Marquette, Jeffers, Reigning D3 Champs Sweep UP Boys Titles
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
October 23, 2021
MARQUETTE — The Marquette boys team achieved a three-peat here in Saturday’s Upper Peninsula Division 1 Cross Country Finals, placing four in the top seven and scoring 32 points.
They were followed by Sault Ste. Marie with 48 and Houghton with 75.
“Marquette is probably the best team we’ve had up here in 20 years,” said Sault coach Jim Martin. “We knew they were going to be tough. We also had a real good team this year, probably our best team in a decade.”
Marquette junior Carson Vanderschaaf was crowned individual champion for the first time by covering the 3.1-mile course at Gentz’s Homestead Golf Course in Chocolay Township in 16 minutes, 45.1 seconds. He was followed by Houghton senior Eric Weiss (17:04) and Gladstone junior Drew Hughes (17:23.7) on a sunny and seasonably cool day.
“I wanted to stay up front and see what happened,” said Vanderschaaf. “My legs just felt good today.
“We have good team dynamics. We all train together. I don’t really know what this means at this time, but I’m looking forward to track next spring. This is a big confidence builder right now. It was real nice weather for running. I was afraid it would rain (as forecast by the Weather Channel).”
Hughes was undefeated this season prior to Saturday.
“I was really nervous coming in here, but I did better than last year,” he said. “Anxiety plays a big part. I cut 12 seconds off from my freshman year on this course. I still had a good day.”
Painesdale Jeffers placed four in the top five and earned its first Division 2 team title with 22 points, followed by Ironwood with 50 and Manistique at 62.
For the Jets, this marked their first title since 2009 when they were crowned Division 3 champs.
“We got some fast boys here today,” said Jeffers coach Sam Kilpela. “We moved up to D-2 and last year we were runners-up. It felt weird jumping up to D-2. The start was real fast, but the guys ran smart.
“We have a real young team, and our middle school crew is strong.”
Jeffers senior Simone Barp won a Finals for the first time at 18:30.1, followed by freshman teammates Benton Rajala (18:37.1) and Brit Heinonen (18:40.5). West Iron County senior Landon Sundelius (18:44) and Jeffers junior Tavin Larson (17:50.1) finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
“Tavin has been running since middle school,” said Kilpela. “In the last couple years we started getting competitive.”
Dollar Bay kept its Division 3 crown with 57 points, followed by Stephenson with 63 and Brimley with 77.
“We have fun running on the tough courses,” said Dollar Bay coach Matt Zimmer. “Then you get on a golf course and you think it’s going to be an easy course and it really isn’t.
“The Copper Country conferences were well represented. Both of our teams ran very well. We have three girls who have been with us since junior high. We’ve become a family. There’s absolutely a lot of camaraderie, and it’s a family atmosphere.”
Ewen-Trout Creek senior Jonah Nordine retained his individual title at 17:15.7, followed by former teammate and Dollar Bay junior Nik Thomas (17:16.6) and Munising freshman Trevor Nolan (17:47.1).
“I’m pretty happy with my time,” said Nordine. “I really tried to push it in the first mile. I ran a little more conservatively in the second mile, then tried to pick it up in the third.
“This is a pretty big confidence builder, I guess. I was a little nervous coming in here because Nik beat me in the (Copper Mountain) conference race last week. That definitely motivated me for the U.P. Finals.”
Thomas was happy with his and the team’s success.
"I’m so proud of our team,” he said. “After the girls took second, it woke us up. We knew we had to do our part. It’s real competitive in our area. It’s just a great day for our school.
“It was so cool running with Jonah again. At 2½ miles, we were just talking about how great it was to be running together again. We weren’t really running against each other. We were running with each other.”
Click for full results: Division 1 | Division 2 | Division 3
PHOTOS (Top) Painesdale Jeffers’ Simone Barp leads a group of runners including Ironwood's Joey Lauzon (143), Hancock's Jan Baaslrud (138), and teammate Ben Gilroy (154) during the Division 2 Final. (Middle) Marquette's Carson Vanderschaaf celebrates finishing first in the Division 1 race at Gentz's Homestead Golf Course. (Below) Ewen-Trout Creek's Jonah Nordine (246) edges Dollar Bay's Nik Thomas at the finish line. (Photos by Cara Kamps. Click to see more from RunMichigan.com.)
Sinke Family Has Bear Lake Primed to Compete for Championships Now, In Future
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
October 25, 2024
One Sinke is nearing the end of a high school running career seeking to qualify for a fourth-straight MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 Cross Country Final.
A few other Sinkes are right in the middle of possible team and individual title opportunities.
Mason Sinke, who broke the Bear Lake cross country race record earlier this season, is about to finish his stellar career on 5K courses. He still has the spring track season ahead, and then he’s moving on to run for Hope College. Saturday, he hopes — or rather expects — to qualify for his fourth Final while vying for the individual Regional title at Benzie Central.
His team will not qualify for the Final due to an insufficient number of healthy runners. But the Bear Lake girls team – led by freshman Callie Sinke – has its eyes on qualifying for the Final and can’t help but think a state championship is obtainable in the near future.
A future boys title also isn’t out of the question as the Lakers have a strong middle school program as well. The middle school’s current number one runner is Johnny Sinke.
And all the Lakers cross country teams are coached by Tony Shrum and Kim Sinke. Shrum has headed up the cross country program, which co-ops with Onekama, since 2012. Kim Sinke, a former college distance runner, joined the staff this year. She is also the mother of Mason, Callie and Johnny Sinke.
Bear Lake is really hoping to start some strong winning streaks this weekend after long Regional championship streaks were common up until a decade ago. The Lakers are not unfamiliar with Finals appearances, but they’re looking for their first in a decade with the Regional trophy earned.
“For the girls, as long as we’ve got everybody healthy and racing, the goal is to win,” Shrum said of the upcoming Regional. “It would be our seventh girls Regional title in the program’s history, so they would be on a list with a pretty exclusive group.”
Shrum hopes the resting and recovering this week will allow the Lakers to put their best foot forward in the Regional. Bear Lake’s girls, the West Michigan D League champions this year, will be racing against some familiar foes.
There will be disappointment if there aren’t several Lakers listed among the top 10 finishers – and a handful in the top five are pretty much expected.
Callie Sinke, who is fighting through normal running injury challenges, and Addy Zeller are the Lakers’ top two runners and arguably the top two rated runners in the region. But injuries have slowed down the top two Lakers a bit.
“Right now Callie is about 20 seconds ahead of everybody in the field Saturday,” Shrum pointed out. “We have three of the top five girls when healthy in the region, and our fourth girl has top-15 ability and our fifth girl has been coming on.”
And these Lakers are young. Callie Sinke is a freshman and Zeller, hampered lately by a quad injury, is a sophomore. Melodie Hulinek, the number three runner who is coming back from a knee injury, is also a freshman. Natalie Brown, the current fourth runner, is a junior. Two other freshmen, Isabella Card and Peyton Buckner, may run for the fifth scoring spot, along with two other juniors, Lauren Pulido-Huber and Libby Daugherty. The co-op is without a senior on the girls side.
Shrum is excited about the opportunity this year and really the next three. He notes two current middle school runners will likely compete for varsity spots next fall.
“We’ve got a good core of girls coming back for the next four years,” Scrum said.
Zeller and Sinke attend Onekama High School. The rest of the girls team are enrolled with Bear Lake.
Mason Sinke is a senior at Onekama. He too has sat out a few races recently to rest and prepare for his last two career high school meets.
All season, he’s had a special partner and coach, Kaden Forward. The school record Sinke broke this year had belonged to Forward, who finished 13th in last year’s Final. Sinke was a few seconds behind Forward in the Final last year and finished 16th. He’s looking to take one of the top spots – if not first place – this Saturday and go on to a top 10, if not top five, at the Final.
The West Michigan D League features one of the top runners in the state in Alex Tyndall from Mason County Eastern. Tyndall finished 18th in last year’s Final, a few seconds behind Sinke. Tyndall and Eastern will be among many competitors Bear Lake has raced against week after week. A handful of other runners familiar to Mason Sinke will challenge him for a top-five Regional finish.
“Right now Mason would be the number two guy behind Alex coming in,” Shrum acknowledged. “We’ll see if he wants to chase Alex and push him and see if he can take Alex down. but otherwise I think silver at the Regional is a definite possibility for him.”
The Bear Lake boys team has no chance of qualifying for the Finals as two of its five team members are out with injuries. But Shrum holds strong hopes senior Greyson Hoeflinger will also qualify for the Finals as an individual.
Over the 35 years of the co-op’s existence, Bear Lake’s boys teams have won 23 Regional titles and the girls have won six.
“Between Mason and Kaden, they have really changed the mindset of our program,” Shrum said. “Callie is leading the girls on the same path.”
Bear Lake is looking forward to an influx of talented young runners on the boys side too.
“Our next set of boys teams could be banner raising, winning teams of the state final,” Shrum predicted. “We’re on the comeback collectively as a program.”
The future is bright, but the current boys and girls teams members should get the credit for getting Bear Lake back to its winning ways.
“To me it is exciting to get back on that level and compete for state titles and Regional championships in the next five, six years,” Shrum noted. “A lot of it really has to do with the current group of kids that we have and their dedication, their discipline, their excitement and enthusiasm for the sport.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Mason Sinke runs to his school record-setting 5K time Sept. 7 at the Bear Country Invitational. (2) The Bear Lake girls team take a trophy photo after clinching the West Michigan D League title. (3) Mason Sinke, middle, takes a photo with Bear Lake head coach Tony Shrum and assistant and mother Kim Sinke. (4) Callie Sinke runs a race this fall. (Photos courtesy of the Sinke family.)