Stimpfel Repeats, MPSH Completes Sweep
November 4, 2017
Second Half reports
BROOKLYN — CarLee Stimpfel of Cass City had to spend some extra time walking around in the chute area before he could collect his breath and talk with reporters Saturday at Michigan International Speedway.
There was a physical and mental toll in repeating as MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 individual boys cross country champion.
“It was definitely a lot tougher race than last year,” Stimpfel said. “I don’t know what it was. I think it was more mental this year.”
Stimpfel’s margin of victory was smaller this year. He emerged from a five-man pack to win in 16:07.1, beating Plymouth Christian Academy junior Luke Pohl by 6.1 seconds. Stimpfel’s time of 16:02.7 last year was 9.8 seconds faster than runner-up Jeremy Kloss, a Harbor Springs runner who took second in Division 3 on Saturday.
“Everybody’s always on your, ‘Are you gonna repeat this year? Are you gonna repeat this year?’” Stimpfel said. “’You’re not gonna let anybody beat you.’ It’s a lot of pressure. I put a lot of pressure on myself. I want to repeat. I just finally got out there today and was able to pull it off. The time wasn’t the greatest. The quads kind of locked up on me from the get-go. I don’t know if it was a lack of stretching or mentally I let it get to me. I’m happy I was able to pull it off.”
Stimpfel knew one of the top competitors, Ubly senior Alex Grifka, as well as someone can know one of his or her rivals. They are from neighboring communities, racing against each other all year and sometimes training together.
The wild card was Pohl, who was running in his first MHSAA Final after being homeschooled his first two years of high school.
Pohl passed Grifka down the stretch to take second in 16:13.2. Grifka was third in 16:23.8.
“I haven’t been eligible to run at states,” Pohl said. “This is my first time. It was cool coming back into the stadium and running alongside the track; it’s crazy.”
Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart won the team championship by a 126-185 margin over Potterville, giving the school a sweep of the Division 4 titles. The Irish girls won their third in a row earlier.
The Irish boys won without a star up front, getting their five scoring runners in the top 33 in the team race with a separation of only 40.3 seconds.
T.J. Moore was 25th overall in 17:03.6, Chase Nelson was 31st in 17:09.8, Josh Lynch was 40th in 17:29.1, Matthew Nowak was 46th in 17:33.3 and Noah Schafer was 54th in 17:43.9 for Sacred Heart.
It was the first MHSAA Finals championship for the Irish since they won the 1977 Class D title. They were ninth in 2015 and 10th in 2016 on their way to the top.
PHOTOS: (Top) Cass City’s CarLee Stimpfel leads the Division 4 race on the way to repeating as champion. (Middle) T.J. Moore (719) and Chase Nelson (720) lead a closely-packed group of Sacred Heart runners who earned the team’s first championship in 40 years. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)
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.)