Friendly Foes Deliver Division 1 Show
November 2, 2019
Second Half reports
BROOKLYN – Carter Solomon could finally relax, a luxury he couldn’t afford himself for almost 3.1 miles.
The Plymouth senior had the fastest time in the state this fall and was fourth in the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championship last year, accomplishments that didn’t intimidate the other two runners who clung to Solomon in pursuit of the same dream.
When Solomon had finally shaken his rivals and was in the clear, he thrust his arms in the air in a display of emotion he rarely showed while winning races all season.
He had finally checked off the final box on one of the best high school cross country careers in Michigan history.
Solomon won the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 individual championship at Michigan International Speedway with a time of 15:01.2, the fastest time in any division Saturday.
“I think I came in as the favorite, but coming away with it still means a whole lot,” Solomon said. “People had me as the favorite, but these guys are coming for me. In my head, I was the third guy coming into this race. These guys are legit. I raced how I wanted to race, and it worked out.”
In his career, Solomon won a team championship with Plymouth last year, made All-America at Foot Locker and put himself in select company by earning all-state for the fourth time Saturday.
Solomon placed in the top 18 all four years. The only boy to accomplish that feat in the MHSAA’s largest classification since separate team and individual races were discontinued in 1996 was Rockford legend Dathan Ritzenhein, who made the top five four years in a row from 1997-2000.
Only two other boys have even been four-time all-staters in the top classification: Lake Orion’s T.J. Carey (2009-12) and Brighton’s Zach Stewart (2016-19).
Running stride for stride with Solomon for much of the race were Clarkston senior Brendan Favazza and Brighton senior Jack Spamer. Favazza finished second in 15:06.0, and Spamer was third in 15:17.1.
“It helps when you’re best friends with him,” Favazza said of Solomon. “He pulled up right beside me when I took the lead and he said, ‘Let’s go one and two together; this is it.’ I’m like, ‘This is the guy. I’m sticking with him the whole way.’”
While Spamer was third in the battle for the individual championship, he got the prize that Solomon and his teammates won last year.
With Spamer in third and Stewart in fourth in 15:30.7, Brighton won its first MHSAA championship since 1995 and third overall by a 136-154 margin over Dexter.
Senior Scott Spaanstra was 31st in 16:05.4, just missing an all-state berth by one place. Sophomore Evan Ross took 46th in 16:17.6, and senior Andrew Hanna took 114th in 16:45.8 to complete Brighton’s scoring.
It was the fourth MHSAA Final meet for Stewart and Spaanstra and the third for Spamer, but the other four Brighton runners were competing at MIS for the first time.
“We didn’t need to run any A-plus races,” Stewart said. “We just needed to have an average day. We came out and did that.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Plymouth’s Carter Solomon (105) pulls to the front of the pack near the start of the Division 1 Final on Saturday. (Middle) Brighton’s Zach Stewart stays a few paces ahead of Plymouth’s Patrick Byrnes as the two went on to finish fourth and fifth, respectively. (Photos by Matt Yacoub/RunMichigan.com.)
Marquette Carrying Confidence Into Finals After Downstate, Out-of-State Successes
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
October 20, 2023
MARQUETTE — Marquette’s cross country teams are both seeking to continue championship runs at Saturday’s Upper Peninsula Finals at Farmhouse Cross Country Course in Gladstone – the girls for the second-straight season and the boys attempting a fifth-straight title.
Their travels far and wide this fall have the teams confident that success will continue.
The Marquette girls did something Sept. 15 no other Upper Peninsula team had been able to do, winning the Green division race at the Spartan Invitational at Michigan State University by edging Novi 142-143.
That was the first of multiple successful trips downstate, and Marquette also ran exceptionally closer to home and in Wisconsin against some of that state’s elite.
“I think we’re just really excited,” junior Monet Argeropoulos said. “We’re really looking forward to pushing each other as a team. That’s what keeps us strong. We just need to go down there and take care of business.”
Sophomore Ella Fure was seventh individually at MSU, and senor Abby Harma ran ninth against a field of Lower Peninsula Division 1 schools.
“That’s probably the highlight of the season from a team standpoint,” Fure said during Tuesday’s practice at the Marquette High School track. “We were all crying. At first they announced Novi had won from the unofficial results. We were a little disappointed, although we gave our best effort. Then they found a scoring error and discovered we had won. I think a lot of people were really excited. The car ride home was very good. It kind of flew by.”
After dominating the El Harger Invite at Munising on Sept. 26, Marquette traveled downstate and ran in the Shepherd Bluejay Invitational four days later where the boys placed fifth and the girls were 16th in the Elite division.
“It’s real different running downstate. We needed to get used to that situation and become more comfortable. I think our athletes know what to expect down there now,” Marquette coach Derek Marr said. “(The girls’) confidence really grew after winning at MSU, and a lot of that carried over into Shepherd.
“Many coaches believed the U.P. teams couldn’t compete downstate, and that upset me. I think we can compete with anybody if we believe in ourselves. We’ve trying to break that limitation.”
Marquette opened this season with two victories at home, dominating the Queen City Invitational on Aug. 18 and edging Macomb Dakota for the title in the Wildcat Invite on Aug. 26.
“I think that set the tone,” Harma said. “Downstate runners come up here for camps. They’re very fast. It’s easier to run fast with faster people. Winning the Spartan Invitational was very exciting, and three of us going under 20 minutes at Shepherd was a highlight. It has been a long time since a team from Marquette has done that.”
“I would say we had an exceptional season,” added junior Seppi Camilli, who covered the 3.1-mile course at Shepherd in a personal-best 16 minutes, two seconds. “Derek and Paige (assistant coach DuBois) did a great job preparing us. The girls winning by one point at Spartan was definitely the highlight. Competing downstate allowed us to exemplify our depth and talent. I think it makes us execute to show our skills.”
Senior Cullen Papin had similar thoughts about the early-season meets.
“Everybody showed up and really worked hard in our first meet,” Papin said. “In the Wildcat meet it was good to get pushed by the biggest school in the state, and it came down to a sixth-runner tie-breaker. That’s what it’s all about. It shows every runner is important.”
The Marquette boys were runners-up to nationally-ranked Stevens Point, Wis., at Neenah, and the girls placed fourth.
“That was definitely a confidence builder going down to Neenah,” Papin said. “It was exciting to see all the hard work the girls put in really pay off against some of the D-1 powers in the state at Spartan, and all seven of us going under 16:50 at Shepherd was cool. There’s lots of good teams down there.
“The atmosphere in practice is pretty good.”
John Vrancic has covered high school sports in the Upper Peninsula since joining the Escanaba Daily Press staff in 1985. He is known most prominently across the peninsula for his extensive coverage of cross country and track & field that frequently appears in newspapers from the Wisconsin border to Lake Huron. He received the James Trethewey Award for Distinguished Service in 2015 from the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.
PHOTOS (Top) Marquette's Ella Fure (526), Monet Argeropoulos (514) and Abby Harma (527) make up part of an early pack during the Wildcat Invitational. (Middle) Marquette's Seppi Camilli (497) runs to first place in the boys Wildcat race held on the campus of Northern Michigan University. (Photos by Cara Kamps.)