Questions Answered for D1 Winner
November 2, 2013
By Bill Khan
Special to Second Half
BROOKLYN — It's been a year of "what-ifs" for Grand Blanc junior Grant Fisher.
What if the Bobcats' soccer team hadn't made the MHSAA Division 1 Final last season?
What if Fisher, a starting midfielder as a sophomore, hadn't chosen to play in the championship game instead of running in the MHSAA Cross Country Finals, which took place on the same day?
How would he have done against the best runners in the state?
"The soccer final didn't turn out the way we wanted," Fisher said. "We lost 1-0 to East Kentwood. There's always the thought that maybe I could've come here that day and not gone to the soccer game and maybe contended for state. I don't regret that decision, but it's definitely good to be back."
There will be no questions swirling in Fisher's head for the next year. He ran to the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 championship Saturday with a time of 15:13.7, beating Kensington Lakes Activities Association West rival and defending champion Brian Kettle of Milford by 18 seconds.
The soccer issue was settled when an unbeaten Grand Blanc team was upset 1-0 in the District Final by Clarkston on Oct. 19. Fisher had already determined that he would run in the cross country finals if the Bobcats reached the soccer final.
"We definitely had a good chance to make it in soccer," Fisher said. "We were ranked fourth going in. It was really too bad of a way to go out. It's allowed me to train for cross more and focus. It's definitely helped my cross country. I haven't won a state title in cross. That's something I really wanted to do."
Fisher already had an MHSAA championship on his resume, winning the 3,200-meter run in track and field last spring after taking second in the 1,600 by the narrowest of margins. In his only cross country final before Saturday, Fisher was 44th as a freshman in 16:14.3.
He had raced Kettle one other time this season, winning by 14.6 seconds in the KLAA Lakes Conference meet on Oct. 17. As was the case in that meet, Fisher and Kettle ran together through two miles before Fisher pulled away.
"I didn't want to leave it for too late, so I made my move at two miles," Fisher said. "Brian was with me for a good amount of time. He was right on my shoulder."
Fisher became the third Bobcat to win an MHSAA championship. Mark Mesler was the Class A team champion in 1977 and Chris Catton was the 2002 Division 1 winner.
Kettle didn't come away empty-handed, as he led Milford to a third straight team championship by placing in the top two for the third year in a row.
Milford edged KLAA Lakes rival Waterford Mott, 165-170, for the title. Mott had beaten Milford in both of the teams' meetings this year, winning 88-114 at the Oakland County Championships on Oct. 5 and 63-72 in the KLAA Lakes Conference meet on Oct. 17.
Milford put it together at the right time to win a fifth championship in the last 11 years.
The difference for the Mavericks was at the No. 4 spot, where senior Kevin Black had a 24-point advantage on Mott's No. 4 runner. Three positions were relatively even between the teams, while Mott had an 18-point advantage at No. 2.
Scoring for Milford were Kettle, senior Jeffery Field (28th in the team race, 16:24.0), junior Sean Noone (31st, 16:25.2), Black (34th, 16:26.6) and senior Clinton Caddell (70th, 16:48.5).
Mott had two runners in the top 10 in the team race, third-place Ryan Robinson (15:42.6) and 10th-place Sam Albaugh (15:55.5).
Traverse City Central also was in the title hunt, taking third with 180 points. The Trojans had three runners in the top 11 in the team race, but their No. 5 runner was 118th.
PHOTO: Grand Blanc's Grant Fisher (1023), Waterford Mott's Ryan Robinson (1175), Royal Oak's Ben Hill (1254) and Milford's Brian Kettle (1047) paced the field at Saturday's LP Division 1 Final. (Click to see 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.)