Mora Caps Career with D2 Title
November 3, 2012
By Bill Khan
Special to Second Half
BROOKLYN — When it was time to make a move, Connor Mora had no idea how it would play out.
All he knew was he wanted to finish his last high school cross country race with no regrets.
The Cedar Springs senior passed Mason’s Tanner Hinkle with three-quarters of a mile to go and kept surging toward the finish line, winning the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 championship with a time of 15:04.2 on Saturday at Michigan International Speedway.
Hinkle, who ran a stride ahead of Mora most of the race, finished second in 15:09.8.
“He’s a great competitor,” Mora said of Hinkle. “There wasn’t a point where I felt I had him until I finished the race. I guess I gave it all I had. If he had a better day than me, then that’s what it was, but I gave it all I can.”
Hinkle set a fast early pace, reaching the mile in 4:48. Mora was content to let Hinkle do the work for at least the first two miles.
“I went in ready to adjust my strategy with whatever the race threw at me,” Mora said. “When Hinkle took it out hard, I decided to just sit back and wait until the two mile to see where he would take it. He had me up until the two mile. That’s the point where I felt confident enough to go to the finish.”
Mora didn’t feel he performed well in past MHSAA Finals, though four top-15 finishes is a rare accomplishment in the larger-school divisions. He was 15th in 2009 (16:23.4), fifth in 2010 (15:39.0) and third in 2011 (15:33.2). Hinkle was one place behind him last year in 15:41.3.
Mora’s time was the fastest of the day in all four divisions. Erie Mason’s Nick Raymond won Division 3 in 15:05.1, while Milford’s Brian Kettle won Division 1 in 15:07.3.
“I haven’t always had great state meets these past years,” Mora said. “I guess I just usually have an average race.”
St. Clair edged Linden by a 114-128 margin for the team championship. Linden had three all-state runners (top 30 overall), but St. Clair had its five scoring runners in the top 47, while Linden’s fifth runner didn’t cross until 93rd place.
It was the first team title for the Saints, who had six top-10 finishes in the previous 12 years.
Senior Brennan Shafer led St. Clair, placing seventh among team runners in 15:39.6. Junior Cody Smith was 10th in 15:51.4, junior Trevor Holowaty 28th in 16:09.3, senior Dakota Hazel 34th in 16:17.9 and senior Andrew Snider 35th in 16:18.6.
PHOTO: Mason's Tanner Hinkle (right) and Cedar Springs' Connor Mora ran together most of the Division 2 Final before Mora pushed ahead for his first championship. (Click to see more from RunMichigan.com.)
Concord's Hersha Matches Heroes
November 3, 2012
By Bill Khan
Special to Second Half
BROOKLYN — Jesse Hersha has already done something his running role models never accomplished, but that doesn’t lessen the sense of awe he has for past Concord state champions Kyle Stacks and Spencer Nousain.
Hersha became Concord’s third individual MHSAA champion in the last four years, but the first to do so as a sophomore, as he cruised alone up front to take the Lower Peninsula Division 4 championship Saturday at Michigan International Speedway with a personal-best time of 15:32.3. His performance led Concord to a second consecutive team title.
Stacks won the 2009 championship in 15:54.8, followed by Nousain two years later in 15:55.8. Both were seniors when they won.
“I’m always fighting to beat Spencer’s times and Kyle’s times,” said Hersha, who was a teammate of Nousain’s on last season’s championship team. “Today I was three seconds or so off Kyle’s best time.
“They are definitely a push for me. They inspire me. Even if I beat their times, I’ll never think of myself as more than them. They’ll always be a role model to me.”
Hersha ran alone up front, winning by 20.5 seconds over David Zinger of Evart. Sean Kelly of Saugatuck was third in 15:58.9.
Hersha placed 19th at last year's Final, ninth among non-seniors. It was during the summer road race season that he began to get the confidence that he could become an MHSAA champion.
“I ran a road race without much training in 17:04 or something,” Hersha said. “My coach came to me after that and told me when Spencer won his senior year, he ran like 16:50 something at that race. When Kyle won his senior year, he ran 16:50 something.”
Nousain was the only senior in Concord’s Finals lineup last year, so the Yellow Jackets were favored to repeat. They did so handily by a 61-100 margin over Evart.
Freshman Josiah Ottolini was 11th in 16:23.0, senior Parker Saenz 14th in 16:27.0, senior Tyler Neu 18th in 16:29.7 and senior Sam Comden 47th in 17:05.4 to complete Concord’s scoring.
PHOTO: Concord's Jesse Hersha became the third MHSAA individual champion from Concord. (Click to see more from RunMichigan.com.)