Performance of the Week: Hartland's Riley Hough
September 23, 2021
Riley Hough ♦ Hartland
Cross Country ♦ Senior
The annual Spartan Invitational at Michigan State University draws top runners from across the state and occasionally Midwest, with its “Elite” race showcasing the best of the best. Hough has been that runner in Michigan the last two seasons, claiming the Lower Peninsula Division 1 championship a year ago and continuing a 16-race winning streak through Friday’s victory in East Lansing. Hough completed the Spartan course in 15:05.5 to best the field by nearly 16 seconds.
Hough won last season’s Division 1 cross country title in 14:49.7, and he’s broken 15 minutes twice this fall during his first five races – including with his personal record 14:41.2 to win the Pete Moss Invitational on Aug. 28 at Benzie Central. He also is the reigning LPD1 track champion in the 3,200 meters, claiming that title by just more than a second June 5 with a time of 9:07.91. Hough has verbally committed to continue his career at Michigan State.
@mhsaasportsPOW: Riley Hough 🏃♂️#performanceoftheweek #mhsaa #xc #run #highschoolsports #tiktalk #hartland #msu #interview #fyp #mistudentaid
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2021-22 Honorees
Sept. 16: Josie Bloom, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep volleyball - Report
PHOTOS courtesy of the Hough family.
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.”
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).
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.)