Hackett's Butkiewicz Runs to Record, Hillsdale Academy Runs to Repeat

November 2, 2024

BROOKLYN — After a hard-fought race, juniors Marek Butkiewicz of Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep and Abenezer Cerone of Royal Oak Shrine Catholic parked themselves on the ground at a fence near the finish line, clasped hands and exchanged congratulations with one another.

They looked like two old friends who have known each other forever but, truth is, they’ve met only a few times.

But in the Michigan high school running community, two runners from different parts of the state can form a bond that isn’t common among competitors in other sports.

Butkiewicz said he hasn’t raced against Cerone in cross country this year, but did during track & field season.

“It’s great,” Butkiewicz said after shattering the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 Finals record with a time of 15 minutes, 9.7 seconds Saturday at Michigan International Speedway.

“We all love communicating with each other and talking with each other. We’re just a super-close community. Every meet where we’re at and we’re all together, we’re all talking, we’re all having fun. It’s just a blast.”

It’s moments like the one the top two finishers shared while still exhausted after the race that make cross country special for Cerone.

“The running community is like no other,” he said after finishing second in 15:40.6. “I played a lot of sports, and there is no community like this one. We haven’t raced a lot, but for some reason I feel like we’re really good friends or we would be really good friends. That’s what I love about this sport.”

Hillsdale Academy’s Grayson Rorick (1238) and Dansville’s Theodore Davis sprint for position on the way to the finish line.Butkiewicz broke the Division 4 Finals record of 15:22.4 set by Tec Adams of Harbor Springs in 2008.

Although Butkiewicz won by a comfortable margin, he was very much uncomfortable after crossing the line, falling to the ground and needing help to get over to the fence where he would eventually connect with Cerone.

“I was just trying to put everything else I had into that finish, and I did,” Butkiewicz said. “I was on the ground at the end.”

Butkiewicz finished sixth at the Division 4 Cross Country Final last year before winning the 3,200-meter run in 9:25.52 and taking second in the 1,600 in 4:19.38 at the MHSAA Division 4 track meet.

“It means a lot, it really does,” he said. “I’ve worked so, so hard for this all season. Even from the end of track I knew I had a chance, so I wanted to do everything I could in the offseason and in season to get it done.

“It takes so much. It has to be your life. You have to dedicate every ounce of energy you have to doing this. I did that, and I made it possible and I won.”

Hillsdale Academy came into the meet ranked second in Division 4, but repeated as Finals team champion by winning for the third time in four years. The Colts scored 113 points to win by 40 over Holland Calvary.

Junior Grayson Rorick was fourth in 15:57.1 and senior Reece Poole eighth in 16:13.4 to lead Hillsdale Academy. Rorick has been in the lineup for all three of the Colts’ MHSAA championships, finishing as the fifth man as an eighth-grader in 2021.

Rounding out Hillsdale Academy’s scoring were junior James Rahe (37th in 16:55.9), junior Henry Lindley (47th in 17:05.4) and junior Luke Molenkamp (52nd in 17:12.8).

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PHOTOS (Top) Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep’s Marek Butkiewicz takes the final strides of his record-setting run Saturday at Michigan International Speedway. (Middle) Hillsdale Academy’s Grayson Rorick (1238) and Dansville’s Theodore Davis sprint for position on the way to the finish line. (Click for more from Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)

Norder Leaves No Doubt with 1st Finals Win, Northville Breaks Away for Repeat

November 4, 2023

BROOKLYN — All that stood between Grand Haven’s Seth Norder and his cross country dreams last year were 1.63 lousy seconds.

That was the margin when Norder took second place in the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final to then-senior Benne Anderson of Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills.

Looking back, Norder believed his mistake was allowing that race to come down to a sprint to the finish line.

He wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice.

When Norder looked over his shoulder down the stretch, he didn’t see a serious threat as he put the finishing touches on an individual Division 1 championship Saturday at Michigan International Speedway. Norder finished in 14:54.3.

Northville's Benjamin Hartigan (318) leads a pack down the stretch.Norder was part of a three-runner lead pack at the mile mark, closely pursued by about a dozen other hopefuls. By the two-mile mark, Norder opened up a 4.7-second lead over New Baltimore Anchor Bay senior Thomas Westphal, who would go on to finish second by 3.6 seconds.

“Last year, I lost on a sprint-off with like 200 (meters) to go,” Norder said. “I wasn’t going to let that happen again. I believed I had the strength to pull away from the field. I guess I had the strength and ended up holding it down that stretch. That felt like forever.”

Norder finally has a championship on his resume after placing second both of the last two years. As a sophomore, he finished 23.5 seconds behind Hartland senior Riley Hough, who went on to win the Eastbay National Cross Country Championship.

“It feels so good,” Norder said. “Sophomore year — I lost to Riley, OK. Junior year, I wanted to win. I lost by a second. I decided I wasn’t going to lose again. If I was going to lose, it was not going to be a sprint-off. It was going to be the toughest man.”

Norder did have one MHSAA championship going into Saturday, having won the 3,200-meter run in 9:04.68 on the track last spring.

The team championship came down to a clash between Kensington Lakes Activities Association rivals Northville and Brighton, who split four meetings during the regular season.

Northville emerged with a second straight championship, scoring 128 points to edge Brighton by 13. Norder’s Grand Haven team was third with 187 points.

Northville had three all-staters, with senior Brendan Herger placing third in 15:05.6, junior Ethan Powell 13th in 15:28.0 and sophomore Benjamin Hartigan 24th in 15:37.7. Rounding out the Mustangs’ team score were junior Nick Barretto in 16:05.1 and senior Nicholas Yaquinto in 16:14.8.

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PHOTOS (Top) Grand Haven's Seth Norder closes the MHSAA Finals with a Division 1 win Saturday. (Middle) Northville's Benjamin Hartigan (318) leads a pack down the stretch. (Photos by Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)