Joe is another example of the emphasis on year to year progress
He was above 18:00 as a freshman, ran into the 17’s as a sophomore, and then had his breakout in 2019
Saline has always been transparent with the work their athletes are putting in, and if you dig back into last summer, Joe had plenty of time on his feet
Which resulted in opening with his first foray into the 16’s
That continued into October, with multiple sub-16:10’s
And if you take a glance at the summer work ethic, he is once again hitting the roads with major volume
24. Londyn Swenson, Plymouth
Funny how we see so many duos in this list, but Londyn and another Plymouth girl are another two that will be at the front of many races this season
Jumping off an already impressive freshman year, she’s racked up a few accomplishments the past two years
Twice top-3 in Wayne County
Twice All-Region
Twice top-5 in the KLAA
All-State this past year
That All-State was an especially great performance, other Plymouth runners may have struggled, but she matched her regional time in much, much tougher conditions
Plymouth will be a great team this fall and having Londyn as one of the better #2 runners in the state is a major help
Ottawa Hills is always a tough team to rate, they run such few races, but they always have some fast girls
Due to the low number of races, one subpar performance can underrate a runner, and we see that with Adit
Her top performances are up there with anyone, sub-19 on a hot Spartan course is always impressive (and she’s done that in back to back years)
She’s been All-Region and All-State in back to back years as well
Her track times suggest that mid-season swoon was just an aberration, having recorded a 10:42 at GVSU’s Elite 3200m
25. Jack Pennewell, St. Clair
The year to year ratings suggest someone inconsistent, but Jack suffered a stress fracture at the end of the 2018 track season, derailing his summer training going into his 10th grade year
He really turned on the jets at the end of his sophomore track season and continued that into XC
He turned that into some blazing performances, going sub-16 at both Eastwood Beach and Wagener Park (and funnily, in conversation with his coach last summer, I predicted he’d be 15:45 at an Algonac… close)
State didn’t go so hot, but the potential is there, exhibited by many races last year
Jeremy has been deeply committed to running ever since 8th grade where he decided that we wanted to live up to his potential and be the best runner he could be. Ever since then he has educated himself on everything he needs to know about running in order to orient himself toward his goals, and he shares this information with all of his teammates, myself included. He is constantly talking about and viewing races, he’s truly devoted.
Michael Williams, Lapeer (twin brother)
After a solid freshman campaign in XC, showed major progress that next spring in track, running marks of 4:44/9:59
Continued that progression to cross, nabbing victories at Mariner, Mike Jackson, Marauder, and County Press
Struggled a bit late, but still managed to match his PR (16:13) at Regionals
Reminds me of a young Steve Magness, writing his own training, learning as much as he can about the sport
26. Abbie Haupt, Livonia Churchill
Abbie is the type of athlete any coach dreams to work with. Last year as a junior in XC, she finally broke out of her shell and earned All-State honors, something I knew that was coming all along. She has now turned a page in her training and works at an extremely high level to be the best runner and teammate she can be! I cannot wait to watch her shake things up during her senior year at the front of each race. She has a great future ahead of her!
Coach Kroll
Abbie is another one who has steadily improved, each year knocking off another mark (sophomore, sub-20; junior, sub-19)
Her breakthrough race this past season came at Wayne County, where she PRed by over 0:40 and notched her first Top 10 finish there
That spurred further progress, including running 27 seconds faster on that same course and narrowly sprinting to an All-State spot
Has a very good chance of being the first Churchill girl to break 18:00 in a long while…
Michigan XC Speed Ratings 