There may not be many meets from this mid-September weekend, but the ones that exist are huge and begin to tell the tale of the season. There’s been some movement in terms of the rankings, and if you pay attention to the hypothetical scores, you’ll see movement there even if a team’s ranking is the same.
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.
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.
Ann Arbor Pioneer
Week Three: “I should know better. Each year, it’s a question along the lines of “who will replace Emily/Cookie/Sarah/Dudek/Anne” and each year, it’s an answer with someone new. Lydia Bowman is a girl that’s stepped into a prominent role, running in the mid-18’s and grabbing top-5 finishes at Benzie and John Bruder. Lydia, along with her Pioneer teammates will be racing Friday in Spartan Elite, going against a strong field with the likes of Brighton, Northville, and Holland West Ottawa.”
The Pioneer traveling roadshow took its talents to East Lansing last week, rocking another dominating victory. Natalie Mello continued her silent, solid, and consistent start to the year, notching her third consecutive sub-19 with a 18:56, 10th place finish.
Romeo
Week Three: “Missing a few pieces of what they hope to bring forth in the late season but that hasn’t stopped the Bulldogs from racking up wins at Lamplighter, Averill and in the MAC Red.”
Sickness ravaging through northern Macomb County, the Bulldogs were missing three of their top seven at Holly. They still pulled through, thanks to Olivia Purdy holding it down in the 4 spot and Maya Muskan stepping in as their 5.
Brighton
Week Three: “The KLAA can be a brutal conference. Coming off a highly competitive Averill Invite then rolling right into a tri containing a top-5 Northville team. The Bulldogs survived with a victory and now head to Spartan on Friday.”
The Bulldogs took the momentum from the weekday win and used it to dispel many top-10 squads at Spartan. They’ve been very steady this year, with hardly any girls blowing up in big races. There will be plenty of big races to come and I think they’ve solidified that they have an excellent shot of contending for a podium spot.
Northville
You may have noticed these Mustangs punching high above their preseason rankings. There may be a number of factors, but one small one could be the frontrunning of Cassie Garcia. At Lamplighter, she assisted Molly Kate Coates before blasting the final mile. At Spartan, she took that patience and unleashed a lifetime best.
Grand Haven
Addy Smith has begun to show the promise she held during track (2:19/5:22), running a personal best of 19:08 at the latest OK Red Jamboree. That low-19 effort was almost a minute faster than her OK Red opener from her sophomore year.
Rank
Team
Region
Score
Last Week
1
Ann Arbor Pioneer
5
122
1
2
Romeo
9
199
2
3
Brighton
4
269
3
4
Northville
6
336
4
5
Grand Haven
1
419
5
6
Forest Hills Central
3
438
8
7
Traverse City West
2
443
10
8
Holland West Ottawa
1
446
6
9
Saline
5
457
7
10
Oxford
8
469
9
11
Okemos
2
473
11
12
Rockford
1
586
14
13
Jenison
1
637
12
14
Traverse City Central
2
663
16
15
Davison
4
719
17
16
Utica
8
733
18
17
Macomb Dakota
9
759
23
18
Grosse Pointe South
9
761
21
19
Fraser
9
777
20
20
Rochester
8
804
26
21
Dexter
4
809
22
22
Walled Lake Northern
7
820
13
23
Rochester Hills Stoney Creek
9
828
25
24
Livonia Franklin
6
869
24
25
Zeeland West
1
870
30
26
Portage Central
3
871
15
27
H.H. Dow
2
900
27
Northville
Week Three: “Have met the challenges of all competitors thus far, taking home titles at Lamplighter and Bath. But the toughest test might’ve been yesterday’s tri against Brighton and Canton, where the Mustangs eked out wins against two top-10 squads.”
I lied. The toughest test was at Spartan, where a tie with Brighton invoked their 6th runners, to which the Bulldogs prevailed. But it’s early and you have a kid such as Ishaan Kundapur evolving from his 18-flat openers to mid-16’s at Forest Akers.
Brighton
Week Three: “That tri against Northville was intriguing in the sense that the path toward a state title becomes perfectly clear. Can the Bulldogs establish enough of a gap between their 3rd-5th runners and Northville’s to counteract the margin between each of their top two’s. Speaking of those top two’s, Luke Campbell is in the middle of a breakout senior year. Has hovered around 16-flat at Cass Benton when he was typically in the 17’s there last year.”
Through two runners, Northville scored 14 to Brighton’s 30. For their 3rd through 5th, Brighton scored 63 to Northville’s 79. There are many paths to victory in cross country and one of the more common ones is through quality depth, especially in larger fields. This is where the race could be won in weeks to come.
Grand Haven
Week Three: “At a Bredeweg Invite chock full of the West Coast’s best D1/D2 teams, the Bucs attained a fairly clear victory. Of course, Seth Norder did what he had to do in order to win, but it’s the improvement and addition of a few parts that gives the GH team their strength. Plenty of experience and a new addition, Luka Hammond, navigating the mid-16 waters as a true freshman.”
Competing against the West Side’s best in the first OK Red Jamboree, the Bucs placed 4 in the top-8, 5 in the top-10, and cruised to a 17 point victory.
Oxford
Proved their worth at the weekend invites. After finishing third in the first OAA Red Jamboree, the Wildcats turned around and vanquished Metro Detroit’s best D1 teams at Holly. Lucas Ames had one of the more clutch races, coming in as their 4th boy in his first sub-17 ever.
Canton
The Green division may not be Spartan Elite, but you have a field full of D1 teams that love cross country – willing to travel from all over to compete on a Friday. The Chiefs scored 31 points in that field, smashing the top-20 and sub-17 with all 7 of their varsity runners.
Rank
Real Team
Region
Score
Last Week
1
Northville
6
160
1
2
Brighton
4
235
2
3
Grand Haven
1
329
3
4
Oxford
8
366
4
5
Canton
6
380
6
6
Ann Arbor Pioneer
5
440
5
7
Kalamazoo Central
3
447
10
8
White Lake Lakeland
7
474
11
9
Romeo
9
483
8
10
Forest Hills Central
3
512
17
11
Clarkston
8
537
12
12
Livonia Churchill
6
570
13
13
Macomb Dakota
9
601
9
14
Walled Lake Northern
7
622
7
15
Jenison
1
647
15
16
Plymouth
6
675
31
17
Troy
8
702
22
18
Saline
5
733
18
19
Utica
8
735
16
20
Bay City Western
2
755
24
21
Portage Central
3
778
26
22
Traverse City Central
2
779
14
23
Zeeland West
1
784
19
24
East Kentwood
3
825
21
25
Howell
4
866
25
26
Lake Orion
8
891
20
27
Rockford
1
898
27
GIRLS INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS
Rachel Forsyth
Week Three: “For the ratings, I really don’t pay attention to jamborees. Purely as a fan of the sport, check out her 16:44 at Bedford. Judging by the times, the course ran fair and even in one of the tougher leagues in the state, she gapped the field by two minutes.”
The dominance continued. Another considerable gap, this time by 45 seconds. Sub-17 on a Spartan course that for its lack of hills, never seems to run fast.
Selma Anderson
Week Three: “At MITCA last year, popped into the 17’s for the first time ever and this fall, she’s back for more. 17:52 in her debut at Under the Lights was more than 1.5 minutes faster than her 2022 debut.”
At a quick glance (and by my count – probably wrong), Selma had run at Riverside seven times prior to Saturday. None of those seven were sub-18, so girl had to make up for lost time and leave her mark on the course. 17:32 in the Session 2 race was good for a victory and massive personal best.
Victoria Garces
Week Three: “Continuing the momentum from the late seasons of cross and track. It’s been a win each time out and always by a considerable margin. She’s coming down to Holly on Saturday for her biggest test of the year.”
Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see her at Holly ☹.
Lucy Cook
Her Spartan Invite went much better than last year. An 18:10 was nearly a minute faster than the previous year. Rochester is taking the weekend off, we’ll see her return to action next week with an OAA White Jamboree and the Hansons Invitational.
Jayden Harberts
Getting back into the swing of things during her senior year. An 18:15 win at Willow was a season best.
Rank
Grade
Name
Team
Rating
Region
1
12
Rachel Forsyth
Ann Arbor Pioneer
183.1
5
2
12
Selma Anderson
Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills
167.5
3
3
11
Victoria Garces
H.H. Dow
158.7
2
4
11
Lucy Cook
Rochester
154.8
8
5
12
Jayden Harberts
Macomb Dakota
153.6
9
6
11
Cassie Garcia
Northville
152.7
6
7
10
Natalia Guaresimo
Romeo
152.2
9
8
10
Emmerson Clor
Romeo
150.9
9
9
12
Ella Christensen
Northville
150.4
6
10
12
Katie Watkins
H.H. Dow
149.8
2
11
12
Morgan Brown
Livonia Churchill
149.1
6
12
12
Clara James-Heer
Forest Hills Central
148.5
3
13
12
Lydia Bowman
Ann Arbor Pioneer
148.1
5
14
11
Valerie Beeck
Grand Haven
146.5
1
15
12
Carrigan Eberly
Brighton
146.2
4
16
12
Natalie Mello
Ann Arbor Pioneer
146.1
5
17
12
Layla Krayem
Livonia Stevenson
145.5
6
18
12
Payton Scheffler
Brownstown Woodhaven
145.0
5
19
11
Mallory Bigelow
Oxford
144.6
8
20
11
Violet Hrabovsky
Romeo
143.8
9
21
10
Leah Corby
Rochester Hills Stoney Creek
143.3
9
22
11
Grace Tykocki
Grand Blanc
142.8
4
23
11
Isabelle Becker
Bay City Western
142.1
2
24
12
Hannah DeRoeck
Lake Orion
141.3
8
25
12
Elaina (Laney) Alig
Saline
140.7
5
26
11
Ava Peters
Livonia Franklin
139.7
6
27
10
Lydia LaMarra
Brighton
139.4
4
28
12
Ella Kirkwood
Traverse City Central
139.3
2
29
12
Alexis Ball
Traverse City Central
138.4
2
30
10
Ava Porras
Holland West Ottawa
137.9
1
31
10
Addie Birkholz
Holland West Ottawa
137.1
1
32
10
Addison Herr
Bloomfield Hills
137.0
8
33
12
Allison Mayer
Ann Arbor Skyline
136.9
4
34
12
Shannon Gillahan
Okemos
136.9
2
35
12
Braydee Elling
Oxford
136.2
8
36
11
Annie Alkema
Kalamazoo Central
136.1
3
37
10
Audrey Hamilton
Troy
134.9
8
38
11
Alena Blumberg
Dexter
133.1
4
39
11
Lauren Walker
Holt
132.8
2
40
12
Mariah Belmont
Macomb Dakota
132.6
9
41
12
Sylvia Sanok Dufallo
Ann Arbor Pioneer
132.3
5
42
11
Chloe DeRidder
Grandville
132.2
1
43
11
Jordyn Klaasen
Zeeland West
132.1
1
44
12
Alisia Olteanu
Walled Lake Western
131.7
7
45
12
Paige McArdle
Davison
131.6
4
46
10
Ava Lawrence
East Kentwood
131.5
3
47
11
Grace Grupido
Fraser
131.3
9
48
9
Anyla Robinson
Detroit Cass Tech
131.3
5
49
9
Ava Goodman
Hartland
130.7
4
50
10
Abby Veit
Traverse City West
129.5
2
BOYS INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS
Seth Norder
Pulling an audible here. The ratings and numbers say one thing, logic and reason says other. The rules and methods I use to determine these are meant to work for the vast majority of competitors, but not those who exert just enough effort to win. Seth has won when necessary and not gone to the well when unnecessary. His 15:24 in the Spartan Elite race was enough to outlast all the other Division 1 runners.
Thomas Westphal
Came in right behind Norder in 15:26. His attitude and racing style has been consistent throughout, whether it’s been leading at Shepherd in 4:40, hanging with Benne through 1200, or as it was on Friday, mixing it up with the lead pack and holding on with whatever he had left.
Brendan Herger
Week Three: “Just chillin’ in this early season. He’s been in the 15’s in each of his three races thus far, one of those at the perennially tough Cass Benton and the other a win at Bath.”
Brendan took a much more patient approach to Spartan, covering the final 1782 meters (1.1) in 5:21, making up 16-17 seconds on Westphal and Norder. In the end, it was damn close, but not enough. Regardless, he’s right there with those two, probably possessing the best pure speed as well.
Vincent Guaresimo
Week Three: “Two 2nd’s and a 3rd, but think of his early season in terms of comparison. 16:26 to 15:52 at Lamplighter and 16:44 to 16:13 at Averill.”
Might not be winning, but man he’s consistent. Three big efforts, all the equivalent of a ~15:30.
Ethan Powell
Definitely taking The Leap in his junior year. He’s already been in the 15’s on five occasions, getting there even in weekday tri meets. His 15:36 on the soft Forest Akers turf was a good 40 seconds faster than last year.
Vishvaa Ravishankar
A 15:41 at Holly may have not been a personal best, though it was easily his best performance of this young season.
There may not be many meets from this mid-September weekend, but the ones that exist are huge and begin to tell the tale of the season. There’s been some movement in terms of the rankings, and if you pay attention to the hypothetical scores, you’ll see movement there even if a team’s ranking is the same.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Placed 7th 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.
East Grand Rapids
After missing Under the Lights, Drew Muller has returned to EGR’s benefit. Her 3rd 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.
Goodrich
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 3rd 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.
St. Joseph
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 4th of 18.
Rank
Team
Region
Score
Last Week
1
Grand Rapids Christian
11
64
1
2
Otsego
13
257
2
3
East Grand Rapids
12
268
8
4
Goodrich
15
299
4
5
St. Joseph
13
371
6
6
Frankenmuth
15
380
5
7
Zeeland East
11
394
3
8
St. Johns
14
427
7
9
Spring Lake
11
477
9
10
DeWitt
14
499
10
11
Freeland
15
541
11
12
Holland Christian
11
552
28
13
Middleville Thornapple-Kellogg
12
581
13
14
Hudsonville Unity Christian
11
656
14
15
Ludington
10
677
12
16
Alma
15
682
16
17
Croswell-Lexington
17
684
17
18
Petoskey
10
702
15
19
Owosso
14
705
18
20
Warren Regina
17
714
19
21
Armada
17
723
21
22
Dearborn Divine Child
16
753
20
23
Pontiac Notre Dame Prep
16
783
25
24
Forest Hills Eastern
12
785
22
25
Chelsea
18
812
23
26
Linden
16
862
24
27
Stevensville Lakeshore
13
906
27
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.
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.
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.
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.
Allendale
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.
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.
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.
Marshall
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 3rd Division, but even if Marshall was in the 2nd 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.
Rank
Team
Region
Score
Last Week
1
Forest Hills Eastern
12
177
1
2
East Grand Rapids
12
295
3
3
Allendale
11
312
4
4
Grand Rapids Christian
11
329
2
5
Marshall
12
425
6
6
Adrian
18
438
7
7
Alma
15
452
5
8
Holland Christian
11
488
21
9
Otsego
13
516
8
10
Sparta
10
528
10
11
Plainwell
13
551
12
12
Gladwin
10
560
9
13
Yale
17
586
11
14
St. Clair
17
653
14
15
Frankenmuth
15
654
13
16
Petoskey
10
662
15
17
Battle Creek Harper Creek
12
678
16
18
Spring Lake
11
752
18
19
Hamilton
11
756
19
20
Chelsea
18
787
23
21
Fremont
10
790
NR
22
Flint Powers Catholic
15
811
20
23
Pinckney
16
819
29
24
Clio
15
826
17
25
Freeland
15
848
27
26
DeWitt
14
860
24
27
Parma Western
14
861
25
GIRLS INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Natalie VanOtteren
Sub-18 at Ottawa Hills was the 3rd of her career and 40+ seconds faster than her ’22 effort on the banks of the Grand River.
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.
Rank
Grade
Name
Team
Rating
Region
1
12
Gail Vaikutis
St. Joseph
161.2
13
2
11
Elena Figueroa
St. Joseph
159.2
13
3
9
Ava Schafer
St. Johns
153.3
14
4
12
Natalie VanOtteren
Grand Rapids Christian
152.4
11
5
12
Drew Muller
East Grand Rapids
150.6
12
6
12
Meghan Ford
Mason
148.2
14
7
12
Mary Richmond
Frankenmuth
145.8
15
8
10
Emma Hoffman
Otsego
145.1
13
9
12
Naomi Nelson
Grand Rapids Christian
144.5
11
10
10
Lilah Poel
Grand Rapids Christian
144.3
11
11
10
Ellie Scholma
Grand Rapids Christian
144.0
11
12
11
Emma Drnek
Zeeland East
143.8
11
13
10
Katie Berkshire
Gaylord
143.2
10
14
11
Sadey Seyferth
East Grand Rapids
140.7
12
15
9
Jaelyn Ray
Pinckney
139.7
16
16
11
Sophy Skeels
Adrian
139.6
18
17
9
Clara Kaczor
Freeland
139.4
15
18
12
Logan Brazee
Otsego
138.8
13
19
11
Natalia DeMea
Chelsea
138.5
18
20
11
Eva Thompson
Croswell-Lexington
137.9
17
21
12
Allison Kuzma
Zeeland East
137.4
11
22
11
Kamryn Lauinger
Goodrich
137.4
15
23
11
Summer Brower
Ludington
137.2
10
24
12
Jenna Pilachowski
Monroe Jefferson
136.8
18
25
11
Ezgi Kurt
Alma
136.4
15
26
10
Natalie Foltz
Frankenmuth
136.3
15
27
12
Emily Tomes
Grand Rapids Catholic Central
136.1
11
28
9
Johanna Mulder
Holland
135.9
11
29
11
Ava Crews
Middleville Thornapple-Kellogg
135.8
12
30
12
Payton Holtz
Grand Rapids Christian
134.0
11
31
12
Emma DeVries
GR West Michigan Aviation
133.6
12
32
12
Camille DeCola
Marshall
133.0
12
33
12
Anastee Davis
Adrian
131.4
18
34
12
Abby Young
St. Johns
131.2
14
35
12
Clara Fletcher
St. Johns
130.6
14
36
11
Layla Jordan
Goodrich
130.5
15
37
12
Cecilia Ortega
Carleton Airport
128.2
18
38
10
Berkley Holtz
Sturgis
128.0
13
39
11
Kayla Williams
DeWitt
127.8
14
40
9
Caroline Randall
Hastings
127.7
12
41
9
Lucy Conzelmann
Frankenmuth
127.6
15
42
12
Tatum Dykstra
Fruitport
126.3
11
43
9
Ayda Skeels
Adrian
125.8
18
44
11
Mea D’Agostino
Orchard Lake St. Mary’s
125.7
16
45
10
Linnea Paige
Fremont
125.3
10
46
11
Preslee Perkins
Stevensville Lakeshore
125.2
13
47
11
Maria Nunning
Pontiac Notre Dame Prep
125.0
16
48
9
Olivia Hollebeek
Holland Christian
124.8
11
49
11
Madison Johnson
Paw Paw
124.7
13
50
11
Cami Kraai
Whitehall
124.4
10
BOYS INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS
Connell Alford
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
Solomon Kwartowitz
Hung in there pretty well for his first real huge effort of the season. A 15:32 in Spartan Elite earned Kwartowitz a 7th place (5th amongst Michiganders) and a massive personal best.
Alex Thole
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.
Michigan XC Speed Ratings 