Repeat Winners Dominate Boys Finals
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
October 23, 2016
FLAT ROCK — Early in Saturday’s Upper Peninsula Cross Country Finals, there was a feeling Negaunee junior Colton Yesney was about to break the 16-minute barrier for five kilometers at Beauchamp’s Grove.
He did just that by covering the 3.1 miles in a course-record 15 minutes, 49.8 seconds.
“This is amazing,” said the reigning Division 1 champ. “It just feels unreal. I needed to do this for our team. They’ve been good to me, and I just wanted to pay them back.”
The Negaunee boys retained their crown with 38 points, followed by Houghton with 56, Marquette 92, Sault Ste. Marie 96 and Calumet with 160.
“Colton ran an unbelievable race,” said Negaunee coach Lisa Bigalk. “I’m just amazed. Our goal for him was to break 16. It’s incredible how he can push himself when the guys aren’t with him.
“Our whole team was bound and determined to defend its title. We have four seniors who wanted to go out on top. It was nice to see them perform at their absolute best for two years.”
Yesney was clocked at 5:14 at the mile and 10:04 at two miles.
“I wasn’t thinking about time at that point (two miles) of the race,” said Yesney. “I just played it by ear. Then, people were yelling out my time as I was coming into the finish, and I just gave it everything I had. I run for my teammates. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be the runner I am.”
Marquette junior Garrett Rudden, who overcame a recent injury (pulled muscle above his hip), was runner-up at 16:25.9, followed by Houghton’s Clayton Sayen (16:27.4), Negaunee’s Thomas Ziegler (16:30.4) and Houghton’s Seth Helman (16:42.7).
Division 2
Ishpeming earned its third consecutive Division 2 title with 29 points, followed by Gogebic with 41, Newberry 106, Ironwood 110 and Hancock at 136.
“We knew our boys were going to win,” said Pruett. “We knew Gogebic had a good team, but we went head-to-head with Negaunee (two-time reigning Division 1 champs) all year, which prepared us well for this meet.”
Ishpeming senior Grady Kerst gained his first D-2 title at 16:24.3, followed by sophomore teammate Spencer Giroux (16:35.4), Newberry senior Kindred Griffis (16:37.3), Gogebic’s Isaiah Aili (16:52.9) and Ironwood sophomore Nick Niemi (16:53).
“This is about the same time I ran here two weeks ago,” said Kerst, who was crowned D-3 champion while a student at Munising two years ago. “This is a little disappointing in a way because I was hoping to shave some time off. Although, this victory is more satisfying than the one two years ago because there was more competition this time. The kid from Newberry really helped me. He was with me at two miles, then I started picking it up. He’s a good runner. This is a real fast course and the perfect temperature for me.”
Division 3
Chassell achieved a three-peat in Division 3 with 54 points, followed by Brimley with 77, Stephenson 81, Cedarville 126 and Powers North Central with 149.
“I’m very pleased with everyone’s effort today,” said Chassell coach Marco Guidotti. “I think the boys benefitted from strong senior leadership. They brought everything they had.
“There was such strong competition here today. We feel fortunate to have an opportunity to come here and compete.”
Brimley freshman Austin Plotkin won in 17:02, followed by Dollar Bay sophomore Brendan LeClaire (17:24.9), Chassell’s Ben Tuomi (17:36.1), Cedarville’s Thomas Bohn (17:38.5) and Chassell’s Hunter Rautiola (17:43.4).
“I try to go for long strides to conserve energy,” said Plotkin, the overall Eastern U.P. Conference champion. “I also try to keep my breathing slow. I got him (LeClaire) on the hill about ¾ mile into the race and gained some separation.
“When I started running last spring, I worked a lot on my form. It feels great to win, although I just do it for fun.”
The MHSAA Cross Country Finals are sponsored by the Michigan National Guard.
PHOTOS: (Top) Negaunee’s Colton Yesney charges toward the finish in leading his team to the Division 1 championship. (Middle) Ishpeming’s Grady Kerst (185) leads the pack in the Division 2 race. (Below) Chassell poses with its Division 3 trophy after a third straight Finals win. (Photos by Cara Kamps.)
Jacobs, Corunna Finish Title Quests
November 5, 2016
Second Half reports
BROOKLYN – Noah Jacobs’ race was done, but the job wasn’t finished.
Not by a long shot.
So, he took zero time to soak in the moment after he won the MHSAA Division 2 individual cross country championship Saturday at Michigan International Speedway.
Instead, he turned around and kept a close eye on the runners finishing behind him, hoping to see the white Corunna singlets not too far back.
The first teammate he greeted was his sophomore brother, Ben, who finished eighth in 16:01.8.
Before long, he would be reunited with the rest of his teammates. When the places were added up, not only did Jacobs win an individual championship, but he led his school to the team title.
Corunna beat reigning champion Fremont, 92-99, for its first MHSAA championship since 1997.
With his time of 15:28.0, Jacobs joined 1998 winner Jared Aldrich as the only Corunna boys to win the individual title. He won by 12 seconds over Pontiac Notre Dame Prep senior Brendan Fraser.
“I came into the stadium, and the wind was in my face,” said Jacobs, who recently committed to run for the University of Wisconsin. “It was a battle that last mile, it really was. It was one of the harder races I ever ran. The course was a little bit soft; it wasn’t exactly ideal. I’m proud. I gave it everything I had, and my team gave it everything they had. That’s all you can ask for. What I take away from it is it’s a great last race in my Corunna jersey.”
The cross country championship has eluded Jacobs, who has two MHSAA Division 2 track and field titles in the 3,200-meter run on his resume. He was 56th as a freshman, fifth as a sophomore and second to two-time champion Morgan Beadlescomb of Algonac as a junior.
Jacobs has a personal best of 15:00 in cross country and 8:55.57 in the 3,200, so he had hoped to put his name among the all-time greats who have ever run at MIS. That plan changed when he saw that rain from earlier in the week turned portions of the course into slop.
“Originally, I wanted to run in the 14s,” Jacobs said. “But running the warmup on the course and figuring everything out, it wasn’t worth my time to go out and only think about time. It wasn’t going to be beneficial. It was just going to end in a day I felt I could do more.”
Even with the graduation of Jacobs, Corunna should be well-positioned to repeat next year.
The Cavaliers ran only two seniors Saturday, the other No. 5 man Kyle Mesh. There might even be a future individual champion in the Jacobs household.
Ben Jacobs was fourth among non-seniors and the second sophomore in Division 2. His time was only 5.2 seconds slower than Noah ran as a sophomore at MIS.
“He was one of two guys who PR’d today,” Noah said. “He ran awesome. A lot of people in Michigan don’t know Ben that well. Ben’s a sophomore this year. He has a lot of big things coming. He’s faster in the mile (as a sophomore), but in the 5K he’s a little behind me, but we’re close.”
With junior Dakota Hundley placing 25th in 16:24.5, Corunna had three all-staters. The top 30 make all-state.
Sophomore Charlie Bruckman was 50th in 16:44.2 and Mesh was 52nd in 16:46.4 to round out Corunna’s scoring.
Fremont has won eight MHSAA championships, but was trying to repeat for the first time. Grand Rapids Christian finished third with 139 points.
The MHSAA Cross Country Finals are sponsored by the Michigan National Guard.
PHOTOS: (Top) Corunna’s Noah Jacobs charges toward the finish for his first MHSAA cross country title. (Middle) Ben Jacobs (296), Noah’s brother, finished eighth to help the Cavaliers to their first team title since 1997, while Otsego's Alex Comerford (392) also posted a top-10 finish. (Click to see more from RunMichigan.com.)