Michigan XC Speed Ratings

William finished his freshman season on a roll and has been on the ascent ever since
He’s gradually gotten better every year, going from breaking 17:00 in 9^th grade to breaking 16:00 this past year
One of the top returners in Oakland County, where he looks to best his 6^th place finish last year
Despite those quick times, he’s been on the wrong end of a very tough region and missed qualifying for MIS in 2018 and 2019
He pulled through this year, finishing 6^th
It would be easy to just be happy to be there, but he ran one of his better races of the year on that first Saturday in November
His track season showed similar progress, where he dropped nearly a minute from his previous best (10:35 to 9:43)

I always feel like I have to do some convincing when I give notice to the incoming freshman, so here you go:

Undefeated in her cross country season, which is impressive given that she had to go against her Saline teammates
- Those Saline teammates (they’re STACKED at the 9^th grade level) have multiple sub-5:40/11:40’s to their names
Ran 9:15 at Portage in 2019 as a 7^th grader, right along with Helen Sachs (who ran a 10:44 3200m this year) and a similar time to notable names such as Madelyn Frens, Drew Muller, Emily Tomes, amongst others
Middle school rating is very similar to Jayden Harberts and Katie Watkins, two girls that broke 19:00 this past season

The Top Tens: Division 2, #9

2020 Season: 3rd TVC Overall, 1st Pre-Region 30, 3rd Region 15, 21st D2 State

2020 Season: 3rd Greater Flint, 1st FML (Stars), 3rd Pre-Region 31, 3rd Region 16, 22nd D2 State

After following Abbie Draheim’s lead, it’s now Anna’s turn to take over as the lead girl for East Lansing
She was solid as a freshman, breaking 20:00, but really established some consistency as a sophomore
Unfortunately did not get to compete at State, but she performed admirably during championship season and would have been a contender for an All-State spot
Took a leap forward in track and it wasn’t just a few outlier races – multiple sub 5:10/11:20 efforts

Noah quietly had a great cross country season, with only one defeat coming before mid-October, culminating in an 8^th place finish at MIS
For a kid that’s run under 17:00 all three years, he’s flown under my radar for the first 2.5 years of his career
But he exploded this track season under the guidance of Coach Thiebaut
He set major PBs – dropping from 5:03 to 4:20 and 10:33 to 9:33 in two years time
It’s not just the times, he’s shown up in major races with a few conference titles, winning the Cadillac News 1600m (I’m sure Paul McMullen loved watching down upon this), and narrowly missed a state title in the 3200m