Preview: Forecast Calls for Historic Wins

November 1, 2018

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Team and individual history is waiting to be made at Saturday’s Lower Peninsula Boys Cross Country Finals at Michigan International Speedway.

A year ago, the final state rankings predicted all four champions – and if they’re accurate again, Plymouth will celebrate its first title in this sport. Meanwhile, Caro’s Yami Albrecht will try to lead the Tigers to their first title in four decades, while becoming just the 15th boys runner to win a third individual Finals championship.

A total of 977 runners will take to the course at MIS for the boys races, which begin the day with Division 4 at 9:30 a.m. Below are some of the teams to watch and a glance at each of the individual fields. Click for all Finals qualifiers, a map of the course and links to buy tickets and watch the Finish Line camera on MHSAA.tv, and come back to Second Half later Saturday for coverage of all four meets. (NOTE: “Rankings” of individual runners below are based on data at Athletic.net, which orders runners based on the single fastest times they’ve run this season.)

Division 1

Reigning champion: Ann Arbor Pioneer
2017 runner-up: Plymouth
2018 top-ranked: 1. Plymouth, 2. Ann Arbor Pioneer, 3. Clarkston.

Plymouth’s runner-up finish in 2017 was its highest ever at an MHSAA Finals, and the Wildcats are predicted to take the next step Saturday after finishing second last year by a mere three points. Five of last season’s top six runners return this weekend, led by junior Carter Solomon (fifth in 2017). Plymouth took three of the top four places at its Regional, with Solomon the individual champ in 14:59.4. His 14:59 flat on Oct. 13 is tied for the fastest time in the state this fall. Pioneer brings back three of its top six from last season’s championship team, led by individual champ Nick Foster – his season best of 15:03.1 ranks him third fastest in the state this fall. Clarkston finished eighth last season but with one senior and none in the top five – the other six all return, and senior Brendan Favazza’s 15:16.2 on Oct. 17 ranks him as the eighth-fastest runner statewide.

Individuals: In addition to Foster and Solomon, six more from last season’s top 20 will run this weekend. White Lake Lakeland senior Harrison Grzymkowski should contend again after finishing third in 2017, while Romeo junior Jack Wilson (ninth) also is back from the top 10. Birmingham Seaholm senior George Nummer (10th), Lake Orion junior Andrew Nolan (14th), Brighton junior Zachary Stewart (15th) and Holland senior Sam Martens (20th) also return. Stewart’s 15:08 on Oct. 18 makes him the fourth-ranked runner regardless of division.

Division 2

Reigning champion: Chelsea
2017 runner-up: Corunna
2018 top-ranked: 1. Chelsea, 2. Fremont, 3. Corunna.

Chelsea broke through for its first championship in this sport a year ago, and four of the top six from that team return – and all four rank among the top 20 runners in Division 2, led by senior Jensen Holm (11th in 2017). Fremont was runner-up in 2016 and 2014 and won the title in 2015, and finished sixth last season with four freshmen among its top five. They’re sophomores now, and Nathan Walker’s 15:34.3 to win his Regional ranks him sixth in the division. Corunna senior Ben Jacobs is another standout, and his 15:34.7 personal record run Oct. 6 puts him seventh. He finished third overall last season and is among four of Corunna’s top six from the runner-up finish who will try to carry the team to its second championship in three seasons.

Individuals: Otsego senior Alex Comerford has finished 13th, ninth and last season second at the Finals, and his 14:59 on Sept. 29 is tied for the fastest time in the state this fall. He and Jacobs are joined by Linden junior Tyler Buchanan (sixth) and Dearborn Divine Child juniors Michael Hancock (eighth) and Anthony Hancock (ninth) as half of last season’s top 10 are back. Grosse Ile senior James Gedris (15th), Grand Rapids South Christian junior Micah VanderKooi (18th) and Spring Lake senior Andrew Hylen (19th) also are top returning placers. Grant senior Colten Covington was 12th in Division 3 last year.

Division 3

Reigning champion: Hanover-Horton
2017 runner-up: Caro
2018 top-ranked: 1. Caro, 2. Pewamo-Westphalia, 3. Hanover-Horton

Caro missed its first championship in this sport since 1980 by six points last season, but is the favorite this time with all seven runners back from the runner-up finish. The Tigers are led by senior and reigning two-time individual champion Albrecht – his 15:28.7 on Sept. 29 ranks him second among Division 3 runners this fall and 15th regardless of division – and senior Aaron Hurlburt was 20th individually at last year’s Final. Pewamo-Westphalia finished 10th last season after winning the Division 4 title in 2016 and returns four of last season’s top five led by junior Hayden Germain (23rd in 2017, ranking 11th this fall). Hanover-Horton graduated three of its top four from a year ago but returns its other four runners from the championship team.

Individuals: Albrecht will face strong competition as he runs for the three-peat. Harbor Springs senior Jeremy Kloss finished second to Albrecht both of the last two seasons after running seventh as a freshman. Dundee senior Colin Kane was sixth a year ago and has the fastest time in Division 3 this season, 15:25.9 to win his Regional. Morley Stanwood junior Aiden McLaughlin (seventh), Ithaca senior Ransom Allen (eighth), Holland Black River senior Sam Sharnas (11th), Stockbridge junior Micah Beauregard (14th) and Bad Axe senior David Knarian (17th) also are back from last season’s top 20.

Division 4

Reigning champion: Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart
2017 runner-up: Potterville
2018 top-ranked: 1. Saugatuck, 2. Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart, 3. Breckenridge.

Two top-10 individual finishers led Saugatuck to a 12th-place team finish in Division 3 in 2017, and total three of the top five from that team return. Senior Corey Gorgas was fourth in Division 3 the last two years and has the top time in Division 4 this season at 15:13.3, while sophomore Nik Pettinga took 10th in Division 3 a year ago. Sacred Heart isn’t going to just give the title back, of course; the team’s top four (and five of the top seven) are back. Breckenridge is running for its first Finals championship since 1976, and after missing the Finals completely last season. Freshman Mason Sumner ranks fourth among Division 4 runners with a 16:02.8 run Sept. 19.

Individuals: Plymouth Christian Academy senior Luke Pohl finished runner-up last season and ranks second among Division 4’s fastest this season. He is joined by Walkerville junior Shane Achterhof (fifth) and Johannesburg-Lewiston sophomore Carlos Gascho (seventh) among top-10 finishers back from a year ago. Beal City senior Alex Taylor (12th) and Ellsworth senior Isaiah Romeyn (19th) also could be in the mix again.

PHOTO: Caro’s Yami Albrecht (415) and Harbor Springs’ Jeremy Kloss (466) run as part of the lead pack during a stretch of last season’s Division 3 championship race at Michigan International Speedway. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)

Meyers Serves, Strides for Norrix Fall Teams

By Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com

August 21, 2017

KALAMAZOO — Finding a face in a crowd of 357 runners erupting down a hillside all at once could be a daunting task.

But spotting sophomore Joe Meyers is easy, said Greg Savicke.

“He’ll be one of the ones out front,” the Kalamazoo Loy Norrix coach predicted.

That was true at Friday’s Portage Central Early Bird Invitational, where Meyers finished 14th with a time of 17 minutes, 12 seconds.

That sounds like a great time for a first race of the season, but Meyers was not celebrating.

“I had a pretty bad race,” he said. “I was training in Colorado for like a month with my new coach, and I put in a lot of training.

“I should have been well in the 16s. It was just not a good race.”

He didn’t have much time to fret.

The two-sport athlete had his first tennis match of the season Monday.

He’s playing No. 2 singles for the Knights after putting together a 21-5 record at the same flight last year.

Juggling two fall sports is not a problem for the amiable Meyers, with tennis taking priority.

“We work around the tennis schedule,” said Savicke, in his 29th year as Norrix’s head cross country coach. “We get Joe when he’s available. Early in the season it’s not so much, but down the stretch, yes.

“That’s the championship part of our season for us, in October, so we get him for the most important meets coming up.”

Both sports are in Meyers’ DNA.

His mother, Jody, got him on the tennis court when he was 5 and just playing for fun. 

“Then I quit and mainly played hockey for years until seventh grade, then picked up tennis again,” he said.

He started running with his father, John, at age 9.

As a freshman, “I didn’t really want to pick one because I knew I could do pretty good in both,” Joe Meyers said. “It worked out last year.”

Both are individual sports, but in running, “you have to definitely have a lot more drive to go out and run by yourself because you can have a lot of excuses not to,” he said.

“In tennis, you go to group and you have to try as hard as you can. I don’t really get as tired in matches (since I’ve been) running.”

Meyers works out with sophomore Reed Crocker, Norrix’s No. 1 singles player.

Crocker qualified for the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals last season, losing his top-flight title match, 7-6(6), 3-6, 7-6(8), to top-seeded Varun Shanker of Midland Dow.

The only way Meyers will make it to the Finals is if Loy Norrix as a team qualifies, since the No. 1 player is the only individual eligible if the team falls short at Regionals. The No. 1 singles champion and runner-up at Regionals advance to Finals play even if their teams do not qualify.

“We have a better chance (as a team) this year,” Crocker said. “The team’s looking better.

“We’ve been doing a lot of sprints, a lot. (Sunday) was an easy day. We only ran a mile” before practice.

Crocker said Meyers pushes him to be better.

“Joe is like the marathon runner, so it helps me with conditioning and it helps me on the court because I know he can help build the wins,” Crocker said.

“We hit together, and he pushes me get better. I’ve had the joy to hit with him the last year or so because he joined my coach (Bill Jenkins, who is also Norrix’s head coach).”

Jenkins, in his third season with the Knights, has coached tennis for 38 years.

Meyers possesses a “good work ethic, and genetics are very much in his favor as far as a force in track,” Jenkins said. “He’s built for it in tennis as well.

“He’s also extremely coachable so he has a very good perspective, very good mindset and disposition for tennis. He’s extremely intense, extremely passionate and competitive, but he’s also very level-headed, so he’s able to channel a lot of that energy into proper use.”

Jenkins said, in his experience, it is unusual to have an athlete be so successful in two sports in the same season.

“He’s got very set dreams but he works at them on a daily basis, knowing that the only way to achieve them is through his commitment,” the coach said.

“Regardless of whatever natural distractions may come up, he seems to stay on track very diligently and is years ahead of his time.”

While Meyers needs the team to qualify for the MHSAA Finals in tennis, he has a much better shot of earning a berth in cross country.

Last year, then-senior Gabe Runyon was the only Norrix runner to qualify for the Lower Peninsula Division 1 competition at Michigan International Speedway. 

Meyers just missed qualifying, finishing 21st at his Regional with a time of 17:04. The top 15 runners moved on.

Savicke lost Runyon and four of his other top seven runners to graduation this spring, noting that Meyers has moved up from second in the order to become the team’s top runner.

Meyers has improved on his 2016 Regional time and has an unofficial personal best of 16:30. He has hit 17:00 in a race, and his short-term goal is to get into the 16s during competition.

Said Savicke: “Joe’s father was a runner in high school for (Kalamazoo) Hackett in the 1980s, and he’s really active in bicycling and running events. He’s brought Joe along with him.

“I think that just paid dividends with his running abilities. I saw Joe in middle school, so I knew he would be a good fit for us.”

Norrix’s next cross country meet is Thursday with Meyers leading a varsity contingent of junior Will Carrier, senior Zach Skinner, sophomore Myles Baker, junior Rowan Mathieson, senior Garrett Bloom and sophomore Erick Ponce.

Once the fall season is over, Meyers does not plan to leave sports behind.

He bicycles and was the Michigan Bicycle Racing Association road race junior state and point series champ a year ago and “might pick up hockey or swimming this year,” he said.

In the spring, he is part of the varsity track & field team, competing in the 1,600, 3,200 and 3,200 relay.

Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.

PHOTOS: (Top) Kalamazoo Loy Norrix sophomore Joe Meyers returns a volley during a tennis practice Sunday. (Middle) Clockwise from top left: Meyers, tennis teammate Reed Crocker, Knights’ boys tennis coach Bill Jenkins, Knights’ boys cross country coach Greg Savicke. (Below) Meyers pushes ahead of a pack during Friday’s Early Bird race at Portage Central. (Photos by Pam Shebest.)