Stimpfel, P-W Rise Above New Competition
November 5, 2016
Second Half Reports
BROOKLYN – Moving down a division helped, but there’s no substitute for good old-fashioned hard work.
So, even though Cass City junior CarLee Stimpfel was racing runners from smaller schools, it was still his personal improvement that put him in a position to win the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 cross country championship Saturday at Michigan International Speedway.
Stimpfel finished the 3.1-mile course in 16:02.7, beating Harbor Springs sophomore Jeremy Kloss by 9.8 seconds.
A year ago, Stimpfel missed all-state in Division 3 by three places, taking 33rd in 16:48.1. As a freshman, he was 72nd in Division 3 in 17:20.3.
“I was kind of bummed, getting three places away from all-state,” Stimpfel said. “I knew I had to train. I trained all summer. We got moved down to D4. I guess it was to my advantage.”
Saturday’s time was his fastest by far at MIS, but nowhere near his personal best. He ran 15:39.4 on Oct. 1 at the Wagener Park Invitational. Even though he ran in the first race of the day, the course was already muddy down the final stretch from rain earlier in the week.
“Honestly, I was hoping to go for Tec Adams’ state record,” Stimpfel said. “It wasn’t going to happen today.”
Adams set the Division 4 record for the MIS course with a time of 15:22.4 in 2008.
Stimpfel hit the mile mark in 5:00 and the two-mile in 10:16, holding a four-second lead at both splits. He wasn’t sure if that lead would hold up as he made his way down the interminably long final stretch at MIS.
“I was a little nervous,” he said. “I looked back a couple times. I didn’t know how far I had on him. I was hoping I would finish strong and get across. It’s not every day you can be state champion; that’s pretty sweet.”
In the team race, top-ranked Pewamo-Westphalia won its first MHSAA boys cross country championship since Pewamo High School was the Class C-D champion in 1959 by a 131-144 margin over Harbor Springs. Bear Lake/Onekama was third at 181.
As was the case for Stimpfel, Pewamo-Westphalia moved down to Division 4 from Division 3. The Pirates were sixth in Division 4 in 2013 before taking 18th in both 2014 and 2015 in Division 3.
Senior Bryce Thelen is the lone holdover from that sixth-place team. He was the team’s leading runner and fifth in the team race with a time of 16:43.2.
Pewamo-Westphalia won on the strength of a strong pack behind Thelen, with only six team-race places and 9.9 seconds separating the Pirates’ No. 2 and No. 5 runners.
Sophomore Mitch Nurenberg was 29th (17:18.6), senior Brock Simon was 30th (17:19.4), sophomore Kyle Hengesbach was 32nd (17:21.3) and junior Trent Barker was 35th (17:28.5).
Harbor Springs had three runners cross before the Pirates’ No. 2 runner, but had to score a 41st and a 66th place.
Bear Lake/Onekama had two runners in the top 10 of the team race, but scored three runners in the 50s.
The MHSAA Cross Country Finals are sponsored by the Michigan National Guard.
PHOTOS: (Top) Cass City’s CarLee Stimpfel drives the final stretch on the way to the Division 4 individual title Saturday. (Middle) Bryce Thelen leads the P-W pack on its team championship run. (Click to see more from RunMichigan.com.)
'Dollar Bay Family' Claims 1st Boys XC Title
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
October 25, 2020
MUNISING — It was a day of firsts for a pair of Copper Country schools in the Upper Peninsula Division 3 Boys Cross Country Finals here Saturday.
Dollar Bay was crowned champion for the first time, and junior Jonah Nordine became the first Ewen-Trout Creek athlete to earn an individual title.
Nordine covered the 3.1-mile course in 17 minutes, 34.9 seconds, followed by Chassell senior Kolson Kytta (17:59.7) and Brimley senior Cameron Hoonstra (18:05.5) at Pictured Rocks Golf Course.
“I just tried to stay in first and push it out the whole race,” said Nordine. “It felt good to win this one, that’s for sure. I just put in a lot of work this summer and used this for conditioning for basketball.”
Kytta said he was happy to be runner-up.
"I had a better time in the season opener at (Painesdale) Jeffers, but that was kind of a downhill course,” he added. “It looks like I peaked at the right time. Our school was shut down for two weeks (due to COVID-19), but I think that enabled me to work on some things. We usually have 8-10 races every year. We had five this year, which is kind of disappointing for my senior year, but at least we got to have a season.”
The Blue Bolts scored 42 points, and reigning champ Rudyard edged Newberry 83-85 for the runner-up honor.
“Staying healthy was huge for us,” said Dollar Bay coach Matt Zimmer. “We’re all in this together. We decided we’re going to do this as a group. When the guys saw a teammate struggling, they offered him encouragement. They never left anyone alone out there. They all finished as a group. We refer to ourselves as the Dollar Bay family.”
Zimmer was also happy with the team’s senior leaders.
“They’ve been running together for four years,” he said. “They’ve been on this course before and knew where all the turns and hills were. Munising did a great job marking the course. Everything went like clockwork. They were very well organized.”
Newberry senior Ephram Evans took fourth (18:15.6), with Dollar Bay senior Davin Hill taking fifth (18:20.3).
“It wasn’t too bad out there,” said Evans. “I had a pair of water-resistant socks which kept my feet very dry. I went out a little harder than I wanted to. I would have liked to have placed third, but this was still a great way to end my high school career. Cam (Hoornstra) and I are great friends, and he beat me for the first time this year. We worked together and tried to catch the guy in second.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Stephenson's Griffin Brown and Engadine's Conrad Spieles (27) run with Dollar Bay's Davin Hill (14), Cooper Stout (18), and John Paul Norland (17). (Middle) Ewen-Trout Creek's Jonah Nordine has a comfortable lead in the Upper Peninsula Division 3 Final at Pictured Rocks Golf Course in Munising. (Photos by Cara Kamps.)