Changes Pay Off for D3 Boys Champ
November 2, 2013
By Bill Khan
Special to Second Half
BROOKLYN — It wasn't all putting in extra miles and running at a higher intensity.
For Lansing Catholic junior Keenan Rebera, it was going to take a lifestyle change if he was going to climb the final four places to become the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 cross country champion.
The changes paid off for Rebera, who cruised to the Division 3 title with a time of 15:31.0 on a mud-slicked Michigan International Speedway course on Saturday.
A year ago, Rebera took fifth at MIS in 15:42.5, 37.4 seconds out of first place. He made it a point to get at least eight hours of sleep and cut out anything acidic from his diet, including soda.
"I was really sick last year when I ran, so I made some changes in the way I trained, the way I slept and the way I ate," he said. "I'm a lot healthier. I have more energy. I came back here with a grudge against this course."
Chase Barnett of Mason County Central shot out to the lead before Rebera reeled him in and began to open up an insurmountable gap as he ran the first mile in 4:40. Barnett finished second in 16:00.9.
"After that first hill, I sped up," Rebera said. "I realized it was going to be a little bit slow, so I wanted to keep up the pace."
The third mile was the roughest of the race, he said. Not only was fatigue mounting, but runners went through the muddiest part of the course. The pain went away as Rebera took what was essentially a victory lap down the long straightaway at MIS.
"It hurt really bad right before that, but when people started cheering there and there was a little less mud, it felt good," he said.
Rebera is the second Lansing Catholic runner in the last three years to win the individual title. Zachary Zingsheim was the school's first MHSAA champ two years ago in 15:48.2.
Rebera was hoping his performance would lead the Cougars to a team championship, but they took third with 189 points.
The Benzie Central dynasty rolled to another championship by a 111-129 margin over runner-up Stockbridge.
It was the seventh title for Benzie Central, which has cracked the top 10 for 20 straight years.
The Huskies returned five runners from a team that took fourth last season for the second year in a row. A huge addition was freshman Brayden Huddleston, who was the team's No. 2 runner and 17th among team runners in 16:41.5. Junior Kyle Bradley led Benzie, taking 14th among team runners in 16:39.4.
Also scoring for the Huskies were senior Max Gaft (19th, 16:48.1), senior Ismael Halaweh (30th, 17:07.9) and sophomore Jake Williams (31st, 17:08.3). Williams' performance made a huge difference, as he came in 27 places ahead of Stockbridge's No. 5 runner among team finishers.
PHOTO: Lansing Catholic's Keenan Rebera rounds the bend at MIS on the way to winning the LP Division 3 championship Saturday. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)
Saugatuck Follows Gorgas to 1st in D4
November 3, 2018
Second Half reports
BROOKLYN — Saugatuck senior Corey Gorgas raised his arms as he hit the finish line, but the day wasn’t all about him.
Moments after he completed a solo victory lap to the finish to win the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 individual cross country championship, he turned around and began looking for teammates.
He didn’t have to search for long.
One Saugatuck runner after another came streaming across the line, matching Gorgas’ individual dominance by placing five scoring runners within the top 30. The Indians scored 62 points to win their fourth MHSAA championship in six years by 40 over 2017 champion Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart on Saturday at Michigan International Speedway.
“Our (Nos.) 4 and 5 pulled through and had the race of their lives,” Gorgas said. “This is crazy. We won our sophomore year in D3, stayed in D3 last year and got killed. That was one of the hardest things I ever had to go through was the 12th-place finish. Coming back this year with young guys like Adam (Martinson) and new kids Tristan (Ashley) and Winston (Marcy), for them to pull through and get us a state championship like that means so much. I’m just so happy right now we pulled this off.”
Gorgas became Saugatuck’s first individual champion with a time of 15:33.8. Sophomore Nik Pettinga was third in 16:18.0, freshman Max Sharnas 15th in 17:04.9, senior Ray Bartlett 28th in 17:11.4 and junior Winston Marcy 30th in 17:16.5. All five scoring runners made all-state.
Sacred Heart had solid depth, but couldn’t match Saugatuck’s strength up front. The Irish’s first runner was 17th-place T.J. Moore (17:06.7). Sacred Heart put five runners in the top 35, with Brook Lynch taking 20th (17:07.2), Chase Nelson 21st (17:07.3), Matthew Nowak 33rd (17:30.2) and Josh Lynch 35th (17:33.7).
“We were going against the defending champ,” Gorgas said. “They have a great team, great coach, great program. We knew they were going to be tough to beat. We put in a lot of work this summer. I’m glad the guys were able to pull it off with me.”
Gorgas ran the fifth-fastest winning time in Division 4 in the 20 years of the divisional format for cross country.
He won seven of eight meets this year, finishing second by 4.1 seconds to 2017 Division 1 champion Nick Foster of Ann Arbor Pioneer in the Spartan Elite race at the Spartan Invitational on Sept. 14. That race featured many of the top teams in Divisions 1 and 2.
It was the fourth all-state performance for Gorgas, who was 11th in Division 4 as a freshman, then fourth in the last two Division 3 races. He’s the first Saugatuck boy to win an MHSAA individual title.
“It was definitely different, especially last year, being in Division 3, I had so many guys (around me),” Gorgas said. “I was fourth last year. That was a rough race. Coming back down this year, being able to focus and train through a lot of this stuff so I could focus on postseason meets was huge for me.”
Gorgas hit the mile mark in 5:00.12, holding a five-second lead over Luke Pohl of Plymouth Christian. Gorgas stayed strong with a 5:02.05 second mile to expand his lead to 21 seconds.
“Luke Pohl got out pretty hard, so I kind of caught him around the 800-meter mark,” Gorgas said. “I went around him there to throw in a big surge so I could pull away from him. From the mile in, I was all alone.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Saugatuck’s Corey Gorgas pushes through the closing stretch in winning the Division 4 individual championship Saturday. (Middle) Gorgas and Nik Pettinga, right, embrace after Pettinga crossed in third place. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)