Rivals Deliver Another Classic Finish as Northville Finishes 1st as Team for 1st Time
November 5, 2022
BROOKLYN – Benne Anderson knew he had his hands full with Seth Norder, so he couldn’t allow himself to worry about the strong wind the Grand Rapids-area rivals were running into for nearly 15 minutes Saturday at Michigan International Speedway.
“You kind of just have to ignore it, kind of just push,” Anderson said. “Most of this sport is just mental. You’ve got to lock yourself in and go.”
Anderson, a senior at Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills, and Norder, a junior at Grand Haven, were locked in a sprint to the finish that appeared to be taking place in slow motion because of the heavy winds.
“It feels like you’re running with weights, like running through snow,” Anderson said.
It was Anderson who overcame the elements and the competition to win the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 championship with a time of 15:17.32. Norder was a close second in 15:18.95.
Anderson was in the lead as the runners came into view from the finish line area. Norder briefly caught him before Anderson won with one last surge.
“Any time you try to pick up the pace, the wind gets faster and faster and is slowing you down,” Norder said. “It’s really tough. I was able to catch up to him. He just had another gear. He’s a really great runner.”
A year ago, the tables were flipped, with Norder placing second in 15:20.0 behind Hartland’s Riley Hough and Anderson taking third in 15:22.9.
“I was nervous,” Anderson said. “Seth is a crazy runner. I’ve been thinking about beating him today for the whole year. I had to get my revenge from last year. He kind of stole that from me.”
Despite running in the same region of the state, it was only the second encounter this season between Anderson and Norder. They raced each other at the Portage Invitational four weeks ago, with Anderson running 14:44.1 to take second and Norder 14:45.4 to place third. The race was won by eventual four-time Division 3 champion Hunter Jones of Benzie Central.
“We’ve been racing together my whole high school career,” Norder said. “We’ve always been back and forth. I figured it would come down to a sprint-off. That’s what it did at Portage. That’s the only time we raced this year. He ended up getting me in a sprint there. I was hoping to get him here, but I came up a little short.”
Northville, which has been a regular at the MHSAA Finals, won its first team championship by scoring 122 points. Traverse City Central was second with 196 and 2021 champion Brighton was third with 229.
Junior Brendan Herger was third in 15:34.05 to lead Northville, which earned a runner-up finish in 2015. Senior Brady Heron was 14th (15:56.17), sophomore Ethan Powell was 28th (16:13.00), senior Brock Malaikal was 58th (16:31.63) and junior Nicholas Yaquinto was 85th (16:43.45) to complete the Mustangs’ scoring.
Traverse City Central placed Joe Muha (ninth) and Micah Bauer (10th) among the top 10; its next finishers were 47th, 110th and 134th overall.
PHOTOS (Top) Grand Rapids’ Benne Anderson, left, and Grand Haven’s Seth Norder sprint the stretch of the LPD1 boys championship race. (Middle) Northville’s Brendan Herger pushes toward the finish in placing third for the team champion. (Click for more from Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)
P-W's Farmer, Traverse City St. Francis Finish Championship Climbs
November 4, 2023
BROOKLYN — Pewamo-Westphalia senior Collin Farmer turned the lowest moment of his cross country career into motivation to be great.
In 2022, Farmer was running with the pack of runners who were battling for second place behind four-time MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 champion Hunter Jones of Benzie Central.
Everything unraveled for Farmer around the time runners began to enter the track area at Michigan International Speedway. He faded from sixth place at the two-mile mark to 26th place in the final standings. It was still good enough for all-state, but far from Farmer’s capability.
“I ended up dying at the end of the race last year,” he said. “I took ownership of why I died and really wanted to push myself in the offseason.”
All that work paid off with a first-place finish in Division 3 on Saturday at MIS.
Farmer crossed the line in 15:39.1 to finish his high school season with five consecutive victories.
He applied lessons from his 2022 disappointment to become an MHSAA champion.
“It’s a real a mental battle,” he said. “You’ve got to tell yourself, no, you’re not tired when you feel tired. I didn’t really have that capability last year. This year I learned how to do that.”
Reed City junior August Rohde was second in 15:51.9, and Hart freshman Robert Jazwinski was third in 15:54.0.
“I thought I had a shot at it,” Farmer said. “Jazwinski is a real worker, so he was the guy. If I have to beat someone, I have to beat him.”
The only disappointment for Farmer this time around was that his Pewamo-Westphalia team, which entered the meet ranked No. 2, finished in seventh place.
A Traverse City St. Francis team that has been building its way toward the top won the team championship with 113 points. St. Louis was second with 175.
St. Francis had finished in the top six each of the last four years, its best a runner-up performance last season.
The Gladiators have a chance to repeat, with only one senior among the seven runners who competed Saturday.
Junior Leo Swager was 12th, junior Owen Read 33rd, junior Lewis Walter 35th, senior Tucker Krumm 37th and junior Riley Pattinson 44th for St. Francis.
PHOTOS (Top) Pewamo-Westphalia’s Collin Farmer approaches the finish on the way to winning the Division 3 championship Saturday at MIS. (Middle) Traverse City St. Francis’ Leo Swager (1130) pushes with a pack as the top finisher for the team title winner. (Photos by Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)