Category: Uncategorized

We’re out of Portage, out of the bigger area meets (Oakland and Wayne County), now onto more of championship season. Many of the top teams competed in a meaningful meet and we’re better able to discern their intentions for this final month of the season.

The WEEK 3 RANKINGS contained the best explanation of the year, so click there. But I’ll add another sentence of emphasis: although this past weekend’s meets weigh the largest, they are not the end all be all, these are cumulative.

Here are the other rankings:

WEEK FOUR
CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON

Recap

Probably wasn’t as dominant as Spartan, though Allendale was clearly the class of the D2 field at Portage. A different competitor stepped to the forefront for the Falcons – Kilian Whalen. The senior has had much adversity thrown at him throughout his career. Through it all, he’s survived and just dropped a 12 sec. PR. The depth on this team is still impeccable. Their 6^th runner came in before everyone’s 4^th and almost everyone’s 3^rd. You could take Whalen out of the lineup and Allendale still would’ve won.

Beyond the Red n’ Black, Forest Hills Eastern moved up a spot. The Hawks are greatly benefitting from the addition of junior Shephard Bower, learning the sport on the fly. Three straight sub-17’s in just four races at the high school level.

In the Region 15 preview at Cummings Center, Frankenmuth leaned on its depth and pack running. Five Eagles under 17 helped ‘Muth hold off Flint Powers.

Just a reminder, these rankings don’t move teams down for one bad race. Unless it becomes a trend.

Looking Forward

The West Side/OK Conference + Portage sort of dictates the schedule here. Conference championships in the middle of next week, a huge festival of races this past Saturday. Mix in some smart, judicious coaches and that equals taking this weekend off.

We have had a bit of mid-week action, Otsego winning over Plainwell in the M-89 rivalry. Alma defeated Frankenmuth in the final TVC Red Jamboree, enough to win the conference title. Alma has curiously been ranked below Frankenmuth all season in the coaches poll, despite winning in the TVC each time out (side note: if I were a coach, I’d rank my team as low as possible, just for the motivational factor). The Panthers will again find the opportunity to prove themselves at Greater Lansing, where the they look to defend last year’s crown.

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.	Last Week
1	Allendale	175	11	196.2	1
2	Grand Rapids Christian	260	12	192.8	2
3	Holland Christian	328	11	189.8	3
4	Alma	341	14	191.1	4
5	Forest Hills Eastern	371	12	189.9	6
6	East Grand Rapids	406	12	188.1	5
7	Otsego	445	13	184.1	7
8	Frankenmuth	446	15	184.2	8
9	Plainwell	470	12	183.6	9
10	Flint Powers Catholic	528	15	185.6	10
11	Cedar Springs	561	10	181.4	12
12	Sparta	563	10	181.8	11
13	Marshall	573	13	186.8	13
14	Shepherd	614	15	182.3	14
15	Gladwin	658	10	181.9	15
16	Pinckney	695	16	178.7	18
17	DeWitt	740	14	175.8	16
18	Three Rivers	778	13	176.9	17
19	New Boston Huron	784	18	176.6	20
20	Freeland	786	15	180.2	19
21	Fremont	807	10	174.2	23
22	Grand Rapids Catholic Central	844	11	177.1	21
23	Corunna	863	14	172.6	22
24	Zeeland East	904	11	171.8	24
25	Spring Lake	927	10	171.0	28
26	Petoskey	951	10	170.1	29
27	Edwardsburg	961	13	170.1	25

Recap

Projections had Goodrich being first overall at Greater Flint, which was correct. However, I was a little high on the Martian point total. Mainly thanks to Claire Brown, who after a fall of running in the 20’s, has broken into the 19’s these past two weeks.

Zeeland East was able to rebound after their surprise defeat at Otsego. The Chix scored 3 girls in the top-10, the 3^rd being a Meredith Cook who broke into the 18’s yet again.

Looking Forward

Home meets and area championships. The rule of thumb is that if you host a meet, you have to defend your ground. Both Freeland and Goodrich are hosting, and thankfully, both appear to be favorites. Adrian will use their strength up front and hope to power to a Lenawee County win. Greater Lansing will be the stage for a D1/D2 crossover, as a top-10 Okemos will face DeWitt. The Panthers just ran the best times of their season at Birch Run and have shown (Spartan) the ability to be patient in pressure-packed situations.

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.	Last Week
1	Zeeland East	160	11	137.9	1
2	Goodrich	198	15	131.0	2
3	Holland Christian	245	11	127.7	4
4	Otsego	273	13	130.5	5
5	Grand Rapids Christian	274	12	127.9	3
6	DeWitt	327	14	123.7	6
7	East Grand Rapids	360	12	121.8	7
8	Adrian	434	18	123.5	8
9	Freeland	478	15	118.5	9
10	Hudsonville Unity Christian	479	11	116.2	10
11	Linden	533	16	113.3	12
12	Spring Lake	550	10	111.9	13
13	Forest Hills Eastern	572	12	109.9	11
14	St. Joseph	652	13	114.2	14
15	Grand Rapids South Christian	714	12	104.9	15
16	Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard	746	18	105.7	17
17	Ludington	747	10	108.0	16
18	Frankenmuth	764	15	107.9	20
19	Cadillac	793	10	105.7	19
20	Sturgis	795	13	107.6	18
21	Shepherd	845	15	100.8	25
22	Coopersville	869	11	100.9	22
23	Pontiac Notre Dame Prep	903	16	99.4	21
24	Plainwell	936	12	96.8	24
25	Dearborn Divine Child	946	16	96.3	23
26	Owosso	948	14	96.4	26
27	Middleville Thornapple-Kellogg	1011	12	96.5	27

Individual Rankings

Recap

Down in Terredise, TJ Hansen hung with the Midwest’s best, running a 14:43 and placing 2^nd. I wish there were 48 hours in a day so that I could create some out-of-state speed ratings, so you’ll just have to understand that it was very fast.

In the state itself, we saw significant moves up the ranks from Simon Triezenberg, Will Engbers, and Edison Lopeman. The latter two dropped PR’s at Portage, Triezenberg narrowly missed. Each finished in the top four.

Looking Forward

Once again, sort of a weekend off. The teams that are near Lake Michigan are recovering from Portage and awaiting conference showdowns. TJ Hansen will be home with his Freeland squad, Jack Bidwell is in the D2 race at Gabriel Richard (with this weather and that course, expect something special if he goes for it). The Alma boys will be looking for every possible advantage up front. Surely they’ll be chasing the wise Jack MacGregor, though expect Thomas Larson and Zeke Baltierra to give him everything he can handle.

Top 50

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating
1	12	TJ Hansen	Freeland	223.6
2	12	Jack Bidwell	Marshall	215.3
3	12	Colin Murray	Dearborn Divine Child	211.8
4	12	Henry Dixon	Forest Hills Eastern	210.6
5	12	Simon Triezenberg	Grand Rapids Christian	206.4
6	12	Will Engbers	Holland Christian	206.4
7	11	Jonah Workman	East Grand Rapids	205.7
8	10	Ezekiel Baltierra	Alma	205.7
9	11	Thomas Larson	Alma	205.6
10	11	Bryce Gross	Flint Powers Catholic	205.5
11	12	Jeb Hillary	Grand Rapids Catholic Central	205.3
12	11	Edison Lopeman	Parma Western	205.3
13	12	Dominic Lowrie	Battle Creek Harper Creek	204.5
14	9	Lennox Naswell	Flint Powers Catholic	203.8
15	12	Elijah Christensen	Gladwin	203.8
16	12	Sullivan Zietlow	Three Rivers	203.7
17	10	Bryce Cahoon	Shepherd	202.4
18	12	Kilian Whalen	Allendale	202.2
19	11	Moises Salazar	Adrian	201.4
20	11	Vincent Pattison	Goodrich	201.1
21	10	Abraham McHugh	Marshall	200.8
22	11	Ronnie Silveira	Allendale	200.2
23	12	Ben Gross	Allendale	199.9
24	12	Lucas Kuhn	New Boston Huron	199.7
25	12	Nolan Longuski	Shepherd	199.0
26	10	Cole McCraw	Pinckney	198.7
27	12	Jack Lillywhite	Flint Kearsley	198.2
28	12	Abatu Dykstra	Hamilton	197.9
29	12	Seth Mead	Gladwin	197.9
30	11	Owen Metzger	Sparta	197.7
31	12	Alex Doneth	Mason	197.6
32	12	Reece Davis	Marshall	197.0
33	12	Vincent Pollock	Fruitport	196.8
34	10	Mitchell Dunlap	Grand Rapids Catholic Central	196.7
35	12	Jacob Draaisma	Middleville Thornapple-Kellogg	196.5
36	10	Steven Zawacki	Forest Hills Eastern	195.9
37	12	Simon Erfourth	Owosso	195.6
38	12	Stewart Waters	Whitehall	195.5
39	12	Andrew Commeret	Comstock Park	195.3
40	12	Dylan Lydic	Haslett	194.3
41	12	Keegan Hoekstra	Grand Rapids Christian	194.1
42	10	Caiden Caswell	Vicksburg	194.0
43	11	Sean Ryan	Grand Rapids Christian	193.6
44	11	Jack Edison	East Grand Rapids	193.1
45	11	Luke Dulecki	New Boston Huron	192.7
46	11	Donovan Ryan	Plainwell	192.5
47	11	Ethan Shoffner	Cedar Springs	192.2
48	9	Micah Becker	East Grand Rapids	191.7
49	12	Will Whitmore	Holland Christian	191.3
50	12	Zachary Newman	Pinckney	190.9

Recap

With Emma Hoffman and Ava Schafer taking the weekend off, we were counting on Portage to deliver. We received a nice little competition between Emma Drnek, Katie Berkshire, and Courtney Bovair. Drnek and Berkshire were with each other at one, Bovair slightly behind. By two miles, it was just those two. Come the finish, Drnek, the recent MSU commit, had opened a nearly 10 second gap.

As projected, Natalie Foltz came through at Greater Flint. Mea D’Agostino has been going through the ringer of courses lately. Bennett Park, a hot day at Spartan, two championships at Possum Hollow. She didn’t place as well at Oakland County (14^th, still All-County), but recovered nicely to place 2^nd in the Catholic League.

Looking Forward

A few intriguing bits of action. Berkley Holtz going for her 3^rd straight hometown title at the 60^th Sturgis Kiwanis Invite. Jaelyn Ray coming off two mid-18 efforts, facing a rising Samantha Schroeder at Gabriel Richard. Then there’s a big one – Ava Schafer at Greater Lansing. Ava won there last year, now she faces a little stiffer competition, with two other competitors also finding their way into the 17’s this fall.

Top 50

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating
1	11	Emma Hoffman	Otsego	168.2
2	10	Ava Schafer	St. Johns	164.2
3	11	Katie Berkshire	Gaylord	159.1
4	12	Emma Drnek	Zeeland East	158.7
5	12	Elena Figueroa	St. Joseph	156.1
6	12	Courtney Bovair	Carleton Airport	154.5
7	10	Clara Kaczor	Freeland	153.6
8	11	Berkley Holtz	Sturgis	148.9
9	10	Jaelyn Ray	Pinckney	147.5
10	11	Natalie Foltz	Frankenmuth	147.1
11	12	Sophy Skeels	Adrian	145.7
12	11	Ellie Scholma	Grand Rapids Christian	145.7
13	9	Adalyn Raab	Zeeland East	145.7
14	12	Ayla Holben	DeWitt	144.0
15	11	Marie Gates	Hudsonville Unity Christian	143.1
16	10	Adeline Armstrong	East Grand Rapids	143.1
17	10	Ayda Skeels	Adrian	143.1
18	12	Grace Evanoff	Flint Powers Catholic	142.1
19	12	Mea D’Agostino	Orchard Lake St. Mary’s	141.0
20	10	Johanna Mulder	Holland	140.9
21	10	Mia May	Sparta	140.4
22	11	Meredith Cook	Zeeland East	139.9
23	9	Avery Engbers	Holland Christian	139.4
24	10	Alivia Ottinger	Goodrich	139.1
25	10	Annabelle Lowman	Ludington	137.7
26	9	Remie Ellis	Eaton Rapids	137.4
27	11	Lilah Poel	Grand Rapids Christian	136.9
28	10	Lane Isom	Richland Gull Lake	134.8
29	11	Brooklynn Brown	Cadillac	134.4
30	12	Kamryn Lauinger	Goodrich	134.1
31	12	Joy Evans	Alma	133.8
32	12	Ava Crews	Middleville Thornapple-Kellogg	133.5
33	12	Nadia Grierson	Ludington	132.3
34	12	Eva Thompson	Croswell-Lexington	131.7
35	9	Audrey Kline	St. Joseph	131.3
36	10	Addison Josephson	Linden	131.2
37	9	Madison Petty	Adrian	131.1
38	9	Kayla Shellenbarger	Goodrich	130.8
39	10	Ellery Lampen	Holland Christian	129.7
40	12	Sadey Seyferth	East Grand Rapids	129.4
41	12	Layla Jordan	Goodrich	129.4
42	11	Alexis Kotkowicz	Spring Lake	128.8
43	12	Taylor Mitchell	Otsego	128.6
44	10	Kylie Mausolf	Birch Run	128.6
45	12	Mia Williams	DeWitt	128.5
46	9	Oakley Osterhart	Coopersville	127.6
47	9	Danica Redes	Shepherd	127.5
48	11	Linnea Paige	Fremont	127.2
49	12	Karie Keefer	Freeland	126.8
50	10	Olivia Hollebeek	Holland Christian	126.4

Another year and another crack at the annual Macomb County Prediction Contest. Last year, I captured bronze. In 2022, silver. I think it’s time we complete the trifecta and get gold. Anyway, if you want to join the contest, the rules and regulations are above.

I’ll probably have more projections later in the week for other area meets.

BOYS TEAM

Place	Team	Avg. Place	Avg. Score	Win %	Top 3 %
1	Utica	1.40	61	61	95+
2	Macomb Dakota	1.69	64	37	95+
3	Romeo	2.91	94		95+
4	Utica Eisenhower	4.91	194
5	Fraser	4.95	197
6	Macomb Lutheran North	5.41	202
7	Utica Ford	6.99	221
8	Warren DeLaSalle	8.27	244
9	Sterling Heights Stevenson	9.12	260
10	New Baltimore Anchor Bay	9.38	267
11	Michigan Athletic Club for Homeschoolers	12.38	341
12	Macomb L’Anse Creuse North	12.57	343
13	Clinton Twp. Chippewa Valley	12.67	344
14	Harrison Twp. L’Anse Creuse	13.37	353
15	Lakeview St. Clair Shores	14.69	368
16	Warren Cousino	15.29	378
17	Armada	17.19	480
18	Richmond	17.86	500
19	Austin Catholic	18.97	545
20	Roseville	20.36	610
21	Warren Mott	20.62	617
22	New Haven	22.08	667
23	Warren Woods Tower	22.92	684

GIRLS TEAM

Place	Team	Avg. Place	Avg. Score	Win %	Top 3 %
1	Romeo	1.00	15	95+	95+
2	Utica	2.00	74		95+
3	Macomb Dakota	3.04	93		95+
4	Fraser	3.96	110
5	Macomb Lutheran North	5.01	188
6	Clinton Twp. Chippewa Valley	6.82	238
7	Utica Eisenhower	7.30	243
8	Armada	8.10	256
9	Warren Regina	8.25	260
10	Macomb L’Anse Creuse North	10.38	293
11	Michigan Athletic Club for Homeschoolers	10.58	296
12	Utica Ford	11.67	313
13	New Baltimore Anchor Bay	13.03	366
14	Warren Mott	13.89	404
15	Lakeview St. Clair Shores	15.84	459
16	Harrison Twp. L’Anse Creuse	16.17	460
17	Warren Cousino	16.64	468
18	Richmond	17.35	478
19	Austin Catholic	19.15	547
20	Sterling Heights Stevenson	19.82	565

BOYS INDIVIDUAL

Place	Grade	Name	Team	Avg. Place
1	11	Harper Wesley	Utica	1.90
2	12	Lucas LaMilza	Macomb Dakota	1.91
3	12	Luke Morehouse	Utica	2.71
4	11	James Brickel	Romeo	6.35
5	10	Joshua Macri	Macomb Lutheran North	6.53
6	12	Gavin Frandle	Utica	7.62
7	12	Aidan Daly	Harrison Twp. L’Anse Creuse	9.79
8	11	Charlie Curtis	Utica	11.07
9	11	Lance Edghill	Fraser	11.84
10	11	Luke Allen	Romeo	12.17
11	11	Joseph Kaleto	Macomb Dakota	13.15
12	12	Greg Vogt	New Baltimore Anchor Bay	13.96
13	11	Anthony Frei	Utica Eisenhower	14.41
14	11	Owen Perry	Romeo	14.87
15	11	Andrew Scheloske	Macomb Dakota	15.16
16	11	Oliver Davis	Macomb Dakota	16.91
17	12	Jensen McCutcheon	Lakeview St. Clair Shores	18.34
18	12	Noah Redman	Macomb Dakota	20.29
19	11	Aaron Hemstreet	Warren Cousino	20.81
20	12	Colden Gray	Utica Eisenhower	20.99
21	11	Aaron Osterman	New Baltimore Anchor Bay	22.00
22	11	Xavier Roman	Macomb Lutheran North	22.93
23	11	Jacob Giovannini	Macomb Dakota	23.61
24	9	Xavier Solgot	Macomb L’Anse Creuse North	25.80
25	12	Alex Habarth	Harrison Twp. L’Anse Creuse	26.12

GIRLS INDIVIDUAL

Place	Grade	Name	Team	Avg. Place
1	11	Natalia Guaresimo	Romeo	1.11
2	10	Annie Hrabovsky	Romeo	2.47
3	12	Lillian Deskins	Romeo	3.51
4	12	Olivia Purdy	Romeo	4.49
5	12	Violet Hrabovsky	Romeo	4.54
6	11	Emmerson Clor	Romeo	5.66
7	11	Brooke McFarland	Utica	8.01
8	12	Grace Grupido	Fraser	8.45
9	11	Ella Goodsell	Romeo	9.11
10	9	Alannah Wessel	Michigan Athletic Club for Homeschoolers	11.05
11	10	Emma Brown	Utica	11.59
12	11	Lidia Clancy	Macomb Dakota	12.12
13	11	Siene Muraszewski	Utica	12.47
14	12	Sophia Aquino	Utica	13.36
15	10	Aubrey Rizzo	Macomb Dakota	14.40
16	10	Reese Rosbolt	Romeo	14.97
17	12	Julia Timpa	Macomb Dakota	18.32
18	11	Katelyn Frazier	Fraser	18.59
19	12	Brooklyn Khon	Armada	19.25
20	10	Faith Wessel	Michigan Athletic Club for Homeschoolers	22.04
21	10	Samantha Whitlam	Macomb Lutheran North	22.37
22	11	Jacalyn Yakel	Utica Eisenhower	23.08
23	10	Alice Foley	Fraser	23.94
24	12	Mylene Pham	Macomb Dakota	25.31
25	10	Lilianna Peace	Clinton Twp. Chippewa Valley	26.15

We’re out of Portage, out of the bigger area meets (Oakland and Wayne County), now onto more of championship season. Many of the top teams competed in a meaningful meet and we’re better able to discern their intentions for this final month of the season.

The WEEK 3 RANKINGS contained the best explanation of the year, so click there. But I’ll add another sentence of emphasis: although this past weekend’s meets weigh the largest, they are not the end all be all, these are cumulative.

Here are the other rankings:

WEEK FOUR
CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON

Recap

Eight of the top-10 teams were present at Portage. There wasn’t much movement in the overall standings, save for Grand Rapids Covenant Christian moving up a few spots due to their depth having the best race of the year. Jackson Lumen Christi stayed at #2, but the gap has closed between them and St. Francis.

Why?

Only a minor upset! The Titans defied the usual 5^th runner philosophy by having unreal strength up front – three in the top-11. Rocky Bolton and Avery Morrow held as close as possible to the nearby Glads, assisting in Lumen Christi’s 15-point victory. The gap in the overall points has decreased from 116 to 91. The difference in top-5 avg. has dropped from 21 seconds to 16 seconds. Will the trend continue or is this the wakeup call for Traverse City St. Francis? We’ve got a little less than a month to find out.

Looking Forward

The Metro Detroit Catholic schools have much tradition and many trophies in their cases, but new addition Jackson Lumen Christi appears to be the best parochial cross team in southeast Michigan. I have no clue how the Ohio teams in the CHSL will fare, I do know that Detroit Catholic Central is rated slightly behind the Titans.

Lansing Catholic took the weekend off in preparation for Greater Lansing. Pewamo-Westphalia took the opportunity to grab PR’s at Portage, five of their top-7 earning a lifetime best. Both will be at Ledge Meadows, the top contenders of the D3 contingent.

Mentioned in the D4 rankings, Saugatuck will look to fight off the pesky Hacketts and Bridgmans of the world and win the SAC Championship.

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.	Last Week
1	Traverse City St. Francis	106	19	190.7	1
2	Jackson Lumen Christi	197	23	185.3	2
3	Ithaca	265	25	182.3	3
4	Saugatuck	328	22	174.2	4
5	Pewamo-Westphalia	337	24	174.6	5
6	Grand Rapids Covenant Christian	380	21	174.4	8
7	Lansing Catholic	381	26	172.5	6
8	Hanover-Horton	387	23	175.3	7
9	Stanton Central Montcalm	425	24	175.8	9
10	Buchanan	442	22	170.4	10
11	Charlevoix	495	19	173.3	11
12	Flat Rock	526	27	174.8	12
13	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	542	21	168.7	13
14	Jonesville	555	23	169.9	15
15	Benzie Central	593	20	165.5	17
16	Reed City	618	20	168.4	14
17	Hart	643	20	162.6	16
18	Bath	743	24	162.7	18
19	The Potter’s House	750	21	161.0	22
20	Holland Black River	755	21	161.4	20
21	Union City	780	22	161.0	21
22	Leslie	782	26	158.9	19
23	Montague	792	21	159.4	23
24	Monroe St. Mary CC	850	27	158.4	31
25	Sanford-Meridian	859	25	159.4	24
26	Erie Mason	905	27	156.5	25
27	Brooklyn Columbia Central	909	23	155.1	33

Recap

P-Dub played out their name at Portage, their low sticks up front performing as usual, the fastest fourth and the second-fastest fifth. The gap was closed on Lansing Catholic, mainly thanks to an outstanding race from freshman Adelyn Thelen. In merely two weeks, Thelen has dropped 50 sec. from her personal best, now a 3^rd Pirate under 20.

A huge leap came from Benzie Central, who has all the pieces humming at the right time. Four Huskie scorers achieved personal bests (and those four all erased those bests yesterday). Avery Kelly and Nora Grossnickle are proving reliable up front, the freshmen depth is improving by leaps and bounds. A scary proposition for the teams ahead of them.

Looking Forward

Doing their work at Portage, Pewamo-Westphalia lowered the gap on Lansing Catholic enough so that the top ranking is on the line. Obviously, more important than the top ranking here is how each team performs with three weeks to go. The Cougars and Pirates haven’t met up this year, however, we’ve got a picture of how it may shake out. P-W up front with Werner and Kramer, Lansing Catholic’s 3^rd-6^th all providing an advantage over their counterparts. The Greater Lansing field is probably a little stronger than the D3 final field, so point totals may be exaggerated later in the race. Regardless, we’ll get an honest picture of how the two teams stack up against one another.

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.	Last Week
1	Lansing Catholic	195	26	117.8	1
2	Pewamo-Westphalia	210	24	122.0	2
3	Traverse City St. Francis	232	19	117.6	3
4	Stanton Central Montcalm	284	24	121.4	4
5	Benzie Central	315	20	109.3	7
6	Jackson Lumen Christi	317	23	109.0	5
7	Ithaca	354	25	103.7	6
8	Hart	480	20	94.9	10
9	Leslie	489	26	98.8	8
10	McBain	498	20	96.3	11
11	Grand Rapids Covenant Christian	500	21	95.4	9
12	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	540	21	99.4	12
13	Remus Chippewa Hills	620	20	88.3	17
14	Clare	636	19	88.9	11
15	Blissfield	637	27	93.1	15
16	Saugatuck	653	22	88.8	13
17	Grass Lake	696	27	82.9	14
18	Midland Bullock Creek	751	25	84.0	16
19	Grandville Calvin Christian	800	21	79.9	18
20	Onsted	803	23	86.8	19
21	Ann Arbor Greenhills	846	26	79.2	20
22	Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian	867	21	75.3	22
23	Laingsburg	901	24	74.5	21
24	Buchanan	906	22	76.0	28
25	Manistee	910	20	73.3	38
26	Bronson	949	23	80.1	25
27	Schoolcraft	953	22	71.9	24

Individual Rankings

Recap

The award for the most sub-16’s has to go to Mitchell Hiatt, who just keeps quickly winning. There are very little poor efforts in his portfolio. 15:41 at Hudson, 15:22 at Stockbridge, 15:43 in Jackson, even a 15:57 in the rough Spartan conditions. As long as he keeps churning them out, he’ll be in a great spot come early November.

Likely feeling like he’s in a great spot is Gage Hoffman. Gage has returned to his PR form from Under the Lights, vanquishing the D3 Portage field en route to a 10+ second victory.

Gus Rohde moved down a few spots, but don’t be apprehensive, he did enough to win on a rugged Pine River course.

Looking Forward

Championships are on the line! Top-ranked Mitchell Hiatt will be at Lenawee County, no doubt dealing with Moises Salazar.

Ever rising Matthias Morse will look to win at Greater Muskegon, likely competing against Stewart Waters and Vincent Pollock.

I bet neither fathomed competing for these early in their career. As freshman, each finished over 30^th place. If you’re newcomer to the sport reading this, dream big, just as these two have.

Top 50

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating
1	12	Mitchell Hiatt	Onsted	204.5
2	12	Josh Slocum	Traverse City St. Francis	204.8
3	11	Gage Hoffman	Stanton Central Montcalm	204.0
4	12	Gus Rohde	Reed City	203.7
5	11	Landen Styka	Ithaca	202.4
6	12	Isaiah Dinverno	Jackson Lumen Christi	202.1
7	11	Jacob Stanislawski	Flat Rock	200.9
8	12	Levi Kamps	Grand Rapids Covenant Christian	196.9
9	12	Matthias Morse	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	196.5
10	10	William Ready	Traverse City St. Francis	195.7
11	12	Landon Pestrue	St. Louis	195.2
12	10	Caleb Blonde	Jonesville	195.2
13	12	Miingen Bertrand	Ithaca	195.2
14	12	Landen Boulis	Hanover-Horton	195.0
15	12	Leo Swager	Jackson Lumen Christi	194.2
16	10	Hunter Eaton	Charlevoix	194.1
17	11	Noah Devereaux	Laingsburg	191.6
18	12	Nathan Vargo	Flat Rock	190.9
19	10	Luke Herron	Caro	190.3
20	12	Tyler Heal	Sanford-Meridian	190.2
21	9	Nole Lorenzen	Rochester Hills Lutheran NW	190.1
22	11	Tyler Leach	Otisville LakeVille	189.8
23	12	Daniel Mandujano	Watervliet	189.0
24	11	Robert Dykhouse	Manton	187.9
25	9	Owen Poppema	Bath	187.9
26	12	Owen Read	Traverse City St. Francis	187.1
27	10	Cooper Flick	Hanover-Horton	186.3
28	12	Robby Myler	Traverse City St. Francis	185.1
29	11	Jayden Fox	Saginaw Valley Lutheran	185.0
30	10	Ryder Hopkins	Charlevoix	184.8
31	11	Gibson Shore	Jackson Lumen Christi	184.7
32	9	Christian Craanen	Monroe St. Mary CC	183.8
33	11	Lucas Taraszkiewicz	Flat Rock	183.7
34	10	Logan Youngman	Hillsdale	183.1
35	11	Matthew Solomon	Charlevoix	182.8
36	11	Lucas Gates	Lansing Catholic	181.8
37	10	Marshall Brandt	Midland Bullock Creek	181.7
38	11	Edward Mugisha	The Potter’s House	181.6
39	11	Ben Gautsche	Union City	181.4
40	10	Jonas Ballard	Holland Black River	180.9
41	11	Nicholas Fowler	Jonesville	180.8
42	11	Liam McBeth	Buchanan	180.6
43	12	Brayden Sweeney	Midland Bullock Creek	180.6
44	12	Joseph Carlson	Traverse City St. Francis	180.2
45	11	Trenton Fetter	Adrian Madison	180.2
46	10	John Kowatch	Pewamo-Westphalia	179.9
47	9	Jackson Bowman	Saugatuck	178.8
48	11	Kyler Fertig	Stanton Central Montcalm	178.4
49	12	Ian Waddell	Blissfield	178.3
50	10	Wyatt Werner	Pewamo-Westphalia	178.2

Recap

Kyah Hoffman continues her hold on the top spot, racing to another sub-18 effort at Portage. Just as last year, Hoffman is winning races at a high clip, with 7 of her 9 efforts resulting in victory. Unlike last year, one of these came at Portage, as she placed 3^rd in 2023.

Beyond Hoffman, most of these girls stayed similar to the previous week, with one exception: Betsy Skendzel. The ultra consistent Glad tied her best race of the year (Party in the Park), placing 2^nd and earning a Portage PR.

Looking Forward

Championships on the line yet again. Whereas the two mentioned boys had never won at Lenawee County or GMAA, Emmry Ross and Grace VanderKooi have. The two seniors have two area crowns and are looking to triple it up.

Whitney Werner, Alyssa Kramer, and Hailey Creisher will probably linger behind Ava Schafer and Rachel Smith, but a large meet such as Greater Lansing will provide ample opportunity to show worth and speed.

Top 50

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating
1	12	Kyah Hoffman	Stanton Central Montcalm	163.8
2	12	Emmry Ross	Onsted	157.5
3	12	Betsy Skendzel	Traverse City St. Francis	152.2
4	12	Whitney Werner	Pewamo-Westphalia	151.8
5	12	Eliza Bush	Ypsilanti Arbor Preparatory	148.6
6	12	Lila Volkers	Kent City	147.6
7	10	Alyssa Kramer	Pewamo-Westphalia	146.6
8	12	Grace Vanderkooi	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	146.2
9	10	Kamryn Salladay	Lakeview	143.6
10	11	Hailey Creisher	Leslie	142.6
11	10	Samantha Schroeder	Jackson Lumen Christi	141.8
12	11	Hope Miller	Blissfield	141.3
13	12	Ashley Choponis	Stanton Central Montcalm	140.6
14	9	Elliana Max	Kent City	139.1
15	11	Bella LaFountain	Monroe St. Mary CC	136.4
16	9	Caelyn Torry	McBain	135.0
17	10	Isabelle Sliter	Fennville	134.7
18	10	Shelby Kuiper	Grand Rapids Covenant Christian	131.0
19	11	Grace Coston	Stanton Central Montcalm	130.8
20	12	Nora Grossnickle	Benzie Central	130.6
21	9	Avery Kelly	Benzie Central	130.2
22	9	Josie Bishop	Lansing Catholic	129.5
23	12	Ava Hathaway	Bronson	129.4
24	10	Sophia Buzzelli	Clare	127.4
25	12	Chloe Stalhood	Hillsdale	126.6
26	10	Grace Wonch	Lansing Catholic	126.1
27	11	Mattie Gagne	Midland Bullock Creek	126.1
28	12	Kaya Vrable	Caro	125.9
29	11	Ashlynn Harris	Bronson	121.8
30	12	Mary Masserant	Traverse City St. Francis	121.3
31	11	Anna Poppema	Bath	120.8
32	10	Molly Kate Hollandsworth	Traverse City St. Francis	119.6
33	10	Makinna Foglesong	Ithaca	119.5
34	12	Alaina Klooster	Kalamazoo Christian	118.1
35	9	Isabelle Currie	Lansing Catholic	118.0
36	9	Khloe Lehnst	Ithaca	117.3
37	9	Madisyn Wanstead	Leroy Pine River	116.1
38	9	Maisey Toteff	Hanover-Horton	115.9
39	11	Frances Melinn	Lansing Catholic	115.4
40	12	Madeline Young	Buchanan	114.9
41	9	Adelyn Thelen	Pewamo-Westphalia	114.1
42	12	Skyler Fraley	Union City	113.6
43	10	Lyvia Curtis	Saugatuck	113.3
44	9	Madison Wils	Bath	113.0
45	12	Megan Gottschall	Lake City	113.0
46	10	Natalie Rosema	Hart	111.8
47	11	Macy Fazekas	Jackson Lumen Christi	111.7
48	11	Abigail Reis	Millington	110.8
49	12	Lola Bryce	Grandville Calvin Christian	110.0
50	9	Avalynne Allee	Leroy Pine River	109.4