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THE SUMMER PREVIEW

Accomplishments & Accolades

• 1600m – 4:26
• 3200m – 9:16
• 5k (XC) – 15:44

• 27^th Place – D2 State
• Region 13 Champion
• 2^nd Place – Allegan County
• 3^rd Place – Wolverine Conference
• 11^th Place – D2 State 3200m
• Wolverine Conference & Region 14 3200m Champion
• 2^nd Place – Wolverine Conference 1600m

Ratings Throughout the Years

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Rating	Meet	Date	Year
11	Henry Cox	15:52.7	Plainwell	196.4	Division 2 State	4-Nov	2023
11	Henry Cox	15:56.1	Plainwell	196.0	Region 13	28-Oct	2023
11	Henry Cox	16:37.9	Plainwell	188.0	Allegan County	20-Oct	2023
11	Henry Cox	15:44.2	Plainwell	190.9	Wolverine Conference	17-Oct	2023
11	Henry Cox	16:26.6	Plainwell	187.8	Allegan	7-Oct	2023
11	Henry Cox	16:07.8	Plainwell	191.1	Otsego Bulldog	30-Sep	2023
11	Henry Cox	16:36.3	Plainwell	189.2	Bangor	23-Sep	2023
11	Henry Cox	16:05.3	Plainwell	195.2	Ottawa Hills	15-Sep	2023
11	Henry Cox	16:57.8	Plainwell	188.1	Delton Kellogg	7-Sep	2023
11	Henry Cox	16:07.8	Plainwell	192.4	SW Rustbuster	30-Aug	2023
11	Henry Cox	17:27.5	Plainwell	194.2	Big Hill	22-Aug	2023
Grade	Name	Time	Team	Rating	Meet	Date	Year
10	Henry Cox	17:23.0	Plainwell	173.3	Division 2 State	5-Nov	2022
10	Henry Cox	17:41.6	Plainwell	162.5	Region 13	29-Oct	2022
10	Henry Cox	18:17.0	Plainwell	158.0	Wolverine Conference	18-Oct	2022
10	Henry Cox	17:40.1	Plainwell	157.6	Allegan	8-Oct	2022
10	Henry Cox	17:37.6	Plainwell	163.5	Otsego Bulldog	1-Oct	2022
10	Henry Cox	18:01.3	Plainwell	158.9	Ottawa Hills	16-Sep	2022
10	Henry Cox	18:21.2	Plainwell	160.3	Delton Kellogg	8-Sep	2022
10	Henry Cox	18:10.8	Plainwell	157.4	SW Rustbuster	31-Aug	2022
Grade	Name	Time	Team	Rating	Meet	Date	Year
9	Henry Cox	18:25.8	Plainwell	145.4	Region 12	30-Oct	2021
9	Henry Cox	18:48.7	Plainwell	140.4	Allegan County	22-Oct	2021
9	Henry Cox	19:10.2	Plainwell	137.6	Wolverine Conference	19-Oct	2021
9	Henry Cox	19:39.8	Plainwell	133.4	Wolverine Paw Paw	12-Oct	2021
9	Henry Cox	18:41.8	Plainwell	139.4	Allegan	9-Oct	2021
9	Henry Cox	18:43.8	Plainwell	144.1	Otsego Bulldog	2-Oct	2021
9	Henry Cox	19:13.0	Plainwell	131.3	Bangor	25-Sep	2021
9	Henry Cox	19:24.6	Plainwell	136.1	Ottawa Hills	17-Sep	2021
9	Henry Cox	19:56	Plainwell	114.7	SW Rustbuster	1-Sep	2021
9	Henry Cox	21:25.0	Plainwell	107.0	Viking Stampede	20-Aug	2021

The Rundown

Just who is this cat? That’s the question I’ve been asking myself. With many of the names on these lists, I’ve seen them for years and can easily rattle off a few anecdotes. For Henry Cox, the name was drawing a blank, which can only mean one thing:

A chart. Yep, dramatic progression coming out of his third year of high school. After a little introduction to the sport, Henry’s freshman year consisted of ratings that hovered around 140 (19-flat equivalent). A year later, the ratings stayed steady near 160 (18-flat equivalent), before a big bounce at State. Then this past fall, even more of a step forward. Henry hunkered down in the 190’s and once again ran some of his better races of the year at season’s end.

The progression is palpable and it’s not just evident in cross. Track too saw considerable breaks in time. These might even be more dramatic than the fall versions, 5:26 to 4:26 and 11:43 to 9:16, each in a two-year span.

Will the progress ever end? Doubtful.

SUMMER PREVIEW

Last Year

Summer
Mid-Season
Final Projections
The Result

Boys

1. Brighton (2^nd)
2. Dexter (13^th)
3. Ann Arbor Skyline (26^th)

Girls

1. Brighton (4^th)
2. Davison (14^th)
3. Ann Arbor Skyline (17^th)

Rough one here! Davison’s girls and the perennially underrated Skyline Eagles came through.

Top 27 Teams

Boys

Top Ten – Brighton
#22 – Dexter

Girls

Top Ten – Hartland
Top Ten – Brighton
#15 – Dexter
#22 – Ann Arbor Skyline

Projected Scores

Boys

Place	Team	Projected Score
1	Brighton	30
2	Dexter	84
3	Howell	126
4	Ann Arbor Skyline	139
5	Holly	161
6	Davison	192
7	Hartland	200
8	Flushing	201
9	Grand Blanc	213
10	Fenton	244
11	Lapeer	270
12	Swartz Creek	314
13	Jackson	323

Girls

Place	Team	Projected Score
1	Hartland	54
2	Brighton	60
3	Dexter	79
4	Ann Arbor Skyline	98
5	Grand Blanc	127
6	Davison	175
7	Lapeer	210
8	Fenton	221
9	Holly	233
10	Howell	280
11	Flushing	312
12	Swartz Creek	358

Top Runners

Boys

Place	Grade	Name	Team
1	10	Jack MacGregor	Howell
2	12	Tyler Brock	Brighton
3	12	Elijah Forbord	Brighton
4	12	Caleb Snyder	Dexter
5	12	Jacob Essenmacher	Lapeer
6	12	Brady Millington	Brighton
7	12	James Latstetter	Flushing
8	12	Tyler Outlaw	Brighton
9	12	Lucas Wood	Howell
10	12	Julian Linebaugh	Dexter
11	11	Zach Wyderko	Brighton
12	10	Blake Kulesza	Brighton
13	9	Gavin Katic	Fenton
14	12	Drake Wallace	Howell
15	11	Griffin Good	Flushing
16	12	Maxwell Merrill	Grand Blanc
17	12	Elijah Smith	Dexter
18	12	Jacob Huntoon	Fenton
19	10	Trevor Murphy	Holly
20	11	Bruno Cifaldi	Ann Arbor Skyline
21	12	Scott Smith	Dexter
22	10	Broden Ladd	Holly
23	11	Jonny Striler	Swartz Creek
24	11	Noah Linstrom	Davison
25	12	Jack Costa	Hartland

Jack MacGregor

Tyler Brock

Elijah Forbord

Just missed the MIS podium with a 31^st place finish. Would be disappointing for many, but consider that the 15:45 was his first second sub-16 ever and Elijah was projected at 67^th.

Caleb Snyder

Took awhile for the running genes to kick into full gear, but when they have, they’ve been fun to watch. First sub-16 in the fall and a move from 9:54 to 9:33 this past spring.

Jacob Essenmacher

Here as always for the career arc. First race ever over 26:00, by the middle of his junior year, Jacob had dropped 10 FULL minutes.

Brady Millington

Brighton always gets kids running under 10-flat in the 3200m in the spring and 2024 was year two of Brady hitting that mark.

James Latstetter

Always love seeing folks from non-traditional schools stick their nose in there. After placing in the 40’s the previous two years, James moved into 10^th here as a junior.

Tyler Outlaw

Feel like I could write the same few sentences for every Brighton kid. Sub-16 late, sub-10 in track. There’s a reason the Bulldogs are always in D1 contention.

Girls

Place	Grade	Name	Team
1	12	Elle Bissett	Brighton
2	11	Lydia LaMarra	Brighton
3	10	Becca Van Lent	Ann Arbor Skyline
4	12	Grace Tykocki	Grand Blanc
5	9	Hannah DePestel	Hartland
6	12	Alena Blumberg	Dexter
7	10	Ava Goodman	Hartland
8	9	Morgan Mahoney	Hartland
9	11	Nevaeh Polovina	Davison
10	10	Kodie Snyder	Dexter
11	12	Annabel O’Haver	Dexter
12	10	Maddie Lindley	Holly
13	10	Irie Scrase	Ann Arbor Skyline
14	12	Ayla Balazer	Ann Arbor Skyline
15	11	Elliana Neuer	Hartland
16	11	Juliet Lewis	Brighton
17	10	Brooklyn Wiltse	Davison
18	9	Leah Humphrey	Grand Blanc
19	9	Addison Trammel	Hartland
20	11	Maizie Cavanaugh	Brighton
21	11	Cayla Marzban	Brighton
22	10	Becca vanLent	Ann Arbor Skyline
23	12	Addison Bruckman	Dexter
24	11	Selena White	Brighton
25	11	Courtney Lince	Brighton

Elle Bissett

Lydia LaMarra

Becca van Lent

Grace Tykocki

Great discrepancy between her D1 State projections and her place. Grace placed 10^th there, 15 spots higher than her projected spot. I guess when you run a good 45 seconds faster than most of your races, you’ll shock the numbers and you’ll shock anyone in the state. Incredible growth throughout time too, as the 2021 Grace spent much of her fall in the 22’s.

Alena Blumberg

Moving from Dexter to play ball at Spring Arbor, but this sophomore All-Stater’s got one more year of cross left.

THE SUMMER PREVIEW

Accomplishments & Accolades

• 800m – 2:20
• 1600m – 5:03
• 3200m – 10:42
• 5k (XC) – 18:51

• 6^th Place – OK Red
• 7^th Place – Region 1
• 8^th Place – D1 State 3200m
• 10^th Place – D1 State 1600m
• 2^nd Place – OK Red 1600/3200m

Ratings Throughout the Years

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Rating	Meet	Date	Year
9	Daisy Cox	19:20.4	Rockford	127.9	Division 1 State	4-Nov	2023
9	Daisy Cox	19:03.1	Rockford	131.6	Region 1	28-Oct	2023
9	Daisy Cox	18:51.0	Rockford	137.0	OK Red Conference	19-Oct	2023
9	Daisy Cox	19:22.4	Rockford	130.5	Portage	7-Oct	2023
9	Daisy Cox	19:03.3	Rockford	137.2	Allendale Falcon	30-Sep	2023
9	Daisy Cox	19:46.0	Rockford	121.7	Cedar Springs	23-Sep	2023
9	Daisy Cox	19:24.7	Rockford	130.4	Ottawa Hills	15-Sep	2023
9	Daisy Cox	19:58.4	Rockford	122.2	Bath	9-Sep	2023
9	Daisy Cox	20:06.8	Rockford	122.4	Under the Lights v2	25-Aug	2023
9	Daisy Cox	20:33.5	Rockford	118.2	Portage Early Bird	18-Aug	2023

The Rundown

There are freshmen that carved themselves a prominent role in XC. Hanging at the front of State Finals races, helping their teams win titles.

Then there are some in which development took a little longer, but are poised to make an impact this year and in the coming seasons.

To view Daisy’s transformation that occurred during track, just look at how she performed relative to her OK Red peers. In XC jamborees, she averaged a 6^th place finish (10, 4, 6). At the conference track meet, two 2^nd place finishes in the 1600m and 3200m, even after a 4×8 that likely put some hurt into her legs. Even more dramatically, her 8^th place finish in the D1 3200m wouldn’t have been possible for the November Daisy who placed 76^th at State.

Rockford is back and a contender for the podium in November. With a quickly progressing girl at the front, the Rams will have no choice but to follow.