Fisher Chases History, Reigns Again in D1
November 1, 2014
By Bill Khan
Special for Second Half
BROOKLYN — Grant Fisher's only competitors in Michigan are ghosts from the past.
While the state currently has a strong crop of cross country runners, they can't even stay close to Fisher, the Grand Blanc senior who ended his MHSAA cross country career Saturday with one of the fastest times in Finals history.
The only question heading into the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 meet was whether Fisher could threaten the seemingly untouchable Michigan International Speedway record of 14:10.4 set by Rockford legend Dathan Ritzenhein in 2000.
High winds — the only thing that could touch Fisher on this day — ruled out that possibility before the race started. It would take perfect conditions for such a quest to be plausible.
Those hoping to see history had to "settle" for a dominating 14:52.5 effort by Fisher, well off the record but still one of the greatest performances the state has ever seen. His time ranks third in the 19-year history of racing at MIS behind Ritzenhein and former Rockford teammate Jason Hartmann, who ran 14:51 in 1998.
Ritzenhein is a three-time Olympian who once held the American 5,000-meter record. Hartmann finished in fourth place as the first American at the 2012 and 2013 Boston Marathons.
"Dathan is Dathan," Fisher said. "He's the best high school runner ever. For people to compare anything I've done to him, in my mind I shouldn't be compared to him ever, as nobody should. Dathan's in a class of his own.
“You can look at his professional career and it speaks for itself. I've met him a few times. He's a great guy and definitely someone I look up to."
Ovid-Elsie's Maverick Darling (14:52.8 in 2007) and Saline's Dustin Voss (14:54.45 in 2003) are the only other runners to break 15 minutes at MIS.
It was only the second time Fisher has broken 15 minutes. The first time came under ideal conditions in the Portage Invitational on Oct. 4, when he came within a second of Ritzenhein's course record with a time of 14:43.
"To do it at this venue means a lot," Fisher said. "You can look back, as everyone has recently, at some of the fast times people have turned in here. You see some of the big names that have gone on to do some pretty incredible things. To do it on this course with so much history and to do it with my teammates next to me means a lot."
Here's the scary part: Fisher still had at least one more gear in him.
His race plan was to cruise through the first mile, go hard in the second, cruise through a downhill stretch, then go hard down the final stretch. He took a look back while going around a curve just after the two-mile mark. He couldn't see anybody approaching, so he followed through with the plan.
"If someone was right on my heels, the race plan would've gone out the window and I'd have gone into race mode," said Fisher, who also is the reigning Foot Locker national champion after defeating a field in San Diego last winter.
The race for second place was much more exciting, with only 10.6 seconds separating the next eight finishers. Saline senior Logan Wetzel emerged from the battle as the runner-up in 15:19.2, 26.7 seconds behind Fisher. Anthony Berry of Traverse City Central was third in 15:21.1. Waterford Mott's Ryan Robinson, who was in second much of the race, took fifth in 15:25.4.
Junior Isaac Harding of Rockford was fourth in 15:23.2, leading Ritzenhein's former school to its first team championship since 2002.
The Rams won a tight three-way battle, scoring 140 points to edge White Lake Lakeland by six. Mott, the runner-up the last two years, was third with 148.
Rockford didn't have a senior in its lineup last year when it finished 12th in LP Division 1. Five of those seven runners were in the lineup Saturday, with one noteworthy addition. Freshman Cole Johnson was the team's No. 2 runner, placing 16th in 15:40.9. That's faster than Ritzenhein ran during his freshman year at Rockford, though his 16:22.3 was good for fifth place on a slow, muddy course in 1997.
Also scoring for Rockford were Paul Burke (57th, 16:13.2), Grayson Harding (58th, 16:13.5) and Grant Gabriel (102nd, 16:30.1).
Lakeland and Mott had five runners cross before Rockford, but the strength of its top two runners carried the Rams.
PHOTOS: (Top) Grand Blanc’s Grant Fisher finishes his second MHSAA Finals victory Saturday all alone on the final stretch. (Below) Saline’s Logan Wetzel and Traverse City Central’s Anthony Berry lead a tight pack racing for second place. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)
Gull Lake XC Extends Tradition Cross-State
October 4, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
In Randy Hunt’s mind, there was no way Richland Gull Lake’s cross country teams weren’t going to continuing their Homecoming tradition this fall – no matter how much farther they had to run.
Every year since 1993, Gull Lake’s runners have carried a game ball from their football opponent’s school to the Blue Devils’ stadium in advance of the Homecoming game. Previously, the longest trip was 72 miles from Niles.
But this fall, Gull Lake’s varsity didn’t have an opponent lined up for Homecoming until picking up Detroit Country Day – 138 miles to the east.
No problem. Over Thursday and Friday last week, past Farmington Hills, Ann Arbor, Jackson, Battle Creek and more, the Blue Devils again delivered the game ball.
“Our runners are amazing and up to any challenge,” Gull Lake girls coach Robin Blackburn said. “We originally heard that our opponent this year was Detroit Country Day; we thought our athletic director was joking! No joke, she was serious.
“Next thought, how are we going to make this happen? We had lots of crazy ideas. My favorite was putting a treadmill on a flatbed truck and having them run. Obviously we couldn’t do that, but we knew we had to do this over two days. Once we started planning and mapping the course, everything fell into place.”
Runners filled out cards with whom, when and how far they wanted to run, and then Blackburn and Hunt, the boys coach, built the plan. The first shift left Gull Lake for Country Day at 5:30 a.m. Thursday. Makenzie Wank, Betsy Martens, Sarah Grimes, Kayla Eklund, Grace Foster and Abby Bell – running in pairs in 4-mile increments – tackled the first 35 miles west.
The next shift left from Gull Lake at 10 a.m. headed for Northfield Township, north of Ann Arbor. Joel Blackburn, Nick Dawson, Koby Fraaza, Read Knapp, Nate Krawczyk and Nate Alpers – running 5-mile increments – tackled the next 45-mile leg of the relay and even were questioned by a local police officer as to what they were up to in the middle of nowhere on dirt road.
“Usually we like the ball to be continuous, but obviously with such a distance and safety concerns, we split this one up,” Hunt said. “The kids were excited to do it, and as coaches we knew it would create an awesome memory/story.
“I think the kids liked it because it got them out of school but also for the team bonding. I was impressed with their commitment to the tradition.”
Freshmen Kristian Shyiak and Cameron Perkins took Friday’s first leg from Jackson, a 6.4 mile stretch, followed by 10 more shifts – all planned to exact distance and arrival time, while parents joined in to taxi groups to their starting points and back to the school.
The plan was to finish with nearly a full lap at the track at 6:30 p.m., with the teams’ seniors then delivering the ball to the football officials at the 50-yard line. But with time getting short, the last group of four had to adjust, with each athlete running one mile as hard as he could to get the ball to the stadium and into the officials’ hands by 6:50 – and they made it with time to spare. “It was amazing to see the kids work so hard and do it gratefully,” Hunt said.
Others who took part in the relay were Lainie Scott, Lauren Adams, Sarah Donovan, Ashley Randall, Kaylie Murphy, Luke Larson, Zach Zahrt, Neil Gleason, Simon Hakman, Lilly Weigt, Jayne Flynn, Rachel Grimes, Justin Walker, John Porter, Tyler Ford, David Larson, Ruby Risser, Lija Krasts, Nick Martens, Elly Whitfield, Aelita Klausmeier, Lorelei Hess and Oliver Harnden.
“Cross Country doesn’t get a lot of coverage, but this even got the community involved and following our updates on Facebook and Instagram,” Blackburn said.
“We are about being a family. We do a lot outside of practice to build our unity. This was a special moment in our family – one none of us will forget.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Starting top left at Detroit Country Day, groups of Gull Lake cross country runners take turns carrying the game ball during their nearly 140-mile trek to Richland last week. (Middle) Blue Devils runners take their turn on a country road. (Below) All of the runners join together for the final stretch on Gull Lake’s track. (Photos courtesy of the Gull Lake cross country program.)