It’s taken a few years, but Peter has finally reached the potential he showed as a freshman
In that freshman year, he made people take notice with a 5th place finish at Oakland County, then came back and broke 16:00 at MIS, finishing 17th
MIS is his home ground, in each year he’s either matched or run his season best there, despite running objectively faster courses throughout the year
This past fall, he added a few more accomplishments – Regional and Oakland County crowns
He hung right in there in the record-breaking New Balance 3200m, crossing the line in 9:01
At D1 State, he put a huge scare into Riley Hough, opening up a major gap on the penultimate lap, only to be overtaken in the final 100m
He’ll throw everything at Riley this next year to get that state title – and we’ll be here to watch
How she balances it all, I have no clue
Clara somehow finds time to train, run, race, cycle, swim, all at an elite level
She’s arguably the top triathlete for her age group in the country, winning the USA Triathlon Draft-Legal Duathlon and Youth Elite races back in May
Yes, that was in May, in the middle of a track season where she went under 11:00 on seven separate occasions
One of those seven was a 3rd place finish in the D1 3200m, where she hung tough on a blistering pace set by Audrey DaDamio
On the cross course, she was a steady performer in the low-18’s, her season culminating in a 6th place finish at State
Between Clara, Drew Muller, and Madelyn Frens, there will be some absolute battles in the Grand Rapids area
This spring, Jeremy got his first real chance to prove himself at the state level and he was able to show he belonged
He was contact traced last fall (in a questionable case – and I’m more cautious than most), and thus, missed Pre-Regionals, Regionals, and couldn’t qualify for State
It’s a shame, because he established the late season speed that plagued him the season before, his October races were either victories or running extremely fast
But he was able to scratch together two more sub-16 performances at the Meet of Champions and RunningLane
This past spring, his presence was finally felt at the State level, with a 3rd place 3200m finish at MITS and 10th/11th place finishes in the 1600/3200m at D1 State
And may have finished higher in the 3200m if he didn’t have a race under his belt, but we can appreciate the effort in doubling to try to achieve All-State in both
He’s a student both in the classroom and of the sport (he’s shooting high in his college choices and he predicted the Top 8 here in order), and I can’t wait to see him mix it up at MIS
The second half of the second sibling duo on here (Alyson and Audrianna Enns)
Rachel is in the same line as her sisters, and may end up being the best of the bunch on the shorter stuff
She’s broken 60 in the quarter in a relay split, was part of a state-winning 4×8, and nabbed a 3rd place finish in the 800m later that same day
A few weeks later, she went 4:48 at the Illinois Meet of Champions
That’s not to say she’s subpar at the longer distances, she went sub-18 with so many victories last fall
SEC Red, D1 State, Pre-Regional, Meet of Champions were all in the 17’s, with wins at all but State and Meet of Champions
Her 2nd place finish at MIS is the highest returning finish in Division 1, and we know with that speed that she will be a threat in any race where it’s close
Where: Allendale HS. I was pleasantly surprised by the course here. Normally when you get a course on school grounds, it goes around baseball fields, is flat, boring. This had a nice little back portion away from the crowds, but those crowds still could follow the race.
2020 Boys: Rockford, Traverse City Central, Traverse City West
2020 Girls: Traverse City Central, Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills, Forest Hills Central
Top 25 Boys Teams: Rockford (4), Lowell (13), Grand Haven (11)
Top 25 Girls Teams: Grand Haven (8), Rockford (10), Forest Hills Central (11)
Top 50 Boys (Division 1): Benne Anderson (7), Colin Graham (23), Klay Grant (24), Mitchell Goerge (31), Nolan Clark (32), Zac Zemba (33), Juan David Hernandez (35), TJ Mellema (40), Cole Weston (43)
Top 50 Girls (Division 1): Clara James-Heer (2), Selma Anderson (8), Allie Arnsman (14), Allison Cornell (16), Valerie Beeck (32), Adit Dau (36), Annika Sandman (37), Peyton Ludwig (50)
Michigan XC Speed Ratings 