Category: Uncategorized

Week 3

The above link contains the best explanation of the year.

Week 4
Mid-Season Projections – Boys
Mid-Season Projections – Girls

These rankings contain meets through Saturday (9/28). If a runner has had a rated race since September 1st, they’re included (sadly, I have to account for injured athletes). These are for fun and done for free. Enjoy!

Recap

We’ve gotten plenty of action between the GR area teams. Grand Rapids Christian has led the D2 contingent in the OK White, Forest Hills Eastern and East Grand Rapids trading places behind the Eagles. When the latter two traveled northeast to Bluejay, EGR was able to pull ahead, mainly based on the strength of their top-three, one of the better trios in the entire state.

Holland Christian locked heads with Grand Rapids Christian twice, at Otsego Bulldog and Cougar Falcon. The former produced a tiny upset, the Maroons winning by 2 points.

Following a dominant Spartan performance, Allendale went back on the grind, then emerged to hold serve on their home course.

Looking Forward

Haha, Portage:

#1 Allendale
#2 Grand Rapids Christian
#3 Holland Christian
#4 Alma
#5 East Grand Rapids
#6 Forest Hills Eastern
#9 Plainwell

But don’t forget about Greater Flint, where a rapidly improving Flint Powers Catholic will test Frankenmuth in an early preview of Region 15.

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.	Last Week
1	Allendale	198	11	195.0	1
2	Grand Rapids Christian	253	12	193.4	2
3	Holland Christian	326	11	190.0	4
4	Alma	328	14	191.8	3
5	East Grand Rapids	366	12	189.4	6
6	Forest Hills Eastern	378	12	189.9	5
7	Otsego	438	13	184.2	9
8	Frankenmuth	445	15	184.2	7
9	Plainwell	486	12	182.8	10
10	Flint Powers Catholic	530	15	185.4	15
11	Sparta	534	10	182.9	8
12	Cedar Springs	561	10	181.3	13
13	Marshall	561	13	187.5	11
14	Shepherd	602	15	182.5	12
15	Gladwin	632	10	182.5	14
16	DeWitt	731	14	176.1	17
17	Three Rivers	752	13	177.6	16
18	Pinckney	754	16	177.0	18
19	Freeland	771	15	180.2	19
20	New Boston Huron	787	18	176.6	20
21	Grand Rapids Catholic Central	838	11	177.0	22
22	Corunna	841	14	172.7	NR
23	Fremont	865	10	172.5	21
24	Zeeland East	896	11	171.6	23
25	Edwardsburg	925	13	171.0	24
26	Hudsonville Unity Christian	984	11	169.0	25
27	Adrian	1007	18	170.0	27

Recap

You had a couple huge performances from teams down the rankings. Up in Shepherd, Goodrich asserted their championship form, racing to their best overall performance of the season. Contributions from all scorers, five under 19:40. The Martians may not have the low sticks just yet, but their advantage in the pack could be enough.

Repeats on Mount Bulldog must’ve gained an advantage for Otsego, who defended their home course beautifully. PR/SR’s from their top six girls, all scorers under 20, a showing that they’re in contention for a podium spot. The Bulldogs beat #1 Zeeland East, who had a solid race. Otsego was just that good. No chance in the actual rankings, but check the point totals, they’re on the path forward.

Looking Forward

A bit more diversity than the boys side. DeWitt and Otsego taking the weekend off and Goodrich hoping to win amongst the D1/D2 teams at Greater Flint.

But there’s still Portage, with:

#1 Zeeland East
#3 Grand Rapids Christian
#4 Holland Christian
#7 East Grand Rapids
#8 Adrian
#10 Unity Christian

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.	Last Week
1	Zeeland East	149	11	137.5	1
2	Goodrich	193	15	131.0	3
3	Grand Rapids Christian	208	12	130.4	2
4	Holland Christian	248	11	126.8	4
5	Otsego	266	13	130.4	5
6	DeWitt	306	14	123.5	6
7	East Grand Rapids	332	12	122.3	7
8	Adrian	395	18	124.8	8
9	Freeland	459	15	118.6	9
10	Hudsonville Unity Christian	495	11	115.0	10
11	Forest Hills Eastern	549	12	110.0	14
12	Linden	568	16	110.8	12
13	Spring Lake	579	10	109.5	15
14	St. Joseph	645	13	113.8	11
15	Grand Rapids South Christian	711	12	104.2	20
16	Ludington	724	10	108.0	18
17	Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard	725	18	105.8	17
18	Sturgis	748	13	108.7	19
19	Cadillac	752	10	106.4	16
20	Frankenmuth	773	15	107.3	13
21	Pontiac Notre Dame Prep	859	16	99.9	24
22	Coopersville	885	11	99.6	21
23	Dearborn Divine Child	897	16	96.8	22
24	Plainwell	898	12	96.9	27
25	Shepherd	929	15	97.0	23
26	Owosso	933	14	95.9	26
27	Middleville Thornapple-Kellogg	999	12	96.8	NR

Individual Rankings

Recap

Continually running the even splits, TJ Hansen sped to another personal best. 4:39, 4:48, 5:14 (4:43 pace) all added up to a 14:41 at Shepherd. Behind him in the elite field were Henry Dixon and Jonah Workman, coming into his own.

Further establishing that D2 has the best individuals in the state, Jack Bidwell ripped a 14:56 at Stockbridge.

Another hub of D2 activity took place at Otsego, the patient Colin Murray running nearly 20 sec. faster than 2023 and holding off Will Engbers and Simon Triezenberg.

Looking Forward

TJ Hansen will be the lone Falcon representative at Nike Town’s Race of Champions. Gotta admire the competitive spirit, going out of state and sticking his nose in there with the Midwest’s best. I’m sure it’ll be a helpful experience in the championship races to come.

With Divine Child at Wayne County, Marshall at Calhoun County, TJ in Terredise, competition between the top dudes won’t take place. Thankfully, a little meet on the west side will play a role in determining D2’s best. Following a rare defeat at Shepherd, Henry Dixon will look to continue his winning ways. He’ll be chased by Thomas Larson, Zeke Baltierra, Jonah Workman, Simon Triezenberg, Will Engbers, amongst many others.

Top 30

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating
1	12	TJ Hansen	Freeland	223.6
2	12	Jack Bidwell	Marshall	216.0
3	12	Colin Murray	Dearborn Divine Child	211.8
4	12	Henry Dixon	Forest Hills Eastern	211.4
5	11	Thomas Larson	Alma	207.8
6	12	Simon Triezenberg	Grand Rapids Christian	206.0
7	10	Ezekiel Baltierra	Alma	205.8
8	11	Jonah Workman	East Grand Rapids	205.7
9	11	Bryce Gross	Flint Powers Catholic	205.5
10	12	Dominic Lowrie	Battle Creek Harper Creek	205.4
11	12	Will Engbers	Holland Christian	204.8
12	12	Jeb Hillary	Grand Rapids Catholic Central	204.3
13	12	Elijah Christensen	Gladwin	204.1
14	9	Lennox Naswell	Flint Powers Catholic	203.8
15	12	Sullivan Zietlow	Three Rivers	203.7
16	10	Bryce Cahoon	Shepherd	203.6
17	11	Edison Lopeman	Parma Western	201.8
18	10	Abraham McHugh	Marshall	201.5
19	11	Vincent Pattison	Goodrich	201.5
20	11	Moises Salazar	Adrian	200.4
21	11	Ronnie Silveira	Allendale	200.3
22	12	Kilian Whalen	Allendale	199.6
23	12	Seth Mead	Gladwin	199.5
24	12	Lucas Kuhn	New Boston Huron	199.4
25	11	Owen Metzger	Sparta	199.3
26	12	Ben Gross	Allendale	198.9
27	12	Alex Doneth	Mason	198.8
28	10	Cole McCraw	Pinckney	198.7
29	12	Jack Lillywhite	Flint Kearsley	198.6
30	12	Abatu Dykstra	Hamilton	198.3

Recap

The tour of vast improvements and stunning results has only continued for Emma Hoffman. She traveled to the land of Spotted Cow to show those Wisconsin folks one of her many sub-18’s. Then blew away the D2 field on her home course, further lowering the Otsego school record to 17:22.

Other than Emma, not too much movement in the individual rankings. Ava Schafer quietly running her 17:40’s and winning in the CAAC Red, Emma Drnek and Courtney Bovair continually lowering their school records, Elena Figueroa dominatingly winning in the SMAC West, back-to-back sub-18’s for Katie Berkshire. Normally, any one of these would result in a drastic move, however, these girls just match each other in great performances.

Looking Forward

Again, a separating of the top folks. Emma and her Bulldog girls having the weekend off, Ava preparing for Greater Lansing. Portage again saves the day, with Katie Berkshire, Emma Drnek, Elena Figueroa, and Courtney Bovair all facing one another.

In championship action, perhaps Natalie Foltz in line for a Greater Flint crown? Mea D’Agostino hoping to crack the top-five against Oakland County’s best?

Top 30

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	159.9
4	12	Emma Drnek	Zeeland East	159.0
5	12	Elena Figueroa	St. Joseph	156.1
6	12	Courtney Bovair	Carleton Airport	155.8
7	10	Clara Kaczor	Freeland	153.6
8	11	Berkley Holtz	Sturgis	151.0
9	10	Jaelyn Ray	Pinckney	148.7
10	12	Sophy Skeels	Adrian	147.2
11	11	Natalie Foltz	Frankenmuth	146.9
12	11	Ellie Scholma	Grand Rapids Christian	144.9
13	12	Ayla Holben	DeWitt	144.6
14	10	Adeline Armstrong	East Grand Rapids	144.2
15	11	Marie Gates	Hudsonville Unity Christian	143.8
16	10	Ayda Skeels	Adrian	143.0
17	9	Adalyn Raab	Zeeland East	142.1
18	12	Mea D’Agostino	Orchard Lake St. Mary’s	141.2
19	10	Johanna Mulder	Holland	140.9
20	12	Grace Evanoff	Flint Powers Catholic	140.3
21	11	Meredith Cook	Zeeland East	139.3
22	10	Alivia Ottinger	Goodrich	138.8
23	10	Annabelle Lowman	Ludington	137.7
24	9	Remie Ellis	Eaton Rapids	137.4
25	12	Ava Crews	Middleville Thornapple-Kellogg	137.1
26	11	Lilah Poel	Grand Rapids Christian	137.1
27	9	Avery Engbers	Holland Christian	136.6
28	10	Mia May	Sparta	136.4
29	12	Kamryn Lauinger	Goodrich	135.5
30	10	Lane Isom	Richland Gull Lake	134.8

Week 3

The above link contains the best explanation of the year.

Week 4
Mid-Season Projections – Boys
Mid-Season Projections – Girls

These rankings contain meets through Saturday (9/28). If a runner has had a rated race since September 1st, they’re included (sadly, I have to account for injured athletes). These are for fun and done for free. Enjoy!

Recap

Skip ahead two weeks and it’s still the triumvirate of Traverse City St. Francis, Jackson Lumen Christi, and Ithaca. Neither of three faced off against one another over these past few weeks, but we did see the Glads and Yellowjackets both at Shepherd. The GladPack was still in form, placing five boys under 17:00 in the elite field, placing 10^th of 36, still ahead of many ranked teams in D1/D2. Placed in the Gold Division, Ithaca faced many ranked D3 teams (Covenant, Hart, Charlevoix, Bath), and escaped with a 9-point victory. Landen Styka and Miingen Bertrand were enough up front, quietly improving freshman Christopher Shemes pulling up in the fifth spot to secure the victory.

Lumen Christi came out ahead of ranked foes at both DeWitt and Jackson. This past weekend, a surging Lansing Catholic gave the Titans a test in the middle of the pack, but the front runnin’ of Ziggy Dinverno and Leo Swager gave enough of a gap to secure a win. Over the rolling Sharp Park hills, a similar match took place against D4’s Hillsdale Academy, the Green n’ Gold having the requisite strength through five to earn another win.

Looking Forward

There’s very little distinction between teams ranked 4^th and beyond. Luckily, there is a solution, the great separator: Portage

#1 Traverse City St. Francis
#2 Jackson Lumen Christi
#4 Saugatuck
#5 Pewamo-Westphalia
#7 Hanover-Horton
#8 Covenant Christian
#9 Central Montcalm
#10 Buchanan

Separation will occur.

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.	Last Week
1	Traverse City St. Francis	96	19	191.2	1
2	Jackson Lumen Christi	212	23	184.1	2
3	Ithaca	245	25	182.8	3
4	Saugatuck	326	22	173.7	4
5	Pewamo-Westphalia	347	24	173.6	7
6	Lansing Catholic	360	26	172.5	8
7	Hanover-Horton	363	23	175.3	6
8	Grand Rapids Covenant Christian	383	21	173.9	5
9	Stanton Central Montcalm	412	24	175.2	9
10	Buchanan	458	22	168.6	10
11	Charlevoix	474	19	173.3	11
12	Flat Rock	530	27	172.2	14
13	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	550	21	166.9	12
14	Reed City	556	20	169.7	15
15	Jonesville	563	23	168.0	13
16	Hart	619	20	162.5	16
17	Benzie Central	674	20	162.6	17
18	Bath	700	24	162.7	19
19	Leslie	716	26	159.5	20
20	Holland Black River	723	21	161.0	18
21	Union City	735	22	160.9	21
22	The Potter’s House	836	21	156.9	NR
23	Montague	842	21	156.5	22
24	Sanford-Meridian	904	25	156.8	24
25	Erie Mason	907	27	154.8	25
26	Lake City	909	20	155.2	23
27	Ann Arbor Greenhills	920	26	153.6	NR

Recap

The Pirates are making headways. Ranked #1 in the preseason, Pewamo-Westphalia had bided their time before a big performance at Bluejay. Running against all the big schools and elite teams, the Pirates proved they belong. Up front, with Whitney Werner and Alyssa Kramer. Packed up in the middle, all seven under 21:35. The kind of performance that gets on podiums in November.

The greatest divergence between the coaches poll and the speed ratings concerns the top spot here. Coaches have ranked Lansing Catholic fifth, trending towards second. I’ve had them first the entire time. Each could be valid. There’s a certainty to their running, putting six girls under 21 at both Cougar Falcon and DeWitt is enough to result in wins.

Looking Forward

Sadly, no matchup between the Cougars and Pirates, that’ll have to wait until Greater Lansing. However, at Portage, there’s ample opportunity for P-W to move up. The Blue n’ Yellow swashbucklers will go against:

#3 Traverse City St. Francis
#4 Central Montcalm
#5 Lumen Christi
#7 Benzie Central
#9 Hart
#10 McBain

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.	Last Week
1	Lansing Catholic	182	26	117.8	1
2	Pewamo-Westphalia	205	24	121.3	3
3	Traverse City St. Francis	222	19	117.4	2
4	Stanton Central Montcalm	277	24	119.1	4
5	Jackson Lumen Christi	288	23	109.2	5
6	Ithaca	355	25	101.9	6
7	Benzie Central	370	20	103.1	7
8	Leslie	434	26	100.4	8
9	GR Covenant Christian	492	21	93.3	10
10	Hart	497	20	91.5	9
11	McBain	608	20	87.4	11
12	Clare	621	19	86.6	12
13	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	629	21	92.1	16
14	Saugatuck	637	22	86.9	14
15	Blissfield	675	27	89.7	15
16	Grass Lake	678	27	80.0	18
17	Midland Bullock Creek	686	25	84.1	13
18	Remus Chippewa Hills	734	20	79.0	17
19	Grandville Calvin Christian	738	21	79.7	21
20	Onsted	749	23	85.6	19
21	Ann Arbor Greenhills	776	26	79.3	20
22	Laingsburg	821	24	74.5	26
23	Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian	894	21	70.3	22
24	Union City	937	22	73.2	25
25	Schoolcraft	946	22	68.0	27
26	Bronson	951	23	77.5	NR
27	Lake City	975	20	70.1	23

Individual Rankings

Recap

On the right day, he potentially has the best ability. We’ve seen it at last year’s State Finals. In June and a month earlier at Bluejay, too.That potential doesn’t mean much until it comes to fruition, showing it can be proved. Gus Rohde proved he’s entering the prime time of the year in a good enough condition to be in contention. His 15:40 at Bluejay matched his time from last year, in a setting that seemed a bit tougher than twelve months ago.

As the day wore on at Sharp Park, the temps heated up and so did the racing. Two winning candidates, Mitchell Hiatt and Ziggy Dinverno raced head-to-head, Hiatt claiming a 10-sec. victory while Dinverno sped to a PR. The following week at Stockbridge, the momentum gained from that win was able to pay off to the tune of a 15:22, 15 sec. faster than 2023 and now the #2 time in Division 3.

Looking Forward

Who will be at Portage? Five of the top-10 guys:

#2 Josh Slocum
#3 Gage Hoffman
#5 Ziggy Dinverno
#8 William Ready
#9 Levi Kamps

Gus Rohde will be testing his mettle on the tough Pine River course. Jacob Stanislawski has been on the move and will face another opportunity for growth in a competitive field at Wayne County.

Top 30

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating
1	12	Gus Rohde	Reed City	205.7
2	12	Josh Slocum	Traverse City St. Francis	205.4
3	11	Gage Hoffman	Stanton Central Montcalm	204.0
4	12	Mitchell Hiatt	Onsted	203.8
5	12	Isaiah Dinverno	Jackson Lumen Christi	203.0
6	11	Landen Styka	Ithaca	202.8
7	11	Jacob Stanislawski	Flat Rock	197.9
8	10	William Ready	Traverse City St. Francis	196.5
9	12	Levi Kamps	Grand Rapids Covenant Christian	196.2
10	12	Miingen Bertrand	Ithaca	196.2
11	12	Landon Pestrue	St. Louis	195.8
12	12	Leo Swager	Jackson Lumen Christi	194.9
13	12	Landen Boulis	Hanover-Horton	194.5
14	10	Hunter Eaton	Charlevoix	194.0
15	12	Matthias Morse	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	192.3
16	11	Noah Devereaux	Laingsburg	191.3
17	10	Caleb Blonde	Jonesville	191.2
18	10	Luke Herron	Caro	190.3
19	11	Tyler Leach	Otisville LakeVille	190.2
20	9	Nole Lorenzen	Rochester Hills Lutheran NW	189.6
21	12	Tyler Heal	Sanford-Meridian	189.3
22	12	Nathan Vargo	Flat Rock	188.1
23	11	Robert Dykhouse	Manton	187.9
24	9	Owen Poppema	Bath	187.9
25	12	Owen Read	Traverse City St. Francis	187.0
26	12	Robby Myler	Traverse City St. Francis	185.8
27	12	Daniel Mandujano	Watervliet	185.6
28	11	Jayden Fox	Saginaw Valley Lutheran	185.0
29	10	Ryder Hopkins	Charlevoix	184.8
30	9	Christian Craanen	Monroe St. Mary CC	184.6

Recap

The Bluejay Boost was in full effect at Shepherd, three D3 girls using the elite field as a great opportunity to move up in these rankings. Kyah Hoffman added another anecdote that proves her love of this course. She’s set personal bests there as a sophomore, junior, and now senior. Whitney Werner dropped 35+ seconds from her previous Shepherd performance. Alyssa Kramer dropped 150+ seconds. Golly, she’s a totally different runner.

Looking Forward

A rare scenario of two separate top-10 matchups!

At Portage:

#1 Kyah Hoffman
#3 Whitney Werner
#4 Betsy Skendzel
#6 Lila Volkers
#8 Alyssa Kramer

Over the fast track at Hudson:

#2 Emmry Ross
#9 Hailey Creisher
#10 Hope Miller

I’ll likely make an exception to do the math on this one, as Kamryn Salladay will attempt to conquer the State’s Toughest Course^TM, Baker Woods. Typical early season speed ratings show a 2-3 min. adjustment, though those are always volatile. I’m curious to see how the course runs on Friday.

Top 30

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating
1	12	Kyah Hoffman	Stanton Central Montcalm	163.6
2	12	Emmry Ross	Onsted	157.5
3	12	Whitney Werner	Pewamo-Westphalia	153.0
4	12	Betsy Skendzel	Traverse City St. Francis	150.9
5	12	Eliza Bush	Ypsilanti Arbor Preparatory	148.6
6	12	Lila Volkers	Kent City	146.6
7	10	Kamryn Salladay	Lakeview	146.2
8	10	Alyssa Kramer	Pewamo-Westphalia	145.5
9	11	Hailey Creisher	Leslie	143.2
10	11	Hope Miller	Blissfield	142.5
11	11	Bella LaFountain	Monroe St. Mary CC	141.0
12	12	Grace VanderKooi	Muskegon Western Michigan Christian	138.9
13	10	Samantha Schroeder	Jackson Lumen Christi	137.9
14	12	Ashley Choponis	Stanton Central Montcalm	137.0
15	10	Isabelle Sliter	Fennville	135.8
16	9	Elliana Max	Kent City	133.3
17	10	Shelby Kuiper	GR Covenant Christian	130.1
18	12	Ava Hathaway	Bronson	129.8
19	9	Josie Bishop	Lansing Catholic	129.4
20	11	Grace Coston	Stanton Central Montcalm	128.6
21	9	Caelyn Torry	McBain	127.6
22	11	Mattie Gagne	Midland Bullock Creek	127.2
23	12	Chloe Stalhood	Hillsdale	126.6
24	10	Grace Wonch	Lansing Catholic	126.2
25	12	Nora Grossnickle	Benzie Central	125.9
26	12	Kaya Vrable	Caro	125.7
27	10	Sophia Buzzelli	Clare	123.5
28	9	Avery Kelly	Benzie Central	123.0
29	11	Ashlynn Harris	Bronson	121.8
30	12	Mary Masserant	Traverse City St. Francis	121.5

October is here.

Week 3

The above link contains the best explanation of the year.

Week 4
Mid-Season Projections – Boys
Mid-Season Projections – Girls

These rankings contain meets through Saturday (9/28). If a runner has had a rated race since September 1st, they’re included (sadly, I have to account for injured athletes). These are for fun and done for free. Enjoy!

Recap

Hillsdale Academy is still holdin’ it down in the top spot. The Colts took last weekend off, perhaps a necessity after their whirlwind of a race at Jackson. Seven under 18:00, competing right there with top D3 teams such as Lumen Christi, Jonesville, and Hanover-Horton. Hillsdale placed 2^nd in that loaded field.

There hasn’t been much movement within this top ten, but if you glance at point totals (scored against the entire division), you’ll see teams on the verge of moving up the rankings. Maple City Glen Lake is one, fresh off their outstanding performance in the Jays Division at Bluejay. Five top-10 teams dotted that division, Glen Lake beat out the closest one by 35 points.

Looking Forward

Championship season means big meets and simpler writings for me. Portage is a big meet and D4’s best boys teams will be well-represented. Amongst the top teams will be:

#1 Hillsdale Academy
#3 Holland Calvary Christian
#7 Kalamazoo Hackett
#8 Whitmore Lake
#9 White Cloud
#10 Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart

And heck, even a #11 Bridgman. Many others as well.

This summer’s Top Tens post wondered where Royal Oak Shrine might finish in the Oakland County Championship. The summer thought was a top-15 finish, though they’ve outperformed those inclinations thus far this season. We’ll wait until Friday for the actual projections.

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.	Last Week
1	Hillsdale Academy	136	34	175.3	1
2	Royal Oak Shrine	226	36	169.7	2
3	Holland Calvary Christian	243	31	164.7	3
4	Mason County Eastern	296	29	162.7	4
5	Maple City Glen Lake	300	29	166.1	5
6	Harbor Springs	339	28	157.5	6
7	Kalamazoo Hackett	381	32	162.8	7
8	Whitmore Lake	405	33	155.7	9
9	White Cloud	441	31	154.2	8
10	Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart	543	30	146.6	14
11	Bridgman	552	32	148.6	10
12	Dansville	570	33	147.8	12
13	Dryden	593	35	142.5	11
14	Harbor Beach	627	35	143.4	15
15	Grand Traverse Academy	638	29	139.6	16
16	Unionville-Sebewaing	655	35	139.5	13
17	Auburn Hills Oakland Christian	655	36	139.2	21
18	Tri-Unity Christian	656	31	142.8	18
19	Manchester	667	34	139.1	20
20	Petoskey St. Michael	668	28	141.0	19
21	Lutheran Westland	669	36	138.0	17
22	Riverview Gabriel Richard	695	36	138.0	22
23	Marlette	725	35	133.8	25
24	Cardinal Mooney Catholic	732	36	133.7	23
25	Frankfort	751	29	132.8	24
26	Webberville	800	33	129.8	NR
27	Mesick	831	29	136.0	27

Recap

Whitmore Lake has grabbed onto the top spot and isn’t letting go. The Trojans have benefitted from placing themselves in elite fields, then racing as if they belong (they do). 18^th of 33 at Shepherd, 4^th of 23 at Goodells. Both places contained races full of D1/D2 teams.

Breckenridge moved up quite a bit in these past two weeks. The main reason – a standout performance up the road at Bluejay. The Jays Division was home to many D4 teams, five now ranked in the top-17. Maizy Matthews had the best race of her freshman year, vaulting the Huskies into 2^nd (and 1^st amongst D4 outfits).

Looking Forward

More Portage! If there weren’t a thousand teams competing there, I’d actually attempt to predict how it’ll go down. Instead, we’ll let the results of these top teams speak for themselves:

#1 Whitmore Lake
#2 Breckenridge
#3 Hillsdale Academy
#5 Bridgman
#6 Kalamazoo Hackett
#7 Gobles
#10 Grand Traverse Academy

We’ll also get a tiny Region 36 preview over at Possum Hollow, with a surging #8 Auburn Hills Oakland Christian facing #9 Royal Oak Shrine.

Top 27

Rank	Team	Score	Region	Top 5 Avg.	Last Week
1	Whitmore Lake	144	33	110.1	1
2	Breckenridge	207	30	93.3	4
3	Hillsdale Academy	213	34	89.4	3
4	Harbor Springs	233	28	90.0	2
5	Bridgman	239	32	87.2	5
6	Kalamazoo Hackett	280	32	84.9	6
7	Gobles	305	31	89.1	7
8	Auburn Hills Oakland Christian	311	36	86.9	10
9	Royal Oak Shrine	352	36	74.6	8
10	Grand Traverse Academy	395	29	73.0	9
11	Ubly	428	35	67.9	11
12	Vestaburg	473	30	73.0	12
13	Lansing Christian	507	33	62.7	14
14	Unionville-Sebewaing	513	35	62.5	13
15	Buckley	533	29	59.7	17
16	Martin	541	31	62.6	15
17	Maple City Glen Lake	541	29	59.9	16
18	Bear Lake-Onekama	576	29	61.3	NR
19	Harbor Beach	590	35	55.6	19
20	Holland Calvary Christian	609	31	53.9	27
21	Clarkston Everest Collegiate	670	33	47.0	20
22	Beal City	673	30	46.9	18
23	Leland	684	29	40.1	21
24	Fowler	694	31	35.5	NR
25	Rogers City	699	28	44.6	23
26	Plymouth Christian Academy	742	36	45.2	22
27	Mason County Eastern	755	29	40.6	24

Individual Rankings

Recap

Week after week, he’s inching closer and closer. First a solid 16:04 on the hot Holly hills, then a personal best at Goodells, a 15:49. Then in the misty morning, being pushed by the D1 boys, a 15:43. Abenezer Cerone is entering his name into the fray for the D4 crown.

Frontrunner Marek Butkiewicz is matching those efforts. I remarked on the Week 3 rankings that, compared to last season, he had averaged 56 sec. faster per race. At Otsego, that difference was more than a minute. 15:27 this time around, clear of the D4 field by 75+ seconds.

Looking Forward

Unfortunately, we won’t be witness to a showdown between the above two. But we’ll see Abenezer Cerone at Oakland County, where he placed 17^th last year. He’s probably a bet to place in the top-10, if not higher. Anyhow, it’ll be a solid bellwether for how he performs come November.

Although the high-profile matchup doesn’t exist, we’ll see some clarity from further down the line. Grayson Rorick, Landen Livingston, Landon Rogers, Cody Bradley, and Brody Karg are all listed one after another, separated by 5 seconds (1.7 rating points). And they’ll all be on the line south of Kalamazoo.

Top 30

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating
1	11	Marek Butkiewicz	Kalamazoo Hackett	206.6
2	11	Abenezer Cerone	Royal Oak Shrine	205.5
3	12	Theodore Davis	Dansville	199.7
4	10	Kyle Redman	Mesick	198.0
5	12	Colebrook Sutherland	Maple City Glen Lake	195.7
6	12	Mason Sinke	Bear Lake-Onekama	193.1
7	12	Alex Tyndall	Mason County Eastern	192.1
8	11	Grayson Rorick	Hillsdale Academy	190.0
9	11	Landen Livingston	Whitmore Lake	189.8
10	11	Landon Rogers	Three Oaks River Valley	189.5
11	11	Cody Bradley	Petoskey St. Michael	188.8
12	11	Brody Karg	Harbor Beach	188.3
13	12	Austin Sneed	East Jordan	187.4
14	11	Sean Siems	Kalamazoo Hackett	186.8
15	12	Tyler Laansma	Tri-Unity Christian	184.9
16	10	Ty Redman	Mesick	184.7
17	10	Jacob Ferdubinski	Riverview Gabriel Richard	183.9
18	12	Coleson Cruzan	White Cloud	183.3
19	12	Teddy Ippel	Bridgman	182.6
20	12	Andrew Mabry	Bridgman	180.6
21	10	Abraham Feeney	Maple City Glen Lake	180.3
22	10	Wesley Chaffee	Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart	179.3
23	10	Noah Schipper	Holland Calvary Christian	178.6
24	12	Reece Poole	Hillsdale Academy	177.6
25	11	Carter Clark	Carson City-Crystal	176.7
26	11	Grant Johnson	Manchester	176.3
27	10	Anthony Rowe	Breckenridge	176.3
28	9	Lincoln Laansma	Tri-Unity Christian	176.0
29	11	Luke Molenkamp	Hillsdale Academy	173.7
30	10	Vern Clyne	Auburn Hills Oakland Christian	173.6

Recap

The first race in 2024’s fall where she’s been pushed, chasing another girl, Kaylie Livingston responded like the competitor that she’s shown herself to be. Her 17:55 in the elite field at Bluejay was her first sub-18 of the year and 40+ seconds clear of any D4 girls.

Mentioned earlier was Oakland Christian’s surge into the 8^th spot. You can thank the ascending Eliza Keith for that. She just nabbed her first sub-19 ever, which was preceded by a 29^th place finish in that same elite field. I should remind you that Eliza was 2^nd at MIS as a sophomore and 3x All-State.

Looking Forward

Of course, Kaylie Livingston will be at Portage, hoping to add to her trophy case from the illustrious meet.

Of interest also in the D4 race will be the highly anticipated freshman Callie Sinke, who has recently debuted with wins in her first WMD Jamboree and at Bluejay. Taking the trek down 31 as well is Jane Manthei, who’s quietly run three sub-20’s thus far.

Just as Cerone, Eliza Keith will race all the big school girls at Kensington. She hasn’t raced there since 2021, where she placed 57^th with a 21:39. I think she’s a lil’ faster, perhaps top-10 faster?

Top 30

Rank	Grade	Name	Team	Rating
1	10	Kaylie Livingston	Whitmore Lake	159.9
2	12	Allie Nowak	Johannesburg-Lewiston	149.9
3	12	Abigail Davis	Vestaburg	144.2
4	10	Libby Smith	Gobles	142.3
5	12	Eliza Keith	Auburn Hills Oakland Christian	136.0
6	12	Izzy Brooks	Adrian Lenawee Christian	132.5
7	9	Callie Sinke	Bear Lake-Onekama	129.7
8	12	Jane Manthei	Petoskey St. Michael	128.3
9	11	Carina Burchi	Whitmore Lake	121.5
10	11	Taylor Wiegand	Livingston Christian	120.6
11	10	Stefi Reskevics	Harbor Springs	119.0
12	12	Ella Knudsen	Leland	118.3
13	11	Ally Schmitz	Breckenridge	116.2
14	11	Eleanor Cole	Lutheran Westland	113.8
15	12	Natalie Gibbs	Birmingham Roeper	113.6
16	11	Emma Riker	Kalamazoo Hackett	112.5
17	10	Addy Zeller	Bear Lake-Onekama	112.1
18	11	Lilah Kiley	Kingston	112.1
19	11	Elodie Weaver	Whitmore Lake	112.0
20	10	Veyda Conley	Martin	111.3
21	12	Presley Allen	Mendon	110.7
22	10	Lauren Shaffer	Gobles	109.9
23	12	Danica Aldrich	Breckenridge	108.7
24	9	Carmella Julian	Maple City Glen Lake	105.3
25	10	Lydia Gleason	Auburn Hills Oakland Christian	105.1
26	12	Kelcie Pung	Fowler	104.5
27	12	Melanie Warren	Bridgman	103.6
28	10	Claire Long	Saginaw Nouvel	103.4
29	12	Juniper Rodham	Harbor Springs	103.4
30	10	Harlie Fox	Johannesburg-Lewiston	101.5