Okay, I wanted to put one of these out earlier this month, it just didn’t happen. But this was prime time. Michigan hosted three straight meets. On Friday, Saginaw Valley pulled in a great number of in-state teams. Small schools traveled to Defiance, Ohio Northern. Oakland’s girls set some records at IU. At this point in the season, we have a fairly good picture of who’s doing what at the collegiate level.
To recap, here’s the scoring method: “The scoring method follows the MITCA Power Rankings with a bit of my own twist. Four individual indoor distance events (800, Mile, 3k, 5k). The top 3 runners from each team score, with three events maximum for an individual. The scoring will go 90 places deep, with 90 points for the fastest mark, 1 point for the 90th fastest mark. Results come from TFRRS and are the fastest mark by an individual during this season.”
This isn’t the end all be all of distance running in college or the sole determination of which team is performing better. For example, Michigan or MSU haven’t entered anyone in a 5k. When they do, they’ll move up. It’s debatable if the 600m is a mid-distance event or a sprint, if so, they’d move up via Miles Brown, Dubem Amene, and Cole Johnson.
Anyhow, here’s how it scored out through this past weekend:
I truly appreciate those that have been supporters throughout my journey. I’m still trying to figure out what to focus on, themes, formatting, and what not. Events in the sport will dictate much of what I write and if you see anything of note or want your name out there, I’d love to share your story. This is a learning experience for me, cross country season is so much calculating, so little thought given towards writing. So if you have any feedback, let me know. But first, get to reading…
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Season Begins in Earnest
I’ve put together a little list of athletes with Michigan connections that are competing in the Millrose Games. The meet, held at the Armory in New York City, is the first prominent competition of the pro season, but is also a chance for some of our younger athletes to race on a national scale. NBC will broadcast the Games at 2:30pm EST on Saturday and I’ll try to be all over Twitter throughout.
For what it’s worth, Hobbs Kessler’s 3:34.36 1500m converted to approximately a 3:51.5, putting him right in the mix of that field.
Hansons Kickoff in the Ancient City
As your Hansons insider, I feel obliged to share my intimate knowledge. Without getting too too intimate, of course. Down in Florida, the Hansons 10k crew competed in the Matanzas 5k in St. Augustine. (Side note: I love the name of their running club that puts on the race, the Ancient City Road Runners. Historic and creative, well done.) The race is always a quick one, typical winning times in the 14:00/16:00 range. Natosha Rogers captured the womens crown in 15:50, while Zach Panning got nipped at the line by David Bett (a Kenyan who’s run 13:06 in the past) in 14:00. The race was a kickstart to a winter segment that’ll include stops at the Windy City Classic and The Ten.
The 10k group is alternating Florida training blocks with another group that is focusing on the half-marathon and later, a full marathon. That group will set to the streets in a few weeks at the Rock N’ Roll half in New Orleans and contains Michigan HS/college alums Ben Kendell and Megan O’Neil.
Rankings Rankings Rankings
Early this week, the first batch of the USTFCCCA indoor rankings were released. Notable inclusions are both Grand Valley squads, Mens ranked #1 in the nation, Womens, #2. The Saginaw Valley women come in at #13, Calvin women at #19, and Hillsdale women at #20. Regional-wise, Michigan teams populate many of the Great Lakes lists. It would be nice to see these rankings come to fruition in a meet, but these sort of area and regional championships are unbeknownst to colleges. That’s why I adore county and area meets in high school. Rankings are found here.
Signings Signings Signings
Another week, another slew of college signings! Here are some of the notable ones I’ve come upon:
Ryan O’Rourke (Milford > Spring Arbor) Kyle Sweeney (Rockford > Taylor) Mason Kohloff (Otsego > Grand Rapids CC) Chase Brown (Otsego > Colorado Mesa) Sarah Storey (Chippewa Hills > Central Michigan) Emily Plouff (Fraser > Ferris State) Jessica Durkee (Middleville-Thornapple Kellogg > Ferris State)
I support everyone equally and truly believe when one stacks successful training cycle after successful training cycle, the ability to attain glory at the college level is available for everyone. But I’m especially intrigued by Storey, Brown, and Plouff. Plouff has split her time with soccer, Storey has made a leap in the past year, and Brown completed his first full cross season since his freshman year. I believe there’s some untapped potential with all three.
Other Happenings and Anecdotes
Enjoyed listening to Sue Parks (Eastern Michigan Director of T&F/XC) on the Gill Connections podcast. I didn’t know she ran for a Downriver track club in her youth. What was especially enlightening was the different adaptations to training, logistics, and recruiting along the way. Eastern Michigan definitely adheres to a unique recruiting strategy among similar schools in the state, reaching out internationally and throughout the state. For a school of its size, the Eagles hold their weight quite well.
Maddi Leigh was named Horizon League Athlete of the Week for her record-breaking performance in the 800m. At the Gladstein Invitational at Indiana University, both Leigh and Ashley Quinn dipped under Oakland’s previous school record, running 2:12.15 and 2:12.84 respectively. Currently, the two hold the fastest times in the Horizon League. A few other Michigan athletes picked up Athlete of the Week honors, Miles Brown and Cassidy Henshaw in the Big Ten, Anna Martin (Cornerstone) in the NAIA, and Luke Pohl (Cornerstone) in the WHAC.
I’ve been “doing my own research”, a scary phrase in times like these, on the relationship between discus and wind direction. A few weeks ago, at the LAB, our outstanding athlete, Zane Forist (Carson City-Crystal) tossed a 207’ throw. I’ve learned that a slight headwind, not a tailwind, helps with distance and a crosswind can aid if the disc is fading or slicing. My estimate, derived from here is that we might see 10-15 feet added in ideal conditions. Looking for feedback here too, although we’ll probably see Zane pop another massive throw before we compute the math.
Jeff Hollobaugh of michtrack.org updated his All-Time lists for alumni from our state. I enjoyed sifting through the odd events not often (or not at all) contested at the high school level. Marathon, hammer throw, 400m hurdles, you name it. Keeping track of the history is an enormous task, but beneficial to current athletes. If you see someone that’s walked in your shoes able to compete at the national and Olympic level, that adds a bit of incentive and confidence to keep with the sport and reach those heights.
The Traverse City Record-Eagle ran a nice piece on Kendall Schopieray’s commitment to Ball State. I love the intricate web of coaches and athletes. Angelina Ramos coached Trevor Thiebaut at SVSU, Thiebaut coaches Schopieray at Cadillac, Ramos is back in the Midwest at Ball State and signed Schopieray.
Missed in my Houston recap last week was acknowledgment of August Pappas. The Chelsea/Michigan grad finished 48th in half-marathon with a personal best of 1:06:49.
Mentioned on the Epic Races Instagram page, their Ann Arbor Marathon has been chosen as the RRCA State Championship Marathon.
Correction on last week’s newsletter. I erroneously mentioned that Parker Raymond qualified for NCAA Indoor with a 1:48.07, this should have been NCAA Outdoor.
I’ll always tell customers that it takes three weeks of consistent training, day in day out, to form a habit. Here we are three weeks in and I won’t say I’m at habit status yet, but I’m starting to settle into a routine.
For the time being, the newsletter will be posted both on my website and sent via email, eventually I’ll switch to email only. You can sign up for the weekly emails here: https://michiganrunning.substack.com/
Michiganders in Houston
Our state was well-represented on Sunday’s record-setting morning. Unless you’ve been wallowing for a week over the woes of Michigan State basketball, Jim Harbaugh, Matthew Stafford, or Michigan basketball, you’re surely aware of what went down in Texas. Keira D’Amato and Sara Hall were ageless wonders, each racing to an American Record in their respective full and half marathons. Our Michigan contingent shared some similarities as well. Time spent away from the sport and full-time work life can certainly hamper one’s running goals and dreams – but only if you let it. Here’s a few of the results that stood out to me:
Andrea Pomaranski, Wolverine Lake: 2:33:35, 10th Overall Female, 1st 35-39F
Nearly 10 years ago, Andrea was told by doctors that she should completely quit running. At the time, she had whittled her time down to 2:37 and had qualified for the 2012 Olympic Trials. After an osteoporosis diagnosis, her Trials dreams that year were shattered, but she was able to build back up and compete in the 2020 Trials. Her time here more than qualifies for a repeat appearance in the 2024 edition.
Kelli Smith, Grand Rapids: 2:34:09, 12th Overall Female, 2nd 20-24F
The former Cornerstone star has made a major leap post-collegiately. And that’s saying something given her accolades, 10x All-American and 9x WHAC Champion, both across a range of distances. The NAIA is unique in that the marathon is contested as part of the national championship, this is where Smith gained her initial experience, in 2019, finishing 4th in the country with a 3:14. But you can see the tremendous drop in time here, 40 minutes. Have I mentioned she works full-time as a teacher?
Ben Anderson, Ann Arbor: 2:37:08, 109th Overall Male, 5th 20-24M
Ben competed for MRUN while attending the University of Michigan.
John VerHagen, Royal Oak: 2:40:16, 131st Overall Male, 7th 20-24M
Friday night at the store, I was paid a visit by John, and he relayed that his goal was to break 2:40. It appears he fell slightly short, but I believe he still grabbed a PR.
Rich Power, Rochester Hills: 3:02:58, 6th 55-59M
Another ageless wonder.
Shipping Up to Cambridge
As we return back from winter break, the college signings are gaining momentum. Among the notable ones (and if I missed you – reach out):
Jeremy Williams (Lapeer > Harvard). Huge fan of this one. First, the Ivy League is a highly competitive conference and there is an aura with winning a Hep title. Second, for many athletes, running isn’t the final destination, a career is necessary. Can’t get much better than Harvard in terms of jumpstarting a career. Jeremy is obviously talented and motivated enough to compete there. State Meets in cross country either were taken away from him, destroyed by COVID, or didn’t go his way. But he has a real shot of breaking 4:15/9:00 this spring. The question now is: will his brother follow?
Parker LaGro (Battle Creek Lakeview > GVSU)
Blake Chipman (Flushing > CMU)
Jason Fredricks (Byron Center > CMU)
Elise Book (Gaylord > Wheaton)
Taylor Imus (Portage Central > Lourdes)
Andrew Stern (Saline > Siena Heights)
Maddie Stern (Saline > Hope)
I think every level save NJCAA is represented here. Well done!
The Miles Brown Show
In just two meets, Miles Brown has shown himself to be the revelation of the indoor season. This should come as no surprise given his HS career. He was thrust upon us as sophomore, winning a state title in the 800m. At this past state meet, he dueled with Hobbs Kessler in both the 4×8 and 800m. The talent has always been there, the question is when would it show out? Viewing the entry list prior to the Simmons-Harvey Invitational, I saw the matchup with Brown and Parker Raymond (Rochester Adams) and knew it would be a hot heat. In search of an opportunity to run, Raymond transferred to Indiana last winter, a move that turned out in his favor. At the 2021 Big Ten Indoor Championships, he finished 7th in the 600m and in May, qualified for NCAA indoor with a blazing 1:48.07.
Anyhow, the race. You can see the final bit of the race here, before the final stretch, Raymond took it out hard with Brown on his tail (24.4 to 24.6, 50.1 to 50.6) before Miles took over in the final lap. 1:16.98, 6th fastest freshman ever, stadium record, meet record, Michigan record. And just glancing at this list, he’s very close to some prominent names, ahhh I won’t get ahead of myself.
Also good to see Cole Johnson come through on the final lap as well. His 1:17.98 is a great start to the season and a building block in the path to getting under 1:50.
Klaudia O’Malley (McBain, GVSU) was featured in this month’s edition of The Oval Magazine. The interview dives into her race at Nationals (2nd place) and her decision to attend Grand Valley. Flip to page 13 to read her words. And while you’re there, check out the rest of the publication!
The Boston Marathon field was released over the course of last week. With no London Marathon, Boston is the main race to point to between now and the World Championships. The field is a who’s who of American distance running right now (Seidel, Taylor, Hall, Fauble, Ward, Riley). There are some Michiganders in the bunch as well. Des Linden is back for another run, it’s hard to imagine there will be a Boston where she’s not a presence. Sydney Devore is also listed. Devore definitely fits the theme of a comeback story. She had run for the University of Florida for a bit, decided the fit wasn’t right for her, and was out of the sport for a while. She returned with a vengeance, winning the 2018 Pittsburgh Marathon in 2:32. She most recently competed in October’s Boston Marathon, coming in as the 32nd American woman with a time of 2:40.
Speaking of marathons, Marlette’s Riley Ford competed in the Museum of Aviation Marathon in Warner Robins, Georgia. After a disappointing finish in last year’s NAIA Championships, Riley wanted to have a successful experience in the final miles of the marathon distance. She started conservatively, going through the half in 1:38, but closed with a few sub-7’s, knocking out a 3:12:36. Hopefully there are some lessons learned that will serve her well in May.
The LAB has announced that they will be hosting the Midwest Invite on February 11th/12th. The meet is a bit different than our typical MITS meets. The entry fee will be a bit higher but the payoffs are more than worth it. Coverage by FloSports and auto qualifiers to New Balance Nationals.
Four athletes were named GLIAC Track & Field Athletes of the Week and all four attend Michigan schools. Alexa Keiser, Dillan Haviland, Alaina Omonode, and Myles Kerner all received the honors.
White Lake Lakeland’s Grace Stark was named National Athlete of the Week by the USTFCCCA. Her 7.86 in the 60m hurdles ranks third all-time amongst collegiate athletes.
If I missed anyone or any accomplishments, please know it wasn’t intentional. I’m making it a point to write down anything I see, however there is always the chance that I forget or skip over athletes. Please feel free to send me a message or email.
Michigan XC Speed Ratings 