickle	Benzie Central	122.1	20
28	10	Makinna Foglesong	Ithaca	120.4	25
29	9	Josie Bishop	Lansing Catholic	120.2	26
30	12	Mary Masserant	Traverse City St. Francis	119.2	19

Race by race ratings, summer writeups, social media work, Excel, Word, Photoshop. Occasionally tedious, usually fun, but all leading to these – actual rankings!

If you’ve followed me over the past seven years (!), you know the gist of these and you know I’m always changing an aspect or three.

The individual ratings, which then are sorted into team rankings, take into account all the meets listed and linked here. An individual’s rating takes their best 2/3 of their rated races (rounding to the nearest whole number, so 3 of 5, 5 of 7, etc.). The races are weighed based on recency, field size, and competitiveness. The team rankings are compiled by combining all teams in a division into a hypothetical meet based on those individual ratings.

There are a few changes from last year:

• Coming back to rating weekday meets
  • Believe it or not, I’m still learning and I’ve figured out some ways to do these faster
  • I will be judicious in how many of these are performed
• Using the top 67% instead of last year’s 75%
  • More meets = a comparatively lower % that a runner will truly race all out
• Actual Upper Peninsula/Home School/other rankings
  • These more efficient methods mean I actually have data now and can post
• Writeups focused on the overall state of the division
  • Always a struggle here finding how much to write! Last year, I took up wayyy too much time writing about teams (who deserved the attention, but effort must be managed over here).  
  • I think this fall, I’ll briefly sum up how it’s looking like for the state title contenders, plus anything that catches my eye.

Similar to previous years:

• No more individual rankings posted to social media
  • Why? I hate instances where a runner stagnates or falls back over the course of the season and it’s posted for the world to see. I recognize people want to know where they’re ranked, so just having it on the website is a happy medium.
• One division at a time
  • I know I’d get lost sifting through every division in one post. Focusing on the smaller ones first gives attention to the divisions who might not receive as recognition as the more populated ones.

These are for fun. And I do this for free. I’m positive toward every runner in the state. Abiding by that golden rule, you should reciprocate. Capisce? Enjoy.

Recap

I love that both Royal Oak Shrine and Holland Calvary Christian are willing to test themselves against larger schools and more competitive fields. Shrine opened at Lamplighter, placing 12^th of 17 in the large division, even beating out a few D1/D2 teams. Calvary faced a D3-centric field at Under the Lights and more than held their own, earning 4^th out of 20. The mid-pack depth stands out for the Crusaders, with multiple youngsters in the 17’s.

There does not seem to be any distinct groupings in this division, somewhat equal gaps between the top teams. We’ll see in the next few weeks if a squad of contenders will emerge.

Looking Forward

Calvary Christian continues the award tour, undauntingly racing at Spartan Elite. Two top-5 teams in Maple City Glen Lake and Mason County Eastern will face off in the Glen Lake Invitational. We’ll learn about toughness, as that may be one of the grueling courses in the state.

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.
1	Holland Calvary Christian	185	31	165.4
2	Royal Oak Shrine	216	36	165.6
3	Hillsdale Academy	240	34	160.6
4	Mason County Eastern	267	29	162.3
5	Maple City Glen Lake	277	29	162.9
6	Harbor Springs	304	28	153.7
7	Kalamazoo Hackett	330	32	163.0
8	Whitmore Lake	420	33	150.5
9	Bridgman	516	32	144.3
10	Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart	547	30	138.0
11	Leland	550	29	136.6
12	Dryden	551	35	137.8
13	Riverview Gabriel Richard	585	36	137.8
14	Harbor Beach	608	35	136.3
15	Cardinal Mooney Catholic	617	36	133.9
16	Petoskey St. Michael	622	28	137.7
17	Auburn Hills Oakland Christian	646	36	131.8
18	Portland St. Patrick	654	31	130.5
19	Tri-Unity Christian	658	31	134.7
20	Grand Traverse Academy	659	29	131.0
21	Unionville-Sebewaing	665	35	130.7
22	Manchester	696	34	129.8
23	Marlette	699	35	127.9
24	Dansville	701	33	133.0
25	Lutheran Westland	711	36	126.6
26	Mesick	715	29	134.0
27	Frankfort	718	29	125.7

Recap

The Rams from Little Traverse Bay have raced a few times, East Jordan’s Party in the Park perhaps the most applicable one. There, they put six girls around 22:00 or under, the best depth shown thus far. Having six is always important, both for added insurance and displacers. Breckenridge comes off a narrow win in their home invite, besting a D3-ranked McBain team by one singular point. Earlier in the week, Whitmore Lake beat the Huskies by over 100 points at John Bruder (and placed 2^nd behind D3 power Ithaca), though Breckenridge was missing Maizy Matthews, who was their 3^rd girl on Saturday.

Looking Forward

The upcoming Breckenridge and Whitmore Lake battle at Holly. With five divisions at Holly, the field sizes are usually a little smaller in the D5 race, lower field sizes tending to lessen the depth advantage. The low sticks up front for the Trojans will likely be more of a bear to overcome. With that said, Whitmore is definitely the favorite, but I expect less of a time gap between the two squads.

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.
1	Harbor Springs	132	28	96.1
2	Whitmore Lake	170	33	100.8
3	Breckenridge	206	30	84.8
4	Kalamazoo Hackett	236	32	82.0
5	Bridgman	262	32	78.2
6	Hillsdale Academy	284	34	74.3
7	Gobles	287	31	82.1
8	Royal Oak Shrine	330	36	68.8
9	Ubly	340	35	68.6
10	Grand Traverse Academy	349	29	69.8
11	Vestaburg	402	30	71.1
12	Auburn Hills Oakland Christian	420	36	64.6
13	Unionville-Sebewaing	432	35	60.1
14	Lansing Christian	433	33	59.0
15	Buckley	446	29	57.7
16	Maple City Glen Lake	490	29	52.5
17	Holland Calvary Christian	512	31	51.2
18	Harbor Beach	514	35	51.7
19	Beal City	531	30	47.7
20	Martin	578	31	44.1
21	Clarkston Everest Collegiate	647	33	37.4
22	Frankfort	647	29	33.1
23	Petoskey St. Michael	670	28	31.3
24	Dryden	672	35	29.2
25	Genesee Christian Academy	683	33	31.5
26	Rogers City	687	28	31.6
27	Bear Lake-Onekama	699	29	27.0

Individual Rankings

Recap

Given that he lives and breathes running, Marek Butkiewicz was always going to come into the season in outstanding shape. But this good of shape? At the three invites he’s competed in both this fall and last, he’s run an average of 56 seconds faster. Will that keep up all year and extrapolate to his 16:12 at last November’s State Finals. Who knows, but the body of work is among the best in the entire state.

Looking Forward

Seeing if anyone can begin to close the gap on Butkiewicz. A good chunk of the top competitors are off this weekend, with one major exception. Colebrook Sutherland, Alex Tyndall, and the Redmans all are toeing the line at Glen Lake. The aforementioned tough track has the potential to separate individuals, as adverse conditions tend to exaggerate time gaps.

Top 30

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating	Region
1	11	Marek Butkiewicz	Kalamazoo Hackett	209.6	32
2	12	Alex Tyndall	Mason County Eastern	200.4	29
3	12	Theodore Davis	Dansville	199.9	33
4	11	Abenezer Cerone	Royal Oak Shrine	197.6	36
5	12	Mason Sinke	Bear Lake-Onekama	197.2	29
6	10	Kyle Redman	Mesick	196.6	29
7	12	Colebrook Sutherland	Maple City Glen Lake	194.4	29
8	11	Cody Bradley	Petoskey St. Michael	192.7	28
9	11	Landen Livingston	Whitmore Lake	190.4	33
10	11	Sean Siems	Kalamazoo Hackett	187.8	32
11	11	Landon Rogers	Three Oaks River Valley	186.7	32
12	10	Ty Redman	Mesick	185.4	29
13	12	Austin Sneed	East Jordan	184.5	28
14	10	Jacob Ferdubinski	Riverview Gabriel Richard	183.6	36
15	12	Tyler Laansma	Tri-Unity Christian	182.8	31
16	11	Brody Karg	Harbor Beach	181.6	35
17	12	Teddy Ippel	Bridgman	179.9	32
18	12	Andrew Mabry	Bridgman	179.1	32
19	10	Abraham Feeney	Maple City Glen Lake	178.9	29
20	9	Lincoln Laansma	Tri-Unity Christian	178.6	31
21	11	Grayson Rorick	Hillsdale Academy	176.8	34
22	10	Noah Schipper	Holland Calvary Christian	174.7	31
23	11	Grant Johnson	Manchester	174.6	34
24	10	Christian Getz	Holland Calvary Christian	173.8	31
25	10	Anthony Rowe	Breckenridge	173.6	30
26	12	Jeremiah Witt	Johannesburg-Lewiston	170.9	28
27	11	Cole Brege	Rogers City	168.0	28
28	12	Russell Vandermus	Petoskey St. Michael	167.2	28
29	11	Liam McCaw	Maple City Glen Lake	167.1	29
30	10	Wesley Chaffee	Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart	166.9	30

Recap

Kaylie Livingston is up to her usual shenanigans, winning races and running in the low-18’s. Boring and effective, which is needed in the Red & White’s hope for another title. Allie Nowak has just one race under her belt, the traditional J-L style that always works for the Cardinals. Her 18-flat at East Jordan was a school record, a sit n’ kick affair that draws eyeballs to what may occur in the future.

Looking Forward

Both Nowak and Livingston will be at Bluejay and Portage, a little mid-season treat.

Beyond those two, Izzy Brooks will be racing at Spartan’s D3/D4 race. She’s listed as the top seed and I don’t disagree. This will be the first opportunity for the senior to pop something this season.

Top 30

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating	Region
1	10	Kaylie Livingston	Whitmore Lake	159.0	33
2	12	Allie Nowak	Johannesburg-Lewiston	158.4	28
3	12	Abigail Davis	Vestaburg	144.3	30
4	10	Libby Smith	Gobles	139.7	31
5	12	Izzy Brooks	Adrian Lenawee Christian	134.5	34
6	12	Jane Manthei	Petoskey St. Michael	130.6	28
7	10	Stefi Reskevics	Harbor Springs	126.7	28
8	12	Eliza Keith	Auburn Hills Oakland Christian	125.2	36
9	11	Taylor Wiegand	Livingston Christian	118.3	33
10	12	Ella Knudsen	Leland	115.0	29
11	11	Emma Riker	Kalamazoo Hackett	114.3	32
12	11	Carina Burchi	Whitmore Lake	113.3	33
13	12	Natalie Gibbs	Birmingham Roeper	112.4	36
14	10	Addy Zeller	Bear Lake-Onekama	111.7	29
15	11	Lilah Kiley	Kingston	110.6	35
16	11	Ally Schmitz	Breckenridge	110.5	30
17	12	Presley Allen	Mendon	109.1	32
18	10	Harlie Fox	Johannesburg-Lewiston	108.7	28
19	11	Eleanor Cole	Lutheran Westland	107.1	36
20	10	Claire Long	Saginaw Nouvel	103.4	30
21	12	Kelcie Pung	Fowler	103.1	31
22	9	Carmella Julian	Maple City Glen Lake	102.7	29
23	11	Elodie Weaver	Whitmore Lake	101.6	33
24	10	Amelia McKinney	Grand Traverse Academy	101.2	29
25	11	Rowan Allen	Mendon	101.1	32
26	10	Veyda Conley	Martin	100.9	31
27	12	Juniper Rodham	Harbor Springs	100.7	28
28	12	Danica Aldrich	Breckenridge	98.2	30
29	12	Melanie Warren	Bridgman	98.1	32
30	12	Brianna Locke	Beal City	97.1	30