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.)
Northville Extends Team Title Streak, Jenison's Conner Joins All-Time Elite
November 2, 2024
BROOKLYN — Ethan Powell is grateful to be part of three team championships with Northville at MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Cross Country Finals, but sometimes he wonders if things could’ve turned out better his freshman year.
The Mustangs finished fourth that season with 204 points in a meet won by Kensington Lakes Activities Association West rival Brighton with 141.
Powell finished 94th that year in 16 minutes, 41.28 seconds after running times of 16:19.88 and 16:24.8 in the first two meets of Northville’s championship season.
“My freshman year, we had a chance to win it, too,” Powell said. “I underperformed. I was part of the reason we didn’t win it. We took fourth that year. I was just really bummed out.”
Powell never left Michigan International Speedway feeling that way the rest of his career.
He led Northville to its third consecutive Division 1 championship Saturday by a dominant 99-169 margin over Saline.
The Mustangs are the first Division 1 boys team to win three titles in a row since Milford from 2011-13. Powell is the only runner who was in the Finals lineup for all three championships.
Northville was ranked No. 1 all season, winning the KLAA championship by a 36-68 margin over a Brighton team that finished third Saturday. The Mustangs’ league included four of the top 10 teams in the Division 1 Final.
“Last year, it was honestly a tougher year, especially after Portage (Invitational) where we took sixth or seventh or whatever,” Powell said. “We came back and were able to win it last year. It was honestly an amazing feeling doing it back to back.
“This year, we’ve just been grinding. Some people don’t really understand the behind-the-scenes part of it. Every day, it’s work. It’s making sure we’re doing what we’re doing, not slacking off. We have this saying: ‘Don’t bite the bait, don’t take the cheese.’ We’re making sure not to get too boastful or too ahead of ourselves, knowing anything can happen.”
Potential trouble struck for the Mustangs when senior Ishaan Kundapur fell about 200 yards from the finish line and struggled to get going again. He finished as the team’s fifth and final scoring runner in 84th place.
“I’m really happy he ended up finishing,” Powell said. “It looked like he wasn’t going to finish. He ended up pushing through and finishing. That’s a moment where, honestly, it can be a game-changer and turn the tables.”
Northville had four runners make all-state by finishing among the top 30, including three in the top 10. Powell was seventh in 15:24.8, junior Ben Hartigan was ninth in 15:27.7, sophomore Brandon Cloud was 10th in 15:29.0, senior Nick Barretto was 25th in 15:41.7 and Kundapur was 84th in 16:14.5.
The battle for the individual championship was won by Jenison senior Seth Conner, whose time of 14:54.5 ranks 11th in the 29-year history of the Finals at MIS.
The names ahead of him include three Olympians, most notably Grand Blanc’s Grant Fisher. Like Fisher, a two-time bronze medalist at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, Conner played soccer and ran cross country early in his high school career.
Conner didn’t make it to MIS as a freshman as Fisher did, finishing 45th at Regionals, but he gave up soccer to focus on running after that.
He never envisioned becoming a Finals champion.
“Oh, no,” he said. “I was a soccer player, so freshman year I came in and didn’t really have any goals. Nobody probably would’ve seen this coming. Last year, I was like, ‘I’m gonna win state. Let’s see what happens.’”
Conner had a comfortable lead as he cruised down the final stretch at MIS, having made a decisive move about halfway through the race. Canton junior Aiden Pengelly charged from behind to nip Milford junior Kyle O’Rourke at the finish line to take second place by one second in 15:01.0.
“I was really nervous about it, especially after MI Speed Rating ranked me lower for the Regional race,” Conner said. “I just kind of gave it all to God. ‘Hey, listen, this is making me really nervous. I know you’re going to take that from me. I can just focus on my hard work.’ That’s what I did. Going into the race, I wasn’t really that nervous, just very confident and excited.”
PHOTOS (Top) Northville’s Ethan Powell powers toward the finish as his team’s top placer Saturday at MIS. (Middle) Jenison’s Seth Conner sees the finish line ahead as he leads the Division 1 Final. (Click for more from Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)