One More Shot at No. 1
November 4, 2011
Nervousness is part of Spencer Nousain's pre-race preparation.
“I’m scared I’m going to lose,” he said earlier this week, just days before his final high school cross country race -- Saturday's MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 Final at Michigan International Speedway.
And it seems a little odd, considering his resume.
The Concord senior has never finished lower than 10th at an MHSAA Finals. So far this fall, he's placed first in every race but one – Michigan State’s Spartan Invitational, where he was seventh in the “Elite” race against many of the state’s best from all divisions.
But if Nousain is first to cross the finish line for the Division 4 Final, he won’t celebrate right away. Instead, he’ll turn around and wait.
There’s definitely a pressure in having one last chance to win an MHSAA title. But Nousain has poured that into his team, which he is focused on leading to its second team championship in three seasons.
“I think the team relaxes me. If I focus on helping my teammates, that takes the pressure off of me,” Nousain said. “That’s the one thing I have changed. I’m a little more concerned about team this year.”
The Yellow Jackets have followed their leader to a spotless team record so far, including a Regional win without him. Concord is ranked No. 1 in Division 4 by MichiganCrossCountry.com’s coaches panel.
Nousain is fresh off his second-straight championship at the Jensen Memorial meet, which pits all of the Jackson-area cross country teams. He crushed the field in 16:05.7, 35 seconds faster than the runner-up. It's been that kind of fall, coming off last year’s state final when Nousain ran a 15:51.7.
Leading and following is nothing new for him. He’s the seventh of nine children in a running family. All but one of the first six ran high school cross country, and three of his siblings have gone on to run at the college level.
Unintentionally, Nousain’s sitting out the Regional allowed younger brother Mason, a sophomore, to place as Concord’s fifth runner that day. Mason has been the recipient of some of Spencer’s best lessons.
Starting in seventh grade, Nousain began training hard during the winter even as some of Concord’s high school runners were a little less serious, Yellow Jackets coach David Jordon said. Nousain has imparted that work ethic on his younger brother, and also become a target for some of the team’s younger runners to chase during practices.
“He wants to go out and run a great race, and everybody would love to win. But more of his focus is on how his teammates do,” Jordon said. “He’s definitely matured and seen the bigger picture. It’s exciting to win, but when the team wins, it’s more exciting.”
That might add some of the anxiety Nousain feels of late. Family, friends and others in the community expect him to lead Concord to another MHSAA team championship. But when Saturday’s starting gun goes off, he’ll only be able to control his race – and use the lessons he learned himself during the two near-misses.
The first time Nousain took second at an MHSAA Final, he was excited. The only runner to cross the finish line ahead of him was teammate Kyle Stacks, and their Concord team had just won the 2009 overall championship.
The second time Nousain finished second – a year ago this weekend – Nousain was a little disappointed. He’d expected to be first. He didn’t feel like he improved at all.
On Saturday, he has one more chance. And only one way to get better individually, although he’ll still celebrate coming in second if his team comes in first. He’ll race as he has all fall – start smart, close hard in the last mile, and then watch for more purple coming soon after.
“It’s going to be amazing. I love watching not just Mason, but my teammates improve,” Spencer said.
“In the sense of watching them be happy, when we win as a team, I’ll be happy. It makes me proud to say I helped them.”
One race, two champions, more contenders
The most competitive of Saturday’s races could be the Division 2 girls final. The field includes reigning individual champion Rachele Schulist of Zeeland West, last season’s third place finisher Megan O’Neil of Remus Chippewa Hills and fourth-place Julia Bos of Grand Rapids Christian.
Also in Division 2 this time is Allendale and Ali
Wiersma, last season’s Division 3 MHSAA champion.
Bos (17:43.2), Wiersma (17:59) and Schulist (18:19) were the top three, respectively, at last Saturday’s Regional at Allendale.
O’Neil (18:03.55) was third at the Benzie Central Regional behind two more runners who could break into the top group this weekend, including the possible favorite: Cedar Springs freshman Kenzie Weiler won that Regional in 17:13.07, and her junior sister Katie was runner-up in 17:57.55.
Final countdown
Also in Division 2, in the boys race, Chelsea senior Bryce Bradley will try to finish with a championship after improving from 20th as a freshman to 10th and then to runner-up last season.
At last year's final, he finished less than a second ahead of Dearborn Divine Child’s Nicholas Soter, who also will be back at MIS. They'll both might have to fend off Mason Tanner Hinkle, who beat Bradley by 19 seconds in their Regional.
Fast start
Only 15 girls have won at least three MHSAA cross country individual championships. But Breckenridge sophomore Kirsten Olling has lots of time – and at least a few opportunities.
Olling won last season’s Division 4 championship in 18:09.8. Fast forward to last weekend’s regional at Harbor Beach, which she won in 17:17 – more than 2 minutes faster than the runner-up.
Click for Saturday's schedule and race information, all Lower Peninsula finalists and links to regional results, and check back Saturday for coverage from MIS. Go online to FoxSportsDetroit.com for live coverage via the Finish Line Camera and live audio commentary throughout the race from reporters around the course.
PHOTOS
(Top) Concord's Spencer Nousain will attempt to win his first MHSAA championship after finishing runner-up in Division 2 the last two seasons (Photo courtesy of Concord cross country program).
(Middle) Zeeland West's Rachele Schulist (1001) emerged from the pack -- including Grand Rapids Christian's Julia Bos (829) to claim last season's Division 2 championship.
(Bottom): Breckenridge's Kirsten Olling won last season's Division 4 championship as a freshman.
Performance: Plymouth's Carter Solomon
November 7, 2019
Carter Solomon
Plymouth senior – Cross Country
Plymouth’s top runner the last three years capped his high school cross country career as the state’s best – and one of its fastest champions all-time. Solomon won the Lower Peninsula Division 1 championship Saturday at Michigan International Speedway in 15:01.2, the sixth-fastest 5K Finals time in state history, earning him the MHSAA “Performance of the Week.”
Solomon had finished 18th (and second among Plymouth runners) at the Finals as a freshman, then fifth as a sophomore and second as a junior before crossing the line first and five seconds ahead of the field in his last high school race at MIS. The win capped an unbeaten season for Solomon, and that’s no small achievement – not only is LP Division 1 generally the fastest annually in the state, but four more of the top seven runners at this year’s meet were from Solomon’s Kensington Lakes Activities Association. He also ran at invitationals against a number of other contenders from other divisions, including twice against Dearborn Divine Child’s Anthony and Michael Hancock, who finished second and third, respectively, in LP Division 2. Solomon’s season and personal-best 14:42.7 actually came at the Regional at Ann Arbor Huron, where he cleared the field by more than 31 seconds.
As a team, Plymouth finished 12th at the Finals after earning the championship in 2018 and finishing runner-up in 2017 – again, both times with Solomon in the lead. He also will help pace the track & field team one more season in the spring after finishing fourth in the 1,600 and ninth in the 3,200 at last year’s LPD1 Finals. Solomon will continue his running and academic careers next year at University of Notre Dame; he’s carrying a 4.0 grade-point average this school year and will study either mechanical or aerospace engineering.
Coach Jonathan Mikosz said: “Carter is one of those runners that you dream about being able to coach. Not many other coaches have ever had the opportunity to coach a better runner in this state. When you have a guy on your team of that caliber, I think it helps bring out the best in other guys as well. He was a huge part of our teams that were state champions and state runners-up back-to-back years. … In this day and age when people are hiring private coaches and looking at the internet for advice, it has been great that someone of his abilities has bought in 100 percent into our system and our coaching plan. He has bought in since day one and always trusted us as coaches. That's rare in this day and age, but him being so coachable has also (contributed) to his success. I couldn't be prouder of what he has been able to accomplish. … He has worked hard and has stayed humble with his success. That's one of the things I am most proud of. We have both learned a lot from each other. He will definitely be missed next season.”
Performance Point: “This weekend was awesome. I keep thinking about that race and everyone at the end and how it truly was an experience I will never forget. (It was) the last piece of the puzzle for my high school career. My season’s not quite over yet; I want to race at Foot Locker. The team title was awesome – I was happy for the team – but coming in second (individually last year) was a bummer and I knew I wanted to come back next year and win it and check off the team title and individual title boxes on my resume. Getting that done this year was truly awesome."
Providing the push: “I talk to the guys at other schools too; we talk about our races and what not. Having them there definitely is motivation, and I use that to push me while I am training. I have teammates too; Patrick Byrnes, he is a good training partner. I’m thankful for my competition.”
Ready to rock: “Before I even go to the meet, I will run around my neighborhood for a shake-out run, but that’s pretty common. I listen to music in my headphones. I have a playlist mixed with Foo Fighters, Korn, a little Metallica, your heavier metal classic rock kind of music.”
No place like home: “(My favorite course) is our home course, Cass Benton Park. I like it because everyone else hates it, People come in, ‘Oh, we have to race there …’ Well, you’re lucky you get to race it. It’s a tough course – it’s hilly, it’s long, it’s hard to mentally get through. But I’ve raced it so many times throughout my high school career, and even in middle school I raced it a couple of time. I’ve just grown to love it.”
Running is for me: “I think the feeling I get after accomplishing my goals is what I work for. Practice six days a week, training a long time and coming up short is demoralizing. But when you reach the goals you set for yourself, and you do the things you didn’t know were possible a couple of months before, I think that is really why I am addicted to it.”
Engineer it: “When I was young, I was curious about how things worked and taking stuff apart. My dad introduced engineering to me, and I joined the engineering program at our school my freshman year. We did a lot of cool stuff in the engineering field, trying to get an introduction to it, and I really like it.”
– Paige Winne, Second Half
Past honorees
Nov. 1: Jameson Goorman, Muskegon Western Michigan Christian soccer - Report
Oct. 24: Austin Plotkin, Brimley cross country - Report
Oct. 17: Jack Spamer, Brighton cross country - Report
Oct. 10: Kaylee Maat, Hudsonville volleyball - Report
Oct. 3: Emily Paupore, Negaunee cross country - Report
Sept. 26: Josh Mason, South Lyon soccer - Report
Sept. 19: Ariel Chang, Utica Eisenhower golf - Report
Sept. 12: Jordyn Shipps, DeWitt swimming - Report
PHOTOS: (Top) Plymouth's Carter Solomon races down the home stretch during Saturday's Division 1 Final at Michigan International Speedway. (Middle) Solomon leads a pack, including Brighton's Jack Spamer, earlier in the race. (Photos by Matt Yacoub/RunMichigan.com.)