Category: Uncategorized

Spring break week, a time to relax, find warm weather, and not compete in track meets.  Unless you’re in the Catholic League or a few schools in mid-Michigan.  There wasn’t much to report this week, but I did scour through results looking for any tiny breadcrumb of improvement.  The schedule does seem to pick up soon, we’ll have some Saturday meets where a few traditional powers will compete (Breckenridge, Shepherd, Heritage, amongst others), then will officially pick up the following week.  Anyway, here’s a few individuals that stood out:

Dominic Comfort, Macomb L’Anse Creuse

2018 Track – 2:32/5:42/12:01

2018 XC – 18:26, 122.7 rating

2019 Track – 5:25/11:14… 17 and 47 second improvements, respectively.

Henry Moran, Brother Rice

2018 Track – 2:11/5:07

2018 XC – 17:30 (Metro Beach), 157.3 rating

2019 Track – 2:08/5:01/11:32… I’d expect that 11:32 to drop if he runs it again and 17:30 to be a starting point next year, not a late season revelation

Natalie Wehner, Flint Powers Catholic

2018 XC – 21:52, -24.4 rating

2019 Track – 2:56/5:47… that 21:52 from XC was a 4 min. drop from the start of the season.  Surely her rating is deflated from early results and that mile time is legit.

Kelcee VanBuskirk, Caro

2018 XC – 22:37, 52.5 rating

2019 Track – 2:46/6:12/13:26… I think the 2:46 is the best time and the range is obviously there.  13:26 lets you know the endurance is there for drops this year and into XC.

 

Now that division cutoffs have been released, my current project is regional assignments.  I realize that regional sites change from year to year, but I’m working on a method to make them as fair as possible, taking into account distance, projections for the following year, and getting the best possible 27 teams to MIS.  From what I understand, MITCA does great work in this regard, but these are two of my favorite areas: geography and running.

The MHSAA released their XC divisions today, so I had to make some adjustments.  Here they are:

DIVISION 4

RANK	BOYS	GIRLS
1	Breckenridge	Beal City
2	East Jordan	Lansing Christian
3	Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart	Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart
4	Unionville-Sebewaing	Adrian Lenawee Christian
5	Carson City-Crystal	Hillsdale Academy
6	Concord	Hudson
7	Sandusky	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian
8	Potterville	East Jordan
9	Beal City	Pittsford
10	Cass City	Ubly
11	Buckley	Johannesburg-Lewiston
12	Muskegon Western Mich. Christian	Breckenridge
13	Mayville	Carson City-Crystal
14	Mancelona	Sand Creek
15	Saranac	St. Philip Catholic Central
16	Kalamazoo Christian	Ellsworth
17	Montabella	Fowler
18	Petersburg-Summerfield	Morenci
19	Lawrence	Leland
20	Johannesburg-Lewiston	Concord
21	Morrice	Plymouth Christian Academy
22	Mason County Eastern	Maple City Glen Lake
23	Jackson Preparatory	Owendale-Gagetown
24	Bridgman	Clarkston Everest Collegiate
25	Rochester Hills Lutheran NW	Morrice

DIVISION 3

RANK	BOYS	GIRLS
1	Saugatuck	Hart
2	Hanover-Horton	Pewamo-Westphalia
3	Pewamo-Westphalia	St. Louis
4	Charlevoix	Shepherd
5	Hart	Traverse City St. Francis
6	Caro	Clare
7	Traverse City St. Francis	Harbor Springs
8	Shepherd	Benzie Central
9	Grandville Calvin Christian	Ithaca
10	St. Louis	Stockbridge
11	Bloomingdale	Kent City
12	Benzie Central	Roscommon
13	Sanford-Meridian	Grandville Calvin Christian
14	Bronson	Charlevoix
15	Grand Rapids Covenant Christian	Galesburg-Augusta
16	Onsted	Byron
17	Harbor Springs	Bad Axe
18	Kalkaska	McBain
19	Clare	Kingsley
20	New Lothrop	Blissfield
21	Madison Heights Bishop Foley	Bloomingdale
22	Erie Mason	Reese
23	Bad Axe	Holland Black River
24	Clinton	Saugatuck
25	Watervliet	Quincy

DIVISION 2

RANK	BOYS	GIRLS
1	Fremont	East Grand Rapids
2	Haslett	Petoskey
3	Chelsea	Plainwell
4	Otsego	Lansing Catholic
5	East Grand Rapids	St. Johns
6	Grand Rapids Christian	Cadillac
7	Dearborn Divine Child	Holland Christian
8	St. Johns	Otsego
9	Goodrich	Spring Lake
10	Grand Rapids South Christian	Freeland
11	Sparta	Tecumseh
12	Hastings	Allendale
13	Holland Christian	Marshall
14	Allendale	Dearborn Divine Child
15	Lansing Catholic	Haslett
16	Yale	Grosse Ile
17	Berrien Springs	Frankenmuth
18	Ionia	Flint Powers Catholic
19	Armada	Bloomfield Hills Marian
20	Flint Powers Catholic	Parma Western
21	Alma	Milan
22	Adrian	Linden
23	St. Clair	Grand Rapids Christian
24	Linden	New Boston Huron
25	Spring Lake	Chelsea

DIVISION 1

RANK	BOYS	GIRLS
1	Brighton	Ann Arbor Pioneer
2	Clarkston	Traverse City Central
3	Highland-Milford	Northville
4	Dexter	Bay City Western
5	Romeo	Saline
6	Fenton	Plymouth Salem
7	Rochester Hills Stoney Creek	Brighton
8	Cedar Springs	Temperance Bedford
9	Plymouth	Plymouth
10	Saline	Traverse City West
11	Ann Arbor Skyline	Bloomfield Hills
12	Ann Arbor Pioneer	Romeo
13	Hartland	Holland West Ottawa
14	Detroit Catholic Central	Fenton
15	Pinckney	Birmingham Seaholm
16	Zeeland West	Hudsonville
17	Hudsonville	Clarkston
18	Holt	DeWitt
19	Canton	Pinckney
20	Northville	Rockford
21	Caledonia	Caledonia
22	Traverse City Central	Lake Orion
23	Rockford	Grand Blanc
24	Lake Orion	White Lake Lakeland
25	Lowell	Brownstown Woodhaven

Earlier this week, I posted some early rankings for XC.  Those were compiled using 2018’s ratings and adding in a projected improvement.  Track is (officially, at least) here, and we can use track times to further gauge improvement.  Over the summer, I aim to break down each and every regional.  I’ll use track data in some capacity, whether it be subjectively, objectively, or both.  I’ve gone through the past few years and compared athletes ratings vs. what they ran in track the previous year.

March is an extremely busy time in running shoe stores.  The weather is changing, people are more upbeat and optimistic, and a whole new batch of track athletes enter our world.  You can tell when someone has been running over the winter, they’re like a racehorse in the gate, raring to go.  As someone who was never “fast”, who had to work for every improvement, those runners hold a special place in my heart.  On a weekly basis, I want to showcase runners that are outperforming my projections.

Kate Kiefer, Birmingham Seaholm

2017 Track – 2:52/6:27

2018 XC – 23:16, 18.2 rating

2019 Track – 2:42… 10 second PR in first race of the season.

Elissa Weinrick, Okemos

2018 Track – 6:45/14:20

2018 XC – 22:04, 42.9 rating

2019 Track – 6:17/13:42… 28 second PR in the 16, 38 second PR in the 32.

Lawson Brady, Freeland

2018 Track – 3:38/7:29

2018 XC – 23:57, 26.4 rating

2019 Track – 2:56/6:23… 42 second PR in the 8, 66 second PR in the 16.

Logan Gutierrez, Millington

2018 Track – 2:21/5:16/10:50

2018 XC – 17:38, 157.9 rating

2019 Track – 10:28… 16 second PR in first race, indoors mind you.

Parker Austin, Davison

2018 XC – 18:43, 123.8 rating

2019 Track – 5:04… almost 40 second improvement from best middle school time.

Benjamin Hinkley, Perry

2018 Track – 2:32/5:51

2018 XC – 19:24, 115.1 rating

2019 Track – 2:10/5:50… 16 is nearly identical, but that 2:10, where did that come from?!

Coaches/athletes, please feel free to send me your (or another’s) story and background.  I’m probably self-critical, but I find my writing rather formulaic.  I’d love to improve by delving deeper into personal stories.  So if you’re seeing improvement, you know of someone putting work in that deserves recognition, reach out to me.