Blog

We’ve finally arrived in the prime part of the year. Meets such as Holly, Spartan, Jackson, Cougar Falcon, Otsego Bulldog, Bluejay have been excellent bellwethers, showcasing how different teams from different areas compare against one another. We have one final example of those this week at Portage (which isn’t technically a championship, but I’m gonna label it as our mid-season championship) before embarking on our stretch of county, area, league, and finally – Regionals and State Finals.

If you’ve followed these over the past few years, you may know the gist of these, but let’s break it down once again:

The individual ratings take into account all the meets listed here. There are a few meets missing that I’ll link to, but pretty much any meet with a significant number of athletes will have been calculated. An individual’s rating takes their best 75% of rated races (rounding up, so 4 of 5, 5 of 6, etc.), weighs them with more recent races having a higher weight, then spits out a final rating. The team rankings score those individuals as if they were in a meet against their entire division.

There are a few changes from previous years:

• No more ratings of weekday, conference meets
  • Why? One, often these aren’t raced all out and end up underrating a runner. Two, to lessen my workload. I’d rather concentrate on these rankings and use the weekend invites that are more likely to be raced hard to determine the rankings.
• Using the top 75% of races instead of 67%
  • Why? If I’m gonna use fewer overall races from a runner’s resume, I have to make up for it in some way.
• 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.
• More writeups focused on the top teams and individuals, rather than just handpicking one each week
  • I’ve found that when it comes toward state time, I know all the numbers and what a kid might run, but have a tough time pointing toward a narrative. Hopefully writing a little recap and what to look forward to will help in that regard. I started with three for the first rankings, then five this week, and so on.
• Posting these one division at a time
  • If you’ve noticed, I always go Division 4 first, trending towards Division 1. This is done intentionally! Traditional media always focuses on the larger schools. By focusing on the smaller divisions first, they get the love that they might not normally receive. With a bit of free-r time this week, I should get to the Upper Peninsula.

Unfortunately, the injury rule is in place, where if I don’t have a rating from the past month, that runner is taken out. If you’re willing to share (and I can understand why not – someone’s medical situation doesn’t have to be the public’s business) that your athlete or you yourself are healthy/injured, feel free. There are some exceptions based on situations that make sense. Hopefully these don’t rub salt in the wound of someone who’s already hurting.

Now I need to be serious for a minute. These are for fun. If you don’t like these fun rankings, you don’t need to participate, you don’t need to call me names, talk trash to your fellow competitors, or send rude emails. We good here? Enjoy.

WEEK THREE RANKINGS
WEEK FOUR RANKINGS

Grand Rapids Christian

Week Three: Conquered a strong field at Benzie then turned around and routed a very competitive OK White. Showing much strength early with frontrunners and depth, could very well put all five girls on the podium.

Week Four: More of the same at Ottawa Hills from the Eagle girls. All scoring girls placed in the top-11, with Adia Sikkema and Lucy Waalkes pulling up in the top-20.

Otsego Bulldog is often the first D2 showcase of the season, this year being no different, with 6 of the top 15 ranked teams in appearance. Just as every other meet, the Eagles up front, making up half of the first 8 finishers. Senior Payton Holtz is peaking at the right time to close her career, hitting sub-19 in her past two invites.

Otsego

Week Three: Sadly, we won’t see the Bulldogs at a major Michigan invitational until Jackson, but when you have the opportunity to run at the legendary Detweiller Park, you take it. Their season is setting up very similarly to last year, a strong top four plus a solid fifth. Though it appears their 5th spot might be improved from 2022.

Week Four: Placed 7^th of 61 in the Richard Spring Invite down in Peoria. Now I don’t know much about Illinois XC at the moment, but that field had some legendary and recognizable names – York, Neuqua Valley, Palatine, Downer’s Grove, etc. Illinois Speed Ratings uses a similar methodology, but a different scale. Without getting too deep into it, converting to my scale, Detweiller rates out to about a +69 (+75 for boys) for its 2.97-to-3-mile course (highly debatable distance!) To make a short story long, the Bulldogs ran better than they have this season, even missing Taylor Mitchell.

In her final Bulldog Invite, senior Megan Germain ran her fastest time at Otsego’s signature home meet. Her 18:29 was good for a 6^th place finish, fast enough for three consecutive top-10’s, and clutch enough to grant her Bulldogs a 2^nd place finish.

Goodrich

Week Four: Changed things up on us! The past few years, the Martians have been at Holly, this year they headed further west to East Lansing. And evidenced by their 3^rd place finish in the Elite Division, an excellent decision. These girls get it done through their pack, going seven deep, displacing fools left and right.

The Martians marked Shepherd as their territory in prep for Regionals. A 23-point win in a D2-centric field, even with Kamy Lauinger having a rough go of it.

East Grand Rapids

Week Four: After missing Under the Lights, Drew Muller has returned, to EGR’s benefit. Her 3^rd spot at Ottawa Hills meant the Pioneers really had to only score four. Combine that with personal bests from Adeline Armstrong and Sadey Seyferth and you have this traditional power rising through the ranks.

Great through three and finding contributors further back. Rory Workman (I swear there are thousands of Waalkes, Workmans, Kuzmas, and VanderKoois up this way) has dropped more than a minute from her Under the Lights debut.

Zeeland East

Week Three: An easy victory in the OK Green was sandwiched between a 2nd place in their division at Under the Lights and a 5th at Bredeweg. Emma Drnek has come into her own this year, giving the Chix a formidable 1-2 combo.

Another OK Green victory to go with a bronze at Otsego Bulldog. Taryn DiLaura has been a key figure on their varsity outfit, breaking 20:00 in two of her past three races, nearly a minute quicker than her freshman form.

St. Joseph

Week Four: The rare case of having two low sticks and needing to score three. Among those three, you could have reliable seniors such as Jade Murdoch or Ceci Ruchti. Or perhaps freshmen that are coming along nicely such as Lydia Johnson or Lily Cummings. Like many West Coast teams, the Bears traveled to Ottawa Hills on Friday, coming away from Session 2 placing 4^th of 18.

Make it 4 straight and 13 of the past 14. The Bears have truly established a Berrien County dynasty.

St. Johns

The Redwing top three can hang with anybody. For instance, in the first two CAAC Red Jamborees – Fletcher, Schafer, and Young combined for 17 points. That’s in two meets, folks. SJ has won each of those jamborees.

Spring Lake

Bea Reeser has been ON IT all year. First, opening with her best debut ever, then parlaying that into a personal best she’s been waiting to snatch since her sophomore year. Twice 6^th in the OK Blue Jamborees, contributing to Laker victories each time.

Rank	Team	Region	Score	Week 5	Week 4	Week 3	Summer
1	Grand Rapids Christian	11	63	1	1	1	2
2	Otsego	13	194	2	2	2	1
3	Goodrich	15	285	4	4	4	3
4	East Grand Rapids	12	290	3	3	8	6
5	Zeeland East	11	362	5	7	3	5
6	St. Joseph	13	397	6	5	6	4
7	St. Johns	14	415	7	8	7	7
8	Spring Lake	11	463	8	9	9	11
9	Frankenmuth	15	467	9	6	5	8
10	Holland Christian	11	489	11	12	28	10
11	DeWitt	14	520	13	10	10	14
12	Freeland	15	534	12	11	11	12
13	Ludington	10	555	10	15	12	13
14	Middleville Thornapple-Kellogg	12	604	14	13	13	27
15	Hudsonville Unity Christian	11	650	15	14	14	17
16	Owosso	14	674	21	19	18	26
17	Alma	15	708	17	16	16	15
18	Warren Regina	17	735	16	20	19	34
19	Croswell-Lexington	17	737	19	17	17	29
20	Linden	16	761	20	26	24	20
21	Dearborn Divine Child	16	762	18	22	20	19
22	Petoskey	10	763	23	18	15	18
23	Forest Hills Eastern	12	802	24	24	22	25
24	Pontiac Notre Dame Prep	16	869	25	23	25	44
25	Chelsea	18	888	26	25	23	21
26	Grand Rapids South Christian	12	939	29	29	29	22
27	Stevensville Lakeshore	13	982	28	27	27	24

Forest Hills Eastern

Week Three: That’s two years in a row that the Hawks have put the state on notice with an Under the Lights masterpiece. All five scorers were sub-17 on that humid, late August night. With three of those capable of low-16’s or better, much pressure will be placed on other teams to close that gap.

Week Four: Missing Brendan Hoving and Liam Hinman at Sparta, the Hawks still emerged victorious, eking out a 6-point victory over the home team. Youngster Steven Zawacki stepped up in a major way – he’s dropped more than a minute since Under the Lights.

Lost in the TJ Hansen spectacle was the fact that FHE stole the show in the elite race. The field contained tons of top teams from all divisions, yet the Hawks still prevailed. Nearly putting four under 16-flat will tend to lead to those victories

Grand Rapids Christian

Week Three: Saw FHE throw down the gauntlet on a Friday night, then woke up Saturday and decided to match it. Winners of Pete Moss by 88 points, then put seven guys in the top-16 at a star-filled OK White Jamboree.

Week Four: Probably underrated here because of their cruise through Christian Schools and the fact that we’re comparing against the entire state. In actual competition, the Eagles are undefeated, finding another clear victory this past weekend at Ottawa Hills.

It’s not as strong as in past years, but you can’t help who you run against, you can only aim to win. Which the Eagles did at Otsego, completing the sweep from their boys and girls squads. Senior Dylan Clark with the big breakthrough, knocking 15 seconds off his previous best.

Allendale

Week Four: There were a few doubters last week with the Falcons’ #4 ranking. I think their effort at Spartan proved a few wrong. Three in the top-15, half the points of any other school in the White Division.

Even if Grand Haven had Seth Norder competing, the Allendale Falcons would’ve still won their home invite. If that ain’t a show of how impressive they’ve been of late, I don’t know what is.

East Grand Rapids

Week Three: Still missing a piece, but those who have competed have had success. That could come in the form of an Alex Thole, who pulled a massive upset at Under the Lights or a Jack Edison, who navigated his way into the 16’s for the first time ever at the OK White Jamboree.

Week Four: That piece has arrived. Ryan Brinker, with only one race under his belt in ’23 has already raced faster than he had to this point in the ’22 season.

It wasn’t just FHE taking it to those D1 boys, the Pioneers were right there with them. Jonah Workman was a workhorse, reaching wayyyy into the 15’s to sneak into the top-10.

Alma

Ali Kudmani’s return coincides with the Panthers’ 3 meet victory streak – in conference, at Bluejay against many teams they could see at State, and this week at Birch Run.

Adrian

Carter Fenner and Matthew Canales have been steady as they come, both trending towards the 16’s as the Maples have held their own in the SEC White and picked up a victory at Jackson.

Marshall

Week Four: Even missing Kaiden Gore (their five guy) at Holly, the Redhawks triumphed in the D3 race. With five divisions there, you get a mix of D2 and D3 teams in the 3^rd Division, but even if Marshall was in the 2^nd Division this past weekend, odds are that they’d win. When you have four boys capable of going sub-17, many possibilities are on the table.

These past two years, Connor Griffith has been a kid hellbent on dropping time. From 10^th to 11^th grade, he stormed from the 18’s to the very low-17’s. Now he’s knocking on the door of the 15’s, hitting 16:05’s at both Stockbridge and Barney Roy.

Otsego

The Bulldogs were missing a few of their top boys at home, perhaps Jackson was a better show of their capabilities. On those rolling Ella Sharp hills, the Dawgs packed up between 16:39 and 17:02, placing right in the middle of a field complete with D1 teams.

Rank	Team	Region	Score	Week 5	Week 4	Week 3	Summer
1	Forest Hills Eastern	12	198	1	1	1	3
2	Grand Rapids Christian	11	257	2	4	2	2
3	Allendale	11	267	4	3	4	4
4	East Grand Rapids	12	301	3	2	3	1
5	Alma	15	444	7	7	5	10
6	Adrian	18	459	6	6	7	5
7	Marshall	12	464	5	5	6	15
8	Otsego	13	479	9	9	8	13
9	Holland Christian	11	534	8	8	21	8
10	Sparta	10	546	10	10	10	17
11	Pinckney	16	567	23	23	29	6
12	Petoskey	10	575	13	16	15	9
13	Frankenmuth	15	585	15	15	13	21
14	Gladwin	10	598	11	12	9	12
15	Plainwell	13	635	12	11	12	37
16	Hamilton	11	661	19	19	19	16
17	Yale	17	665	14	13	11	19
18	Flint Powers Catholic	15	674	22	22	20	25
19	Fremont	10	698	17	21	NR	14
20	Spring Lake	11	739	20	18	18	18
21	Clio	15	789	26	24	17	28
22	Parma Western	14	834	24	27	25	27
23	Chelsea	18	837	21	20	23	7
24	St. Clair	17	839	16	14	14	31
25	DeWitt	14	899	25	26	24	20
26	St. Johns	14	906	30	30	28	34
27	Shepherd	15	927	28	28	26	33

GIRLS INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS

Natalie VanOtteren

Week Four: Sub-18 at Ottawa Hills was the 3^rd of her career and 40+ seconds faster than her ’22 effort on the banks of the Grand River.

Four straight wins for this Eagle senior. One of those was a 17:35 personal best at Cougar Falcon, another a 17:43 effort at the Otsego D2 Showcase.

Gail Vaikutis

Week Three: Her 18-flat at Lakeview was a massive personal best and over 80 seconds faster than her 2022 performance. In track, she was able to display great speed and now we’re witness to her strength.

Week Four: Gail’s just out here stacking personal best after personal best. Similar conditions, similar courses, 22 second improvement from week to week. Gail now owns the fastest time AND best rating in Division 2.

A senior going out with wins all over the place. In conference, in county, and in her college decision, recently committing to Michigan.

Elena Figueroa

Week Three: Right alongside Vaikutis at both their home invite and the PC Early Bird. Missed out on a great time at Lakeview, I hope for non-injury reasons. Regardless, her early season best is already an improvement from her sophomore year.

Week Four: Her first race in over three weeks, Elena hopped right back on the wagon with a 17:44 at Riverside. A minute faster than her 2022 effort there and a 35 second personal best.

A slight, ever so slight personal best at Cougar Falcon is still a personal best. 17:44.0 to 17:43.9 counts for me. Elena and Gail have gone 1-2 in both of the SMAC West meets along with Berrien County – all Bear victories.

Ava Schafer

Week Three: Adjusting very well to the high school scene. After taking her lumps with a second-place finish at Under the Lights, she’s ripped off two consecutive victories. All mid-18 efforts from this young freshman. The Redwings have some light racing in their future, so we’ll see how much she’s improved come late September at Shepherd.

Week Four: The Redwings took the weekend off racing and well, that looks to be to Ava’s benefit. Girl just blasted a 17:48 to capture the first CAAC Red Jamboree.

Stuck her nose right in there at Bluejay, heading out with the lead girls, coming through the mile in 5:34. Ava faded a bit, but got a good look of what she’ll need to do when similar runners race her in a month. Comparing against only D2 girls in that Elite section, Ava did place 1^st of all 46, so she’s performing admirably against her competition.

Drew Muller

Just announced her commitment to Virginia, a great institution for its education, history, and distance running (the Hoos are currently ranked #11). I’m sure Drew will contribute there as she does here, consecutive mid-18 efforts to begin her senior year.

I believe her trip to Shepherd was the first of her career, and that initial run through produced her best mark of the year, an 18:16.

Katie Berkshire

Has been a barrier-busting season for Berkshire. She first slipped under 19:00 at the Mud Run of all places, then has ripped off three consecutive low-18 efforts at Cadillac, Shepherd, and Mancelona.

Emma Hoffman

Think of all the success, all the accomplishments over Otsego’s past ~15 years. Three titles, a runner-up, plenty of state appearances. And atop of them all, time-wise, was Emma’s 18:03 from this past weekend.

Mary Richmond

Four years of races at Bluejay – all in the low-18’s, all in the top-15. The Frankenmuth senior has taken on a lighter load than in years past and should be ready to roll for the coming month.

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Region
1	12	Natalie VanOtteren	Grand Rapids Christian	11
2	12	Gail Vaikutis	St. Joseph	13
3	11	Elena Figueroa	St. Joseph	13
4	9	Ava Schafer	St. Johns	14
5	12	Drew Muller	East Grand Rapids	12
6	10	Katie Berkshire	Gaylord	10
7	10	Emma Hoffman	Otsego	13
8	12	Mary Richmond	Frankenmuth	15
9	12	Meghan Ford	Mason	14
10	11	Emma Drnek	Zeeland East	11
11	10	Ellie Scholma	Grand Rapids Christian	11
12	12	Emily Tomes	Grand Rapids Catholic Central	11
13	10	Lilah Poel	Grand Rapids Christian	11
14	12	Logan Brazee	Otsego	13
15	11	Sadey Seyferth	East Grand Rapids	12
16	11	Summer Brower	Ludington	10
17	12	Payton Holtz	Grand Rapids Christian	11
18	11	Sophy Skeels	Adrian	18
19	12	Megan Germain	Otsego	13
20	11	Natalia DeMea	Chelsea	18
21	12	Naomi Nelson	Grand Rapids Christian	11
22	9	Clara Kaczor	Freeland	15
23	12	Allison Kuzma	Zeeland East	11
24	11	Eva Thompson	Croswell-Lexington	17
25	11	Kamryn Lauinger	Goodrich	15
26	10	Natalie Foltz	Frankenmuth	15
27	11	Ezgi Kurt	Alma	15
28	11	Ava Crews	Middleville Thornapple-Kellogg	12
29	11	Layla Jordan	Goodrich	15
30	12	Jenna Pilachowski	Monroe Jefferson	18
31	12	Abby Young	St. Johns	14
32	12	Emma DeVries	GR West Michigan Aviation	12
33	12	Camille DeCola	Marshall	12
34	9	Jaelyn Ray	Pinckney	16
35	9	Caroline Randall	Hastings	12
36	12	Anastee Davis	Adrian	18
37	12	Clara Fletcher	St. Johns	14
38	9	Olivia Hollebeek	Holland Christian	11
39	10	Berkley Holtz	Sturgis	13
40	10	Linnea Paige	Fremont	10
41	9	Lucy Conzelmann	Frankenmuth	15
42	9	Eliana Stob	Holland Christian	11
43	10	Brooklynn Brown	Cadillac	10
44	12	Ellia Agar	Grand Rapids South Christian	12
45	12	Kyla Meyers	Spring Lake	11
46	9	Ayda Skeels	Adrian	18
47	11	Kayla Williams	DeWitt	14
48	9	Johanna Mulder	Holland	11
49	10	Samantha Brown	Clio	15
50	9	Adeline Armstrong	East Grand Rapids	12

BOYS INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS

Connell Alford

Week Four: Week Three: Cross country is definitely his thing. Facing some fierce competition at Lamplighter, Connell laid down the hammer early en route to a large margin of victory.

Week Four: Unfortunately, couldn’t pull off the win at Spartan, but he did finish first amongst all Michigan competition. His 15:09 nearly matched the 15:06 from last year, and when you’re in the ballpark of your state-winning self, you know you’re in a good place.

Competed in his first SEC White Jamboree of the year, grabbing his third conference win in these past three years. A solid block of training setting up for the future showdowns in the coming months.

TJ Hansen

Week Three: Just continuing and building from his track accomplishments. 15:39 at Under the Lights was a personal best, 15:13 at John Bruder was a massive personal best. It’s a shame Freeland is on the smaller side of D2 schools, we sadly avoid a matchup with Evan Loughridge at Holly.

Week Four: Of the 93 boys that ran at both John Bruder and Holly, only 22 ran faster at Holly. TJ was 0.5 seconds slower, showing his 15:14 through the sharp turns and hills at Springfield Oaks can be sub-15 on the right course on the right day.

An absolutely masterful performance at Bluejay, negative splitting to a 14:46. Let’s just put it this way – in early September, Shepherd hosted the Jeff Drenth Memorial COLLEGE meet. TJ’s 14:46 would have won that.

Solomon Kwartowitz

Week Four: Hung in there pretty well for his first real huge effort of the season. A 15:32 in Spartan Elite earned Kwartowitz a 7^th place (5^th amongst Michiganders) and a massive personal best.

Each year, Cranbrook takes the trip down to Indiana to run in the Culver Academies Invitational. Solomon’s 15:38 there was 40 seconds faster than where he was in 2022, coming back from injury. He placed a second behind Kyle Grove, who just ran a 15:17 at Lavern Gibson. My guess based on limited evidence is that Solomon is ready to head toward the very low-15’s.

Evan Loughridge

Week Three: “Opener at Possum Hollow was a 20+ second win over a ton of talented D1 runners. He’ll be facing some potential D2 All-Staters this weekend at Holly.”

Week Four: 15 seconds at a mile, 30+ at two, and 36 at the finish, Evan’s 15:35 win at Holly was allll on his lonesome. For many that would be a mental grind, but it’s more of the same for this tough-minded kid. His performance on Saturday was over 25 seconds faster than what he raced to in 2022 and given how his October played out last year, big goals are there for the taking.

After working on their toughness at Bennett Park, the Pirates head toward Portage, the site of Evan’s junior breakout race. All indicators show he’s ready to shock us again.

Sean Pettis

Nestled in between his past two WMC Lakes wins was a 15:24 at Cougar Falcon, first amongst a bevy of potential All-Staters.

Alex Thole

Week Four: State Champions, national qualifiers, insane freshmen, talented underclassmen… Alex has won against them all and we’re only in mid-September. Three races, three wins, all considerably better than his 2022 best.

Over the past two years, Alex has surely benefitted from the BluejayBoost. First at the MITCA race, the home of his initial sub-16, the one that paved the way for the enormous success this year. Then again on Saturday, just a show of his progress, 30 seconds quicker than that breakthrough.

Nate Carmody

The Haslett senior has laid low these past few weeks, nabbing his second consecutive win at DeWitt, which was his fourth sub-16 in a row.

Braylon Petty

Hard to believe a school as close as Adrian hadn’t traveled to Jackson in three years. But Braylon showed that he remembered how to attack those long, gradual downhills, rolling to a 15:50 victory.

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Region
1	12	Connell Alford	Chelsea	18
2	11	TJ Hansen	Freeland	15
3	12	Solomon Kwartowitz	Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood	16
4	12	Evan Loughridge	Pinckney	16
5	12	Sean Pettis	Fremont	10
6	12	Alex Thole	East Grand Rapids	12
7	12	Nate Carmody	Haslett	14
8	12	Braylon Petty	Adrian	18
9	11	Jack Bidwell	Marshall	12
10	11	Simon Triezenberg	Grand Rapids Christian	11
11	12	Logan Ruffner	Riverview	18
12	11	Colin Murray	Dearborn Divine Child	16
13	12	Gregory Janesak	Sparta	10
14	12	Noah Lambers	Holland	11
15	12	Elliott Sirianni	Clio	15
16	10	Jonah Workman	East Grand Rapids	12
17	12	Caleb Palmreuter	Gladwin	10
18	12	Brendan Hoving	Forest Hills Eastern	12
19	11	Kilian Whalen	Allendale	11
20	11	Alex Doneth	Mason	14
21	10	Owen Metzger	Sparta	10
22	11	Henry Dixon	Forest Hills Eastern	12
23	12	Liam Hinman	Forest Hills Eastern	12
24	11	Dylan Lydic	Haslett	14
25	10	Ronnie Silveira	Allendale	11
26	12	Nolan Pinion	Lake Fenton	16
27	11	Dominic Lowrie	Battle Creek Harper Creek	12
28	10	Thomas Larson	Alma	15
29	12	Ryan Brinker	East Grand Rapids	12
30	9	Ezekiel Baltierra	Alma	15
31	11	Abatu Dykstra	Hamilton	11
32	12	Aiden Krueger	Niles	13
33	12	David Murphy	Flint Powers Catholic	15
34	11	Will Engbers	Holland Christian	11
35	11	Nolan Inglis	DeWitt	14
36	9	Bryce Cahoon	Shepherd	15
37	11	Seth Mead	Gladwin	10
38	11	Nolan Longuski	Shepherd	15
39	11	Henry Cox	Plainwell	13
40	10	Moises Salazar	Adrian	18
41	12	Isaac Staib	St. Johns	14
42	12	Connor Griffith	Marshall	12
43	11	Sullivan Zietlow	Three Rivers	13
44	11	Parker Tiethof	Allendale	11
45	12	Brewer Snay	Macomb Lutheran North	17
46	12	Cooper Jacobsen	Forest Hills Eastern	12
47	12	Nolan Nixon	Cadillac	10
48	12	Luke Glasgow	Spring Lake	11
49	11	Landen Wise	Frankenmuth	15
50	12	Shane Izzard	Petoskey	10

We’ve finally arrived in the prime part of the year. Meets such as Holly, Spartan, Jackson, Cougar Falcon, Otsego Bulldog, Bluejay have been excellent bellwethers, showcasing how different teams from different areas compare against one another. We have one final example of those this week at Portage (which isn’t technically a championship, but I’m gonna label it as our mid-season championship) before embarking on our stretch of county, area, league, and finally – Regionals and State Finals.

If you’ve followed these over the past few years, you may know the gist of these, but let’s break it down once again:

The individual ratings take into account all the meets listed here. There are a few meets missing that I’ll link to, but pretty much any meet with a significant number of athletes will have been calculated. An individual’s rating takes their best 75% of rated races (rounding up, so 4 of 5, 5 of 6, etc.), weighs them with more recent races having a higher weight, then spits out a final rating. The team rankings score those individuals as if they were in a meet against their entire division.

There are a few changes from previous years:

• No more ratings of weekday, conference meets
  • Why? One, often these aren’t raced all out and end up underrating a runner. Two, to lessen my workload. I’d rather concentrate on these rankings and use the weekend invites that are more likely to be raced hard to determine the rankings.
• Using the top 75% of races instead of 67%
  • Why? If I’m gonna use fewer overall races from a runner’s resume, I have to make up for it in some way.
• 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.
• More writeups focused on the top teams and individuals, rather than just handpicking one each week
  • I’ve found that when it comes toward state time, I know all the numbers and what a kid might run, but have a tough time pointing toward a narrative. Hopefully writing a little recap and what to look forward to will help in that regard. I started with three for the first rankings, then five this week, and so on.
• Posting these one division at a time
  • If you’ve noticed, I always go Division 4 first, trending towards Division 1. This is done intentionally! Traditional media always focuses on the larger schools. By focusing on the smaller divisions first, they get the love that they might not normally receive.

Unfortunately, the injury rule is in place, where if I don’t have a rating from the past month, that runner is taken out. If you’re willing to share (and I can understand why not – someone’s medical situation doesn’t have to be the public’s business) that your athlete or you yourself are healthy/injured, feel free. There are some exceptions based on situations that make sense. Hopefully these don’t rub salt in the wound of someone who’s already hurting.

Now I need to be serious for a minute. These are for fun. If you don’t like these fun rankings, you don’t need to participate, you don’t need to call me names, talk trash to your fellow competitors, or send rude emails. We good here? Enjoy.

WEEK FOUR RANKINGS
WEEK THREE RANKINGS

Jackson Lumen Christi

Week Three: “Two invites into the season and the Titans have won them both. After a bit of a struggle at Michigan Catholic, Lumen Christi acquitted themselves well to the quick Lakeview course. Many in their top seven ran personal bests or close. Their girls will get a prime opportunity to prove their fitness again, running in the Elite race at Spartan.”

Week Four: Hopped into the Elite race at Spartan and held their own against the State’s best. Scoring only Michigan teams, the Titans placed 7^th out of 14. Where some of their girls have good days or bad days, a consistent spot has been Thia Tello, holding it down in the 21’s regardless of the course.

When did I miss that Lumen Christi joined the CHSL?!? Anyhow, the Titans won their first CHSL Jamboree in late September, that victory sandwiched between two others – at Jackson and at DeWitt.

Traverse City St. Francis

Week Three: “It’s all about their pack. Both at Bear Country and Red Devil (both wins), the Glads were able to put five runners ahead of any other team’s 4th runner (and more often, a rival team’s 2nd or 3rd girl).”

Week Four: “Came down to Grand Rapids on Friday to race at Ottawa Hills. Betsy Skendzel is beginning to come into the form that she displayed toward the end of ’22, hitting the mid-18’s. And the #GladPack worked their magic in the middle, doing their job to land TCSF the best spot amongst D3 teams.”

The GladPack did their thing again at both Cadillac and Bluejay. Two Saturdays ago, they moved up a division and held their own, placing 2^nd of 12 in a field full of D1/D2 teams. Then a week later at Bluejay, their 2^nd-4^th girls occupied spots between 15^th and 19^th, opening up enough of a gap to clinch a 20 pt. victory.

Elk Rapids

Week Three: “The Elks are taking a bit of a break until returning back for action next Tuesday at Kalkaska. One girl that’s stood out early has been Ella Peck, who has dropped nearly a minute from her junior best.”

Week Four: “Week off for the Elks, who traveled over to Kalkaska tonight and down to Cadillac on Saturday.”

After taking a bit of time off, the Elks returned to action at Cadillac, Kalkaska, and Bluejay. The mini break benefitted a girl such as Eva Pray, who has ventured into the 20’s in two consecutive races and was the 3^rd girl in a win at Cadillac over a ton of D3 schools.

Pewamo-Westphalia

The name of the game for the Pirates is consistency. Whether that’s Whitney Werner up front, Melanie Werner/Abbie Schneider/Alyssa Kramer in the middle or, anyone else on their persistent squad, consistency abounds. P-W rode that reliability to a 5^th place finish in the Gold division at Bluejay along with a win at their home invite.

Hart

Week Four: “The Pirate girls continued their winning ways in the first WMC Rivers Jamboree then placed 6^th amongst the west side’s best in the first session at Ottawa Hills. A bright spot early has been the consistent running of freshman Natalie Rosema, crossing the line in the low-21’s for each major race.”

On a quick track at Shepherd, five of the top six Pirates achieved a season’s best. One of those was the rapidly rising Harriet Kidder, who’s dropped 2.5 minutes from her opener in early September.

Grand Rapids Covenant Christian

Week Four: “Charging forward have been freshmen such as Shelby Kuiper, Lydia Minderhoud, and Anna DeVries. Each have run the best of their young careers at invites in recent weeks.”

Those superb freshmen were joined Saturday by a senior. Lindsay Minderhoud came in as the Chargers’ 4^th girl, helping lead GRCC to a 4^th place finish. Despite being in 12^th grade, this is her second year of competing, and in this second year, she’s dropped 40+ seconds from 2022.

Stanton Central Montcalm

There’s the excellence of Kyah Hoffman up front, the rising freshman Andrea Rolston. But don’t forget the two other frontrunners – Ashley Choponis and Grace Coston. By my numbers and their times, each of the two had their best race of the season/career.

Caro

Senior Paige Herron is coming into her own on the cross course. While the Tigers finished 2^nd at Wagener Park, she matched her 5^th place finish from last year while dropping 22 seconds from her mark here in 2022.

Rank	Team	Region	Score	Week 5	Week 4	Week 3	Summer
1	Jackson Lumen Christi	23	159	1	1	1	1
2	Traverse City St. Francis	19	208	2	2	2	3
3	Elk Rapids	19	254	4	3	3	2
4	Grand Rapids Covenant Christian	21	279	5	5	6	13
5	Hart	20	289	3	4	4	4
6	Pewamo-Westphalia	24	294	7	7	7	7
7	Stanton Central Montcalm	24	313	6	6	8	12
8	Caro	25	337	8	8	5	5
9	Lansing Catholic	26	356	9	9	9	9
10	Leslie	26	454	10	10	11	6
11	Hanover-Horton	23	471	12	12	10	25
12	Ithaca	25	489	11	11	12	10
13	Kent City	21	596	13	14	14	16
14	Clinton	27	603	14	16	13	18
15	Remus Chippewa Hills	20	605	16	15	15	23
16	Monroe St. Mary CC	27	609	15	13	16	11
17	Fennville	21	653	17	19	20	26
18	Buchanan	22	694	18	18	17	27
19	Grass Lake	27	749	19	17	18	19
20	Onsted	23	757	22	21	25	21
21	Ann Arbor Greenhills	27	778	21	20	22	22
22	Grandville Calvin Christian	21	811	23	22	41	51
23	St. Louis	25	829	28	28	24	31
24	Clare	19	847	20	24	21	8
25	The Potter’s House	21	923	29	33	31	35
26	McBain	20	923	24	25	23	34
27	Quincy	23	967	27	31	29	44

Traverse City St. Francis

Week Three: Came into the season as one of the top teams in Division 3, only bolstered by the addition of the Swagers. Leo’s debut went down in the TCSF record books, his 15:54 at Buckley was a school record.

Week Four: “Traveled down to Ottawa Hills for the late session, placing fifth in a field comprised primarily of D1/D2 teams. Bolstered by the addition of Josh Slocum, running his first 5k of the season in 17:00.”

Since writing this, Slocum has upped his game even further, dropping mid-16 performances at Cadillac and Shepherd. And so has Robby Myler, who’s foray into the 16’s at Bluejay was his third sub-17 of the year.

Grand Rapids Covenant Christian

Week Three: The greatness of the Chargers might not be evident early, but watch as they get towards large fields. Grant Koole and Tyler Kooienga have appeared to lock down the 4th and 5th spots. And in D3, when your 4th/5th guys are hovering near or under 18:00, you’ll be ahead of many teams.

Week Four: “Ottawa Hills constitutes a larger field and the Chargers hung right in there with all the D1/D2 teams in the second session. In fact, they were the only lower division team to compete in the boys evening race, placing 9^th.”

Graeson Decker must’ve watched all these other freshmen drop astounding times and wondered if he can do so himself. After opening with mid-17 efforts at Under the Lights and Saranac, he’s rapidly dropped into the low-16’s.

Pewamo-Westphalia

After the season’s done, perhaps I can look into various stats and answer various questions, one of them being, “who had the best freshman class?” In D3 at least, the answer’s gotta be P-W, who now has four(!) 9^th grade boys below 18-flat.

Hanover-Horton

Week Four: “Winners of the White Division at Spartan, doing so by placing five in the top-40. Freshman Cooper Flick has run a personal best in four of his five races to begin his 9^th grade year and he was the crucial fifth runner for the Comets.”

The Backward Hat Crew put up fights against the best D3 fields at invites these past two weeks. At Jackson, the Comets beat out top squads such as Jonesville and Lumen Christi. At Bluejay, over Reed City, Central Montcalm, P-W, and Covenant Christian.

Reed City

Week Three: Addition of Isaac Clementshaw has taken the Yotes from a team happy to make State to one that can step on the podium. He’s been in the low-18’s in each of his four races.

Week Four: ”Utter domination in the Big School race at Evart. Top-2, 4 of the top-5, 7 of the top-14. Anthony Kiaunis showed off his strength, gritting his way through the sand and hills, his 17:16 knocking nearly 20 sec. off his performance from ’22.”

Two Tuesdays, two weeks aparts, the Yotes knocked out CSAA victories over their conference competition from down south.

Stanton Central Montcalm

Standout runner Graham Coston is throwing down some of his best stuff to finish out his career. His 16:24 at Shepherd was a 10 second personal best and a great way to cap off four years of running on that course. He’s come a long way from his Bluejay Invite in 2020, where he ran a 19:14.

Hart

Of the 15 boys that have recorded a time for the Pirates, over half are freshmen. And of those freshmen, five have been sub-20. This ain’t a rebuilding year, this is a RELOADING YEAR. The Tatros have left an indelible legacy and leave the program in good hands for whomever takes the reigns.

Jackson Lumen Christi

Lumen Christi’s move from a team barely in the top-27 during the summer to a top-10 squad mid-season is largely due to two kids – Gibson Shore and Avery Morrow. Gibson has only continued the trajectory he showed during last October, now a steady figure in the 17’s. Avery has stepped in as a freshman, commonly right behind Gibson. And perhaps he’ll go on the late season run as Gibson did too?

Rank	Team	Region	Score	Week 5	Week 4	Week 3	Summer
1	Traverse City St. Francis	19	166	1	1	1	2
2	Grand Rapids Covenant Christian	21	334	2	2	2	6
3	Pewamo-Westphalia	24	334	6	6	9	3
4	Hanover-Horton	23	339	4	5	4	11
5	Reed City	20	369	3	3	3	9
6	Stanton Central Montcalm	24	422	5	7	6	19
7	Hart	20	442	7	10	8	7
8	Jackson Lumen Christi	23	460	8	8	7	22
9	Clare	19	468	9	9	10	5
10	The Potter’s House	21	508	10	4	5	1
11	Bath	24	512	11	11	16	12
12	Jonesville	23	534	14	15	14	8
13	Midland Bullock Creek	25	552	17	14	12	37
14	St. Louis	25	559	16	16	15	4
15	Ithaca	25	588	12	12	13	16
16	Buchanan	22	613	13	13	11	18
17	Flat Rock	27	703	15	17	17	34
18	Charlevoix	19	723	18	20	20	30
19	Kalkaska	19	770	19	18	18	29
20	Olivet	22	824	20	19	19	15
21	Leslie	26	833	22	25	24	36
22	Kent City	21	853	21	22	23	33
23	Ann Arbor Greenhills	27	868	29	28	32	23
24	Lansing Catholic	26	877	23	29	27	26
25	Clinton	27	907	24	24	36	20
26	Elk Rapids	19	929	25	21	21	17
27	Benzie Central	20	949	34	33	26	45

GIRLS INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS

Jessica Jazwinski

Week Three: Her 2023 debut may have ended in defeat, but I saw a girl that didn’t lay down when the race wasn’t going her way. A 17:35 at Benzie was 10 seconds faster than her sophomore performance, likely on a tougher course as well.

Week Four: “Back to her winning ways this past week, triumphing at her first conference jamboree and at Ottawa Hills. Her 17:29 at Riverside was a season best and only proves that she’s in better fitness than she was at this point last fall.”

This grinder just doesn’t let up. In these past two weeks, wins at all four meets. And in the same fashion that I’ve written before, with faster performances than this point last year. I’m getting old, my memory is fading, but I feel that we’ve raced under similar conditions to 2022. At Cougar Falcon, she improved from 17:54 to 17:12, at Bluejay, from 17:41 to 17:08.

Madison Osterberg

Week Three: Usual pattern has been to exert patience then speed up late. Well, her 17:42 at Lakeview was a jolt to that process. The second sub-18 of her career and nearly a minute faster than her 2022 effort.

Week Four: “Had the XC race of her career at Spartan, crushing her time from 2022 by 85 seconds. Outlasted Lucy Cook in the final 1800m, nearly matching her time from Lakeview on a much tougher track.”

Came out victorious in a huge race between D3 and D4 powers at Jackson. Madison, Emmry, and Kaylie went out blazing fast, and Madison just had enough to outlast the other two.

Emmry Ross

Week Three: Was undefeated until 2022’s State Finals and she’s on the same streak yet again. Four wins in four races, including a sub-18 at Addison. Some big tests are coming soon on the schedule – at Spartan and then Jackson.

Week Four: “Continued the undefeated streak with a comfortable win in the first LCAA Meet and a challenge from Kyah Hoffman at Spartan. This week, we’re setting up for one of the better D3 individual battles at Jackson.”

Was put to the test early at Jackson and came up a little short. But failing is sometimes a blessing in disguise and often leads to greater heights – such as her 17:29 PERSONAL BEST and 2^nd consecutive Stockbridge win.

Kyah Hoffman

Week Four: “Continuing to put it all together during her junior year, hanging with Ross at Forest Akers until succumbing by 5 seconds in the final 1.1.”

I recall her joy after hitting that 18:16 at MITCA to close her sophomore year. It felt like the perfect ending and a show that she could run with all the elite girls. Which she has more than showed this fall, the latest piece of evidence being her 17:56 winner in the Gold race at Bluejay.

Mylie Kelly

Week Four: “Her 18:29 at Riverside was her best time in the past 23 months and nearly a minute faster than each of her previous two efforts at the Ottawa Hills Invite.”

The training, the fire and focus showed over the summer is paying many dividends. Twenty races later, Mylie finally broke her personal best from her sophomore year. Her 18:04 from Saturday was 5 seconds faster than that regional race as a sophomore and over a minute quicker than her Bluejay performance from a fall ago.

Tessa Roe

Lansing Catholic did their early season thing on the tough courses, great preparation for a tough hilly regional at Possum Hollow. In her first real opportunity to rip it, Tessa made the most of it, blasting an 18:21 personal best at Cougar Falcon.

Betsy Skendzel

D3’s most unheralded star had a breakout race at Shepherd. Betsy’s 18:15 nearly matched her personal best and was close to 20 seconds better than any race in 2023.

Miranda McNeil

Miranda must love the taste of that Shepherd Sweetness, because she brings her best material there each time out. By my count, she’s raced through those mid-Michigan fields on five occasions, and on four of those, ran her lifetime best. The 18:25 from Saturday beat out her previous PR by 23 seconds and solidly affirms her as a favorite to grab a fourth All-State.

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Region
1	11	Jessica Jazwinski	Hart	20
2	12	Madison Osterberg	Jackson Lumen Christi	23
3	11	Emmry Ross	Onsted	23
4	11	Kyah Hoffman	Stanton Central Montcalm	24
5	12	Mylie Kelly	Benzie Central	20
6	12	Tessa Roe	Lansing Catholic	26
7	11	Betsy Skendzel	Traverse City St. Francis	19
8	12	Miranda McNeil	Morley-Stanwood	20
9	12	Alyson Enns	Hart	20
10	11	Lila Volkers	Kent City	21
11	11	Eliza Bush	Ypsilanti Arbor Preparatory	27
12	11	Whitney Werner	Pewamo-Westphalia	24
13	12	Amber Koole	Grand Rapids Covenant Christian	21
14	9	Samantha Schroeder	Jackson Lumen Christi	23
15	11	Ashley Choponis	Stanton Central Montcalm	24
16	9	Kamryn Salladay	Lakeview	20
17	10	Bella LaFountain	Monroe St. Mary CC	27
18	12	Jenna Sweeney	Reese	25
19	11	Kaya Vrable	Caro	25
20	10	Brynne Schulte	Elk Rapids	19
21	9	Isabelle Sliter	Fennville	21
22	12	Isabella Max	Kent City	21
23	12	Liliana Lehnst	Ithaca	25
24	12	Cecilia Postma	Manistee	20
25	10	Hope Miller	Blissfield	27
26	12	Kendra Koster	Lawton	22
27	10	Grace Coston	Stanton Central Montcalm	24
28	9	Sophia Buzzelli	Clare	19
29	12	Kinsie Jacques	Pinconning	25
30	9	Shelby Kuiper	Grand Rapids Covenant Christian	21
31	10	Ashlynn Harris	Bronson	23
32	12	Olivia Perrine	Hanover-Horton	23
33	12	Jaiden Dickman	St. Louis	25
34	12	Cylee Elkins	Clinton	27
35	11	Megan Woelkers	Flat Rock	27
36	12	Paige Herron	Caro	25
37	10	Quinn Hatfield	Remus Chippewa Hills	20
38	10	Macy Fazekas	Jackson Lumen Christi	23
39	10	Anna Pray	Elk Rapids	19
40	12	Avelina Hollandsworth	Remus Chippewa Hills	20
41	11	Lola Bryce	Grandville Calvin Christian	21
42	11	Isabelle Eppert	Farwell	19
43	12	Sophia Reynolds	Hanover-Horton	23
44	11	Layla Lopez	Jackson Lumen Christi	23
45	12	Claire Neumann	Saginaw Valley Lutheran	25
46	10	Mattie Gagne	Midland Bullock Creek	25
47	12	Gracie Houtman	Kent City	21
48	11	Mary Masserant	Traverse City St. Francis	19
49	11	Alaina Klooster	Kalamazoo Christian	22
50	11	Chloe Stalhood	Hillsdale	23

BOYS INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS

Bobby Jazwinski

Week Three: Following his astounding debut at Benzie, picked up wins in the first WMC Rivers Jamboree and at Leanna Wolf Geers.

Week Four: “There were 92 athletes that competed at both Pete Moss and Ottawa Hills. Removing a few anomalies, the average runner ran 10-11 seconds faster at Ottawa Hills. Bobby was 15 seconds faster, showing that even at the elite level, he’s improving at a faster rate than many of his competitors. His 15:33 was of course, a personal best.”

Two intense races since that 15:33 at Ottawa Hills, two 15:3x efforts. Bobby is showing no letting up in the middle stages of his freshman year.

Collin Farmer

Week Four: Was able to lower his already low school record from 15:53 to 15:43. Three for three in terms of victories this year.

And within two weeks, that school record was ripped to shreds. Collin’s 15:29 at Shepherd was a statement, announcing a serious candidacy for the D3 crown.

Brad White

It’s taken 3.5 years and a few close calls, but the sub-16 finally happened. Brad’s 15:55 at Cadillac was only a slight improvement from his best as a junior, but I bet it meant the world. And to prove it was no fluke, he doubled it up with another one at Bluejay.

Samuel Martini

Week Four: “When he’s brought it, he’s been his usual high-15/low-16 self. Shaved 4 sec. off his time from last fall’s race at Sparta, placing an admirable 2^nd to Farmer.”

Has opened CSAA competition with two consecutive wins to go along with another dub on his home course.

Ben March

Historically, the Sharks begin to hunt at this time of year, with Ben at the front of it all. Perhaps a prep for Regionals, perhaps a statement, but most affirmatively, a massive personal best. His 15:46 was nearly 20 seconds faster than his previous lifetime best.

Isaiah Dinverno

Week Four: “Has raced three times this year – at Michigan Catholic, Lakeview, and Spartan. Last year, he opened with those three as well. His average time last year was 18:22, this season is 16:18. This past weekend, he was victorious at Spartan in a field that will resemble many during championship season.”

Five races this year, four wins. A sub-16 at Jackson was the quickest of all and he covered the Sharp Park course in 45 less seconds than his sophomore regional effort.

Boden Genovese

Week Three: Three consecutive low-16 efforts, all lower than his junior best. He’ll get another opportunity to roll towards the 15’s on Friday at Spartan.

Week Four: “Acquitted himself quite well to the D1 race at Spartan, placing 3^rd with a 16:15.”

A 3^rd place in the Berrien County Championship marked four consecutive top-5 finishes there.

August Rohde

The 11 day stretch that the Coyotes took off from racing was surely beneficial to Gus. The fresh legs and the Bluejay Boost combined to form one tremendous personal best – a 35+ second one. Graduating from the low-16’s to 15:40, Mr. Rohde is now in the conversation to challenge for the D3 title.

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Region
1	9	Robert Jazwinski III	Hart	20
2	12	Collin Farmer	Pewamo-Westphalia	24
3	12	Brad White	Clare	19
4	12	Samuel Martini	Kent City	21
5	12	Ben March	St. Louis	25
6	11	Isaiah Dinverno	Jackson Lumen Christi	23
7	12	Boden Genovese	Coloma	22
8	11	August Rohde	Reed City	20
9	10	Gage Hoffman	Stanton Central Montcalm	24
10	11	Theodore Davis	Dansville	26
11	11	Mitchell Hiatt	Onsted	23
12	12	Keegan Masters	Ottawa Lake-Whiteford	27
13	11	Leo Swager	Traverse City St. Francis	19
14	11	Landon Pestrue	St. Louis	25
15	10	Jacob Stanislawski	Flat Rock	27
16	11	Landen Boulis	Hanover-Horton	23
17	12	Jackson Rodriguez	The Potter’s House	21
18	12	Anthony Kiaunis	Reed City	20
19	12	Jaden Barnes	Bloomingdale	22
20	12	Gavin Guggemos	Kalkaska	19
21	12	Graham Coston	Stanton Central Montcalm	24
22	12	Lucas Hopkins	Olivet	22
23	12	Ryan Allen	Reed City	20
24	12	Tucker Krumm	Traverse City St. Francis	19
25	11	Levi Kamps	Grand Rapids Covenant Christian	21
26	12	Evan Shepherd	Hanover-Horton	23
27	11	Tyler Heal	Sanford-Meridian	25
28	10	Landen Styka	Ithaca	25
29	11	Daniel Mandujano	Watervliet	22
30	11	Josh Slocum	Traverse City St. Francis	19
31	12	Nolan Grant	Hillsdale	23
32	12	Gavin VanKampen	Jonesville	23
33	10	Robert Dykhouse	Manton	20
34	9	Graeson Decker	Grand Rapids Covenant Christian	21
35	12	Brodie Delamater	Grant	21
36	10	Lucas Taraszkiewicz	Flat Rock	27
37	11	Isaac Edgington	Holland Black River	21
38	9	Luke Herron	Caro	25
39	12	Carter Holmes	Bath	24
40	12	Nathan Day	Saranac	21
41	10	Ben Gautsche	Union City	22
42	10	Noah Devereaux	Laingsburg	24
43	12	Bailey Wiggins	Midland Bullock Creek	25
44	11	Brayden Sweeney	Midland Bullock Creek	25
45	12	Matthew Pattullo	Caro	25
46	12	Gannon Shore	Jackson Lumen Christi	23
47	11	Owen Read	Traverse City St. Francis	19
48	10	Sylus Wilson	Stanton Central Montcalm	24
49	12	Andrew Klaus	Clare	19
50	9	Hunter Eaton	Charlevoix	19

We’ve finally arrived in the prime part of the year. Meets such as Holly, Spartan, Jackson, Cougar Falcon, Otsego Bulldog, Bluejay have been excellent bellwethers, showcasing how different teams from different areas compare against one another. We have one final example of those this week at Portage (which isn’t technically a championship, but I’m gonna label it as our mid-season championship) before embarking on our stretch of county, area, league, and finally – Regionals and State Finals.

If you’ve followed these over the past few years, you may know the gist of these, but let’s break it down once again:

The individual ratings take into account all the meets listed here. There are a few meets missing that I’ll link to, but pretty much any meet with a significant number of athletes will have been calculated. An individual’s rating takes their best 75% of rated races (rounding up, so 4 of 5, 5 of 6, etc.), weighs them with more recent races having a higher weight, then spits out a final rating. The team rankings score those individuals as if they were in a meet against their entire division.

There are a few changes from previous years:

• No more ratings of weekday, conference meets
  • Why? One, often these aren’t raced all out and end up underrating a runner. Two, to lessen my workload. I’d rather concentrate on these rankings and use the weekend invites that are more likely to be raced hard to determine the rankings.
• Using the top 75% of races instead of 67%
  • Why? If I’m gonna use fewer overall races from a runner’s resume, I have to make up for it in some way.
• 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.
• More writeups focused on the top teams and individuals, rather than just handpicking one each week
  • I’ve found that when it comes toward state time, I know all the numbers and what a kid might run, but have a tough time pointing toward a narrative. Hopefully writing a little recap and what to look forward to will help in that regard. I started with three for the first rankings, then five this week, and so on.
• Posting these one division at a time
  • If you’ve noticed, I always go Division 4 first, trending towards Division 1. This is done intentionally! Traditional media always focuses on the larger schools. By focusing on the smaller divisions first, they get the love that they might not normally receive. With a bit of free-r time this week, I should get to the Upper Peninsula.

Unfortunately, the injury rule is in place, where if I don’t have a rating from the past month, that runner is taken out. If you’re willing to share (and I can understand why not – someone’s medical situation doesn’t have to be the public’s business) that your athlete or you yourself are healthy/injured, feel free. There are some exceptions based on situations that make sense. Hopefully these don’t rub salt in the wound of someone who’s already hurting.

Now I need to be serious for a minute. These are for fun. If you don’t like these fun rankings, you don’t need to participate, you don’t need to call me names, talk trash to your fellow competitors, or send rude emails. We good here? Enjoy.

WEEK FOUR RANKINGS
WEEK THREE RANKINGS

Whitmore Lake

Week Three: “Winners of the Small School division at John Bruder, winners of the entire Birch Run Early Invite. Went up against stacked D4 competition in USA, Kingston and came away victorious, held their own against D1 competition at Lamplighter. Emergence of Sofia Robertson has been a major help.”

Week Four: “Putting four girls in the top six, the Trojans cruised to a victory over #4 Hillsdale Academy and #5 Breckenridge.“

Over the past few weeks, the Trojans have won the first MIAC Jamboree, won at Stockbridge, and finished 3^rd at Jackson. Each of the latter two, they’ve finished ahead of a bevy of D3/D4 rivals.

Muskegon Western Michigan Christian

Week Four: “The Warriors emerged victorious in the Silver Division at Sparta, winning their race by 2 points over a field full of Division 3 teams. Personal bests from their top four girls, including a massive leap from freshman Leah Sneller.“

The Warriors are in quite the competition for the Alliance League. In the past two weeks, they’ve suffered a single point defeat to West Michigan Aviation and then won by that single point. Those close competitions likely paid off at Allendale Falcon, where WMC placed four girls in the top-8 en route to a Small School victory.

Johannesburg-Lewiston

Week Three: “Full squad hasn’t competed together yet. Half were at Under the Lights, half at Red Devil. Getting Harlie Fox, a middle school sprinter, to run a 21:00 opener keeps them in contention with Whitmore Lake.”

Week Four: “No notable action from these girls, but we’ll get plenty of info these next three weeks with Jackson, Bluejay, and Portage on the docket“

Just individuals competing for the Cardinals these past few weeks, some solid performances contained within. Harlie Fox blasted a 25+ second personal best at Jackson and Madalyn Agren/Yolanda Gascho were their solid selves at Shepherd.

Hillsdale Academy

Week Three: “Iris Millies has been a key early season contributor, continuing her 23:00 streak, but only faster. Then you have those usual suspects, the Brownlees and the last of the Roberts (yes I know this is incorrect, but it was written and I own my mistakes). Saturday, the Colts are going against Whitmore Lake, which I think will be a good depiction of their fitness.”

Week Four: “Held off a rising Breckenridge team by placing four girls ahead of the Huskies’ third girl. Grace Brownlee locked it down as their fifth girl, running nearly a minute personal best on a tougher course.“

Ella Walton is beginning to return to the form that’s placed her in the top-50 at MIS these past two years. A 20:48 at Jackson was her best late September time on that Sharp Park course.

Saugatuck

Have some of the best depth in the division, upperclasswomen such as Anna McQueary, Alayah Nieuwsma, and Leilani Schoonmaker who will surely drive a difference in larger fields.

Breckenridge

Week Four: “Third place in a tough, tough Division 5 at Holly. Have one of the deeper teams in Division Four, which can be an asset in the larger meets to come. With the progress of Tori Most and Nataly Vine, expect the Huskies to put five in before most other D4 rivals.“

Turned a wonderful Bluejay performance and brought it into a dominant day at the first MSAC Jamboree, placing all seven varsity girls in the top-13.

Gobles

In smaller meets, the Tiger girls can have a huge impact up front. For example, at the 2^nd SAC Jamboree, they placed 3 in the top-4, enough to cruise to a 13 point win over Saugatuck and D3-ranked Fennville.

Harbor Springs

Bluejay was the Rams’ first major meet of the year and they showed out big time, winning the Jays Division over a host of D3/D4 schools.

Rank	Girls Team	Score	Region	Week 5	Week 4	Week 3	Summer
1	Whitmore Lake	111	33	1	1	1	1
2	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	150	31	2	3	6	6
3	Johannesburg-Lewiston	241	28	3	2	2	2
4	Hillsdale Academy	289	34	4	4	3	4
5	Saugatuck	296	31	9	11	11	12
6	Breckenridge	304	30	6	5	7	13
7	Gobles	304	31	8	7	5	7
8	Harbor Springs	306	28	5	8	8	3
9	Kingston	307	35	7	6	4	5
10	Buckley	349	29	10	10	10	9
11	Auburn Hills Oakland Christian	422	36	11	9	9	8
12	Mason County Eastern	482	29	12	12	12	10
13	Grand Traverse Academy	530	29	13	13	14	18
14	Concord	542	32	15	15	19	14
15	Unionville-Sebewaing	551	35	14	14	13	20
16	Pittsford	552	34	17	17	15	17
17	Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart	581	30	16	16	16	11
18	Novi Christian Academy	622	33	18	22	NR	NR
19	Kalamazoo Hackett	630	32	20	19	17	15
20	Royal Oak Shrine	641	36	19	18	18	16
21	Allen Park Cabrini	679	36	21	20	20	26
22	Fowler	715	33	22	21	24	NR
23	Leland	764	29	30	28	26	NR
24	Ubly	765	35	23	27	27	23
25	Beal City	778	30	24	24	23	25
26	Livingston Christian	814	33	25	25	21	45
27	Vestaburg	836	30	26	26	25	24

Hillsdale Academy

Week Three: “Two invites, two wins. Perhaps most telling was their opener across town, where the Colts comfortably beat top D3 teams in Hanover-Horton and Jonesville. As with their girls, the boys should face another stiff test at Holly – going against the likes of Breckenridge, Lutheran Westland, Whitmore Lake, amongst others. Guess I’ll have to get to Holly early.”

Week Four: “First place in Holly’s Division Five race, by way of putting all seven in the top-18. Hard to believe given his lengthy career on big stages, but a personal best for Grayson Rorick.”

An excellent race plan at Jackson led to a victory over top-ranked D3 schools such as Hanover-Horton, Lumen Christi, and Jonesville. The Colts’ 4^th through 7^th packed up early, picking off competitor after competitor, leading to Lindley and Rahe placing 32^nd and 33^rd.

Saugatuck

Coming along nicely, then shocking the D4 world at Allendale Falcon. The Trailblazers placed all of their scorers under 18:00, which will take you many places in the smaller divisions.

Johannesburg-Lewiston

Week Three: “Given their top 3 boys, it was always gonna be about what came from their 4th and 5th runners. I know it was a fast track at East Jordan, but having Layman under 18:00 and Fulton in the mid-18’s combined with Coach Marcum’s careful training gives the Cardinals much potential.”

Week Four: “Just like their girls, off this week, with a ton of prime opportunities to peer at their fitness in the coming weeks.”

Brought Malaki Gascho and Blake Fox to Jackson, where each ran in the 16’s. Will hopefully have their full squad at Portage so we can get a proper assessment of their place.

Holland Calvary Christian

Week Three: “Of their top nine runners at South Christian, eight were freshmen. When looking at the results as a whole, their 9th place in the Starlight division might not seem impressive, but please pay attention to the field – it was primarily D1/D2 teams.”

Week Four: “In the Silver race at Sparta, eked out a single point victory over a rising WMC squad. Gave a shoutout to Gibson White in the Sparta post, but let’s call out both Caleb Adkins and Eli Laninga here, as both were crucial to their trophy, finishing ahead of the Warriors’ fifth runner and hitting PB’s along the way.”

Just as the Harbor Springs girls did, took the win in the Jays Division (D3/D4 schools) at Bluejay. Caleb Adkins stepped up again, running his 3^rd consecutive personal best.

Mason County Eastern

Week Four: “Winners of the Small School division at Benzie and leaders in the WMD as of now – and that was before getting Alex Tyndall back.”

Fairly dominant performance at the 2^nd WMD Jamboree, where the Cardinals placed six guys in the top-8.

Kalamazoo Hackett

Week Four: “Second place in the initial SAC Jamboree, a higher conference finish than any that the Irish had in 2022.”

Coming in off a week full of winning, both at the 2^nd SAC Jamboree and at Otsego Bulldog. I’ve been told to not pay attention to the times from the jamboree, but I can’t help to notice that all the Irish scorers ran a personal best.

Muskegon Western Michigan Christian

Just as their girls, locked in a battle with WMA for Alliance League supremacy. The Warriors have lost each of the jamborees, but have considerably cut the gap in scoring.

Royal Oak Shrine

Only one meet in the past two weeks, leaving a great opportunity to get some solid training block in before the big meets begin. In that CHSL Jamboree, the Knights placed first, helped by Cerone in first, but also placing four boys in the top-11.

Rank	Team	Region	Score	Week 5	Week 4	Week 3	Summer
1	Hillsdale Academy	34	183	1	1	1	1
2	Saugatuck	31	284	5	8	8	5
3	Johannesburg-Lewiston	28	291	2	2	2	3
4	Holland Calvary Christian	31	317	4	4	3	6
5	Mason County Eastern	29	318	3	3	4	8
6	Kalamazoo Hackett	32	389	6	5	5	10
7	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	31	419	12	11	15	12
8	Royal Oak Shrine	36	430	8	7	7	37
9	Three Oaks River Valley	32	431	7	6	6	2
10	Harbor Springs	28	487	9	28	25	4
11	Lutheran Westland	36	536	10	9	10	22
12	Maple City Glen Lake	29	540	11	10	9	11
13	Harbor Beach	35	573	18	17	17	31
14	Marine City Cardinal Mooney	36	595	13	13	11	25
15	Breckenridge	30	603	15	12	14	18
16	Tri-Unity Christian	31	603	20	19	21	NR
17	White Cloud	30	628	14	16	NR	15
18	East Jackson	34	629	16	14	13	23
19	Petoskey St. Michael	28	653	21	20	NR	7
20	Frankfort	29	667	17	15	12	14
21	Muskegon Catholic Central	31	677	19	18	18	17
22	Auburn Hills Oakland Christian	36	735	22	21	16	27
23	Whitmore Lake	33	738	23	22	19	9
24	Battle Creek St. Philip	32	800	24	24	22	20
25	Adrian Lenawee Christian	34	807	NR	NR	NR	13
26	Pentwater	29	833	25	23	20	16
27	Morenci	34	843	28	27	24	26

GIRLS INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS

Aiden Harrand

Week Three: “Personal best at Benzie was two years in the making. Her 17:52 knocked 16 seconds off her previous record. Effort at Bear Country was likely a bit more controlled (and probably underrates her here), yet still another victory. I think we’ll get a matchup vs. Kaylie at Portage, only a month away.”

Week Four: “Three days after the Bear Country Invite, Aiden showed what she can truly pop on her home course, her 17:40 contributing to her little team’s win in the first NWC Jamboree.”

An aggressive start led to her best time on the Shepherd course, her 17:46 ending up 24 seconds faster than her performance at MITCA last year.

Kaylie Livingston

Week Three: “Introduction to HS cross country has been a resounding success. Three races, three wins, three efforts in the low-18’s.”

Week Four: “Continued her streak of sub-19’s onto a tougher track at Springfield Oaks. Kaylie once again dominated from start to finish, leading her Trojans to victory and hitting the second fastest time of the day.”

Gained valuable experience racing some of Division 3’s best at Jackson and Stockbridge. Both were low-18 efforts and I was impressed by her ability to battle back at Jackson.

Grace VanderKooi

Week Four: “Her 18:28 at Sparta made it three consecutive years in the 18’s. She’s won four of her five races this year, including the first Alliance League Jamboree.”

Took that 18:28 at Sparta and decided to one up herself, lowering her best to 18:25 this Saturday at Allendale. Winner of the first three Alliance League jamborees as well.

Ava Teed

Week Four: “Nearly matched her effort at last year’s Huron Invitational. And when I say matched, I mean within a second. The only real difference is that, instead of finishing 2^nd in the D2-D4 race, she was first.”

Continues to lower her personal best, dropping 15 seconds from her 18:58. That 18:43 at Lake Erie was against a ton of D2-D4 girls and by a major margin as well – 75+ seconds.

Allie Nowak

Week Three: “Set the J-L school record with an 18:26 at Red Devil. For comparison’s sake, her opener as a sophomore was 20:32. By the end of her sophomore year, Allie had finished 3rd in Division 4.”

Week Four: “Feelin’ like a broken record here with the J-L folks, but some fast courses coming soon for these girls. Jackson, Shepherd, and Portage all being great opportunities for Allie to lower her personal best.”

Hasn’t raced in a few weeks, which has allowed for others to pass her by here. But with Portage on the horizon, there’s a great opportunity to move back up.

Izzy Brooks

Even if a course runs fast as Stockbridge often does, you can still use other methods to compare. In her three years competing there, Izzy has moved up from 11^th to 7^th to 6^th. And in time, gone from 19:52 to 19:18 to 18:44.

Libby Smith

Frontrunner for the Tigers has been on quite a winning streak, with six straight victories. Among those, wins in the SAC and also major invites such as Otsego Bulldog.

Eliza Keith

After a subpar race at Spartan, bounced back big time with a personal best at the first MIAC Jamboree. Then proved again that she can race in a big field, running 19:31 on a hotter afternoon at Shepherd.

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Region
1	12	Aiden Harrand	Buckley	29
2	9	Kaylie Livingston	Whitmore Lake	33
3	11	Grace VanderKooi	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	31
4	12	Ava Teed	Allen Park Cabrini	36
5	11	Allie Nowak	Johannesburg-Lewiston	28
6	11	Izzy Brooks	Adrian Lenawee Christian	34
7	9	Libby Smith	Gobles	31
8	11	Eliza Keith	Auburn Hills Oakland Christian	36
9	11	Jane Manthei	Petoskey St. Michael	28
10	10	Carina Burchi	Whitmore Lake	33
11	11	Ella Knudsen	Leland	29
12	12	Brooke Smith	Pittsford	34
13	12	Miriam Murrell	Gaylord St. Mary	28
14	9	Stefi Reskevics	Harbor Springs	28
15	12	Natalie Meadows	Whitmore Lake	33
16	10	Sofia Robertson	Whitmore Lake	33
17	10	Taylor Wiegand	Livingston Christian	33
18	11	Juniper Rodham	Harbor Springs	28
19	9	Veyda Conley	Martin	31
20	9	Ava DeYoung	Gobles	31
21	12	Isabella Yeoman	Genesee	33
22	11	Abigail Davis	Vestaburg	30
23	10	Ruth Brownlee	Hillsdale Academy	34
24	12	Allison Glendening	St. Joseph Our Lady of the Lake Catholic	31
25	12	Madalyn Agren	Johannesburg-Lewiston	28
26	9	Kamryn Sixberry	Saugatuck	31
27	9	Haley Stimer	Concord	32
28	11	Ava Mallar	Pittsford	34
29	9	Leah Sneller	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	31
30	9	Lyvia Curtis	Saugatuck	31
31	10	Ally Schmitz	Breckenridge	30
32	11	Presley Allen	Mendon	32
33	10	Lilah Kiley	Kingston	35
34	9	Lauren Shaffer	Gobles	31
35	9	Harlie Fox	Johannesburg-Lewiston	28
36	12	Eleanor Kingshott	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	31
37	9	Anna Sheppard	Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart	30
38	11	Ella Walton	Hillsdale Academy	34
39	12	Leah Zarrilli	Auburn Hills Oakland Christian	36
40	12	Alberta Reinbold	Unionville-Sebewaing	35
41	12	Grace Folkema	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	31
42	9	Addy Zeller	Bear Lake-Onekama	29
43	10	Eleanor Cole	Lutheran Westland	36
44	12	Jacqueline Morton	Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart	30
45	9	Gabriella Siems	Kalamazoo Hackett	32
46	9	Nolee Leppert	Beal City	30
47	11	Riley McCumber	Pittsford	34
48	11	Danica Aldrich	Breckenridge	30
49	12	Lily Lemanski	Marlette	35
50	10	Cieara Barrett	Concord	32

BOYS INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS

Owen Patton

Week Three: ”The summer training and its added endurance have been paying off. Two wins, one in the small school division at John Bruder and the other in an opener at Chippewa Hills. But I’ve marveled at the consistency, through the tough or easy efforts, he’s run the equivalent of sub-16 each time out.”

Week Four: “After a series of quicker courses to begin the year, showed he can do the necessary work on the grittier ones. Evart rated as one of the slower courses on the year, but that didn’t dissuade Owen from cruising to a 20+ second win.”

Battling sickness and trudging through tougher courses led to a breakthrough on Saturday. A 15:36 in the Elite section at Bluejay, a 15 second personal best and showing that his early season fitness was real.

Tyler Lenn

Week Three: “Win in the D2-D4 division at the Muskrat Classic was his first of the year. His 16:27 at Eastwood was 6 seconds faster than his junior effort, on a much slower course mind you.”

Week Four: “Cardinal Mooney had the weekend off, but raced during the week at the first CHSL CD Jamboree. Tyler lost to Abe Cerone by three seconds, which isn’t a negative at all when you see how Cerone fared at Holly.”

Has laid low these past few weeks, just competing in the CHSL Jamborees, placing 2^nd in each.

Abenezer Cerone

Week Four: “Three consecutive wins for this young sophomore. Mentioned above, he was victorious in an early CHSL matchup against Tyler Lenn. Then four days later, dominated the D4 Holly field with a 5-flat first mile and a lead that only grew from there. With more even pacing and an easier course, expect that 16:28 to fall soon.”

Along with his Knight boys, AC Ice has been well-rested these past few weeks. And for good reason – a big one is on the calendar, the Oakland County Championships, where this D4 kid has a wonderful chance to show he can hang with the big stars.

Thomas Holm

Had a huge breakthrough at Jackson, his 16:15 knocking a huge chunk off his previous best. For comparison’s sake, his 2022 effort at Jackson was 16:51.

Abe VanDuinen

Week Three: ”Pound for pound, the competition for the boys WMD title is as good a conference battle you’ll find. The Redmans, Mason Sinke, and Abe are all likely to finish in the top-15 at Division 4 State. Abe was victorious on Wednesday, then ripped a sub-16 on Saturday.”

Week Four: “His 17:04 at Ludington was a win over a field containing a number of higher division runners and 75 seconds faster than his junior effort.”

The course over at Rycenga Park ran a bit slow, rare for this time of year. So don’t pay too much attention to the time, instead concentrate on another win, Abe’s fourth of the year.

Mason Sinke

As Abe captured the first WMD Jamboree, Mason brought home the second. If a.net doesn’t lie, that’s his first victory of his career.

Kyle Redman

Following a rougher race at Cadillac, young Kyle more than made up for it at Shepherd. Using that #BlueJayBoost, he blasted a 16:27, his second-best mark of the year.

Malaki Gascho

The 3-hour trip down 127 was made worth it, his 16:23 at Sharp Park affirming that ol ‘Ki is in championship shape, ready to step on that MIS podium yet again.

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Region
1	12	Owen Patton	Vestaburg	30
2	12	Tyler Lenn	Marine City Cardinal Mooney	36
3	10	Abenezer Cerone	Royal Oak Shrine	36
4	12	Thomas Holm	Hillsdale Academy	34
5	12	Abe VanDuinen	Pentwater	29
6	11	Mason Sinke	Bear Lake-Onekama	29
7	9	Kyle Redman	Mesick	29
8	12	Malaki Gascho	Johannesburg-Lewiston	28
9	12	Sawyer Stoneman	Breckenridge	30
10	10	Marek Butkiewicz	Kalamazoo Hackett	32
11	9	Ty Redman	Mesick	29
12	12	Michael Allen	East Jackson	34
13	11	Matthias Morse	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	31
14	11	Colebrook Sutherland	Maple City Glen Lake	29
15	10	Grayson Rorick	Hillsdale Academy	34
16	12	Gavin Sehy	Kalamazoo Hackett	32
17	12	Blake Fox	Johannesburg-Lewiston	28
18	11	Alex Tyndall	Mason County Eastern	29
19	10	Brody Karg	Harbor Beach	35
20	11	Tyler Laansma	Tri-Unity Christian	31
21	10	Lynus Cadarette	Petoskey St. Michael	28
22	10	Sammy Gamboa	Saugatuck	31
23	11	Reece Poole	Hillsdale Academy	34
24	10	Landon Rogers	Three Oaks River Valley	32
25	12	Javin Mericle	East Jackson	34
26	11	Jeremiah Witt	Johannesburg-Lewiston	28
27	9	Anthony Rowe	Breckenridge	30
28	10	Landen Livingston	Whitmore Lake	33
29	12	Aiden Fitchett	Dryden	35
30	12	Kaden Forward	Bear Lake-Onekama	29
31	9	Sawyer Monroe	Saugatuck	31
32	10	Cody Bradley	Petoskey St. Michael	28
33	10	Emmanuel Mehari	Plymouth Christian Academy	36
34	10	Carson Burgess	Brown City	35
35	9	Noah Schipper	Holland Calvary Christian	31
36	12	Connor Rouse	Genesee	33
37	10	Charlie Gibson	Three Oaks River Valley	32
38	8	Lincoln Laansma	Tri-Unity Christian	31
39	10	Rich Fanti	Riverview Gabriel Richard	36
40	9	Riley Weed	Holland Calvary Christian	31
41	12	Luke Sprague	Battle Creek St. Philip	32
42	12	Austin York	Three Oaks River Valley	32
43	10	Carter Clark	Carson City-Crystal	30
44	11	Carroll Robotham	Frankfort	29
45	11	Tom Shafer	Lutheran Westland	36
46	11	Rodney Iamurri	Saginaw Nouvel	30
47	12	TJ Donnan	Southfield Christian	36
48	11	Joel Lange	Adrian Lenawee Christian	34
49	9	Sebastian Dunaway	Frankfort	29
50	12	Mitchel Daniels	Pentwater	29