Otsego Ace, Chelsea Outpace D2 Field
November 3, 2018
Second Half reports
BROOKLYN — When Alex Comerford of Otsego decided it was go time, the race was over.
Nobody else in the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Final field could muster a response to Comerford’s 4:49.11 second-mile surge, one which turned a close race at the mile into a 2.1-mile victory lap for the champion.
Comerford made all-state for the fourth time, but for the first time as the winner, when he crossed the line Saturday at Michigan International Speedway in 15:23.6.
East Grand Rapids junior Evan Bishop was second in 15:35.2.
“It’s awesome,” Comerford said. “I couldn’t ask for any better people to do it with. All of my teammates, we’ve come so far this year from where we started. We have so many young guys.”
Comerford is the only senior on an Otsego team that finished fifth. Two freshmen and a sophomore scored for the Bulldogs.
At the mile mark, Comerford and James Gedris of Grosse Ile came through together in 4:51, five seconds up on the chase pack. It was time for a gear shift.
“I don’t always have the last half mile the other guys do,” Comerford said. “I really had to make a hard move with two miles to go. I felt like I could sustain that pace for a long time. I’m happy with the way it turned out.”
Comerford won 12 out of 13 races this fall, finishing fourth in the Spartan Elite race on Sept. 14. He finished behind Division 1 champion Nick Foster of Ann Arbor Pioneer, Division 4 champion Corey Gorgas of Saugatuck and Gedris.
In his career, Comerford finished 13th, ninth, second and first at the Division 2 meet.
Bishop was thrilled with his finish after placing 61st in Division 1 last year and 22nd in Division 2 as a freshman.
“Going into the race, I was expecting maybe best-case scenario third place today, because Gedris is very good from Grosse Ile, and Alex obviously,” Bishop said. “Those two have always had a decent size gap on me. In the second mile, I saw Gedris coming back to me. Alex was out of the picture, at that point. Gedris was kind of coming back. I was like, “I can get him.’ I put in a little tempo there over the middle mile and used that momentum to the finish.”
A year after winning its first MHSAA Finals championship, Chelsea repeated with 121 points. Fremont was second with 134.
The Bulldogs put together two distinct packs to pull out the victory. Senior Carson Rabbitt (11th, 16:15.8), senior Foster Thorburn (12th, 16:17.0) and junior Will Scott (14th, 16:18.4) finished within 2.6 seconds of each other in the first group. Juniors Zander Hartsuff (56th, 16:55.0) and Joseph Norwood (65th, 16:58.3) were 3.3 seconds apart to complete Chelsea’s scoring.
PHOTOS: (Top) Otsego’s Alex Comerford (325), Grosse Ile’s James Gedris (285) and Corunna’s Ben Jacobs (227) lead a pack of runners during an early stretch of Saturday’s Division 2 Final. (Middle) Chelsea’s Carson Rabbitt sprints to lead team champ Chelsea’s finishers. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)
Onsted's Hiatt Completes Title Climb, St. Francis Repeats as Team Champ
November 2, 2024
BROOKLYN — When Brody Amthor moved to Onsted from Lawrence in 2021, it gave the Wildcats a solid No. 1 runner who had experience in two MHSAA Division 4 Finals.
For then-freshman Mitchell Hiatt, the addition of Amthor provided a role model.
Hiatt’s fastest time in ninth grade was 19 minutes, 0.7 seconds. He was a long way from even getting to Michigan International Speedway, finishing 54th at Regionals in 20:02.9.
But the process that would eventually make him an MHSAA Finals champion had begun.
“When I was a freshman, I only ran 19 minutes,” Hiatt said after winning the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 Final in 15:15.5 on Saturday at MIS. “I didn’t think I’d be able to be a state champ. It took a lot of running. I had so many people that helped me get to this point. It’s good to see hard work pay off.”
One of those people was Amthor, who was a junior when Hiatt was a freshman.
“I ran in middle school, but I wasn’t that fast,” Hiatt said. “There was somebody my freshman year who moved to our school. His name was Brody Amthor. He was the person who got me into running and got me to actually start training. He helped me a lot, and so did my coaches.”
Reed City senior August Rohde came into the meet with the fastest time in Division 3, winning Regionals one week earlier in 14:58.7 on a Benzie Central course known for yielding personal bests.
Rohde liked the position he was in when he and Hiatt reached the mile mark in 4:52. Separation began in the second mile, with Hiatt hitting the two-mile mark in 9:49.3 and Rohde in 9:57.9.
“It was fine until after one mile,” Rohde said. “I got out how I wanted to. I tried to have him run my race. He dropped me. He ran a great race. Our second mile was slower than the first, so I think he was just maintaining the pace better than I did.”
As he made his way down the long straightaway at MIS, Hiatt had a large lead over Rohde, but he ran like he could be caught at any moment. He wouldn’t allow himself to make the final couple hundred yards a victory lap.
“Oh, I didn’t know where he was,” Hiatt said. “I thought he was still close to me. Whenever I have races like that, to be completely honest, I get scared to lose. It just makes me try to go faster and keep pushing the pace.”
Hiatt, who was sixth in Division 3 last year, became the first Onsted runner to win the overall championship at the Finals since Eric Ramsey ran the fastest Class C time of the day in 1987 when there were team and individual races. In 1990, Michael Vischer of Onsted won the Class C team race in 16:05, but Michael Ball of Hudson ran 15:57 to win the individual race.
“I came into this race telling myself that if I put myself in a good position in the start and I don’t get boxed in, then I think I’d be able to win it,” Hiatt said. “That’s what happened.”
Traverse City St. Francis repeated as the team champion by an 86-177 margin over Saugatuck, putting four runners on the all-state podium.
Senior Riley Pattinson was 10th in 15:51.9, sophomore William Ready 11th in 15:52.2, senior Owen Read 22nd in 16:03.7, senior Robby Myler 27th in 16:13.2 and senior Josh Slocum 39th in 16:26.3.
The Gladiators had four runners across the line before Saugatuck’s first finisher.
St. Francis returned five runners from last year’s championship lineup — Pattinson, Read, Myler, Slocum and senior sixth runner Lewis Walter.
St. Francis has finished in the top six for six consecutive seasons.
PHOTOS (Top) Onsted’s Mitchell Hiatt charges toward the finish Saturday at Michigan International Speedway. (Middle) Riley Pattinson (970) emerges from a pack to lead St. Francis’ finishers. (Click for more from Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)