Breckenridge Star Finishes Historic Run
November 2, 2013
By Bill Khan
Special to Second Half
BROOKLYN — Kirsten Olling's greatest competition wasn't on the course at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday.
The names she was chasing were names from the past, some of the greatest runners in the history of Michigan cross country.
Olling put her name among the elite by winning her fourth MHSAA Finals championship, doing so in a Lower Peninsula Division 4-record time of 17:44.9.
She became only the third girl to win four outright MHSAA championships and fifth to win four races at the LP Finals. Carrie Gould of Burton Bendle and Flint Powers Catholic won four in a row from 1992-95 and Katie Boyles of Rochester Adams did so from 1997-2000. Theresa Padilla of Camden-Frontier (1984-87) and Valarie Ambrose of Riverview Gabriel Richard (1981-84) won four races in an era in which there were team and individual races, but didn't always have the best overall time in their classes.
"It's amazing," Olling said. "Today was my last high school race, so it's the best thing ever to know I'm out there now."
Barring a disaster — and they happened to two other runners in the past who were going for their fourth titles — Olling was going to join Gould and Boyles. Her focus on Saturday was to take down the Division 4 course record of 17:54.9 set by Marissa Treece of Maple City Glen Lake in 2006. Treece and Olling are the only Division 4 girls to break 18 minutes at the MHSAA Finals, both doing so twice.
"My main goal for today's race was time," Olling said. "With me, that's mostly my own competition — how fast can I do this? That was my main goal for this season, to get the course record."
The Division 4 girls race was the first of eight on a course that was soaked by rain overnight and early in the morning. It didn't seem to slow up Olling, who wouldn't let the conditions become an excuse.
"I was so nervous, but I was saying to myself, 'OK, no matter what the conditions are, I have to do this,'" she said. "It doesn't matter if I have to kill myself to do it; I've got to do it."
Olling hasn't had a close finish in any of her four championship races. This one was the largest gap, as Tessa Fornari of Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes took second trailing by 57.8 seconds. It was the largest margin ever in a LP Division 4 race, eclipsing Treece's 57.4-second victory in 2006.
Olling would've loved to add a team championship to her resume, but Breckenridge came up just short. Beal City won with 120 points, followed by Breckenridge with 136 and Bear Lake with 158.
Beal City flew under the radar all season, not even receiving honorable mention in either of the two state rankings. It was a puzzling slight, considering Beal City finished fourth last season, 10th the previous year and had made the top 10 four of the last seven years. The Aggies returned their top three runners and four of the top five from a team that was 42 points out of first place last season.
Sophomore Hannah Steffke led Beal City, placing 10th overall in 19:27.0. Also scoring for the Aggies were senior Hannah Neyer (19:57.0), junior Emily Steffke (20:12.5), freshman Ariel Salter (20:52.6) and freshman Brenda Faber (21:04.2). Faber's finish was a huge key for the Aggies, as she took 44th among team runners. Last year, the Aggies' No. 5 runner was 76th among team runners. The top four Aggies pretty much fell in line with last year's lineup.
PHOTO: Breckenridge's Kirsten Olling sprints down the stretch Saturday on the way to her fourth MHSAA individual cross country championship (Click to see more from RunMichigan.com)
Performance: Pioneer's Anne Forsyth
October 17, 2016
Anne Forsyth
Ann Arbor Pioneer junior – Cross Country
Forsyth has been one of the state’s fastest distance runners since starting her high school cross country career three seasons ago. But she’s made a jump to MHSAA championship contender this fall, showing it again by running a career record 17:21 to finish ahead of a loaded field at the Oct. 8 Portage Invitational and earn Michigan National Guard “Performance of the Week” for Oct. 3-9.
The junior standout won the Portage Division 1 race by six seconds as her team – ranked No. 3 in Lower Peninsula Division 1 – edged No. 2 Northville by three points to claim the team title as well. Forsyth’s time tied for fastest of the day with that of Lansing Catholic’s Olivia Theis, who won the Division 3 race. That 17:21 also set Pioneer’s 5K record, and Forsyth has seven others in either indoor or outdoor track & field, including the outdoor 3,200 record of 10:30.97 and as part of outdoor 3,200 (8:53.86), 4-mile (20:39.13) and distance medley (12:37.57) relays.
Forsyth finished seventh at the MHSAA LP Division 1 Cross Country Final as a freshman and 13th last season, and her 17:21 was more than five seconds faster than her best time of 2015. She also finished seventh in the 3,200 at the MHSAA Track & Field Division 1 Final this spring and ran the first leg of the Finals-champion 3,200 relay. Her school records are especially impressive considering the high regard for Pioneer’s program, which won three cross country and 16 girls track & field MHSAA titles under late coach Bryan Westfield, who died during the summer of 2015 after a fight with cancer. Forsyth is now coached by Nancy Boudreau, who took over last fall after serving as Westfield’s assistant for five years and also coached for a decade in Bowling Green’s running programs.
Coach Nancy Boudreau said: “Anne is just now starting to believe in herself. She is super motivated and is always striving to do her best. In the last year she has taken all aspects of training more seriously, especially the weight training and core training. She is also a tremendous team leader and keeps things very light in practice and at meets. She is well known for her inspirational pep talks before races, which get the girls psyched for the races.”
Performance Point: “We all got out really hard in the beginning, and I was kinda worried I wasn’t going to be able to hang with them,” Forsyth said of the Portage win. “Partway through I felt really good, and I started trying to push up the hills – trying to push the whole way. I was really surprised; throughout the season I’ve been staying with (the top runners) for about a mile, and they’ve been pulling away. It boosted my confidence that I stuck with them longer.”
This year’s jump: “Partly it’s an attitude change, just knowing that I can do it. When it hurts in the middle (of a race), if you don’t think you can do it, you just slow down and not really care. … We’ve (also) been doing slightly different training, going on slightly longer runs. Our workouts are more intense, and we’ve been doing a little weight training. It just makes me feel more consistent, like I don’t have as many really bad days.”
Full team ahead: “We’ve done really well. We’re trying to get everybody to get more consistent, all of us running well the same day. A lot of us know we can run faster, and it’s motivating to know we haven’t hit our peak yet.”
Pep talker: “It’s really random. I just pick something – it’s kinda dumb – but it gets everybody hyped up and excited. Just acting kinda crazy can shake out some of the nerves. I was always like that. I try to keep everybody loose (because) we tend to get nervous.”
Westfield wisdom: “He really taught us how to care about it. If we have a bad day, that it’s not the end of the world. He really showed … athletics can help you in every part of your life. He just showed a lot of compassion.”
- Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2016-17 school year, Second Half and the Michigan National Guard will recognize a “Performance of the Week" from among the MHSAA's 750 member high schools.
The Michigan Army National Guard provides trained and ready forces in support of the National Military Strategy, and responds as needed to state, local, and regional emergencies to ensure peace, order, and public safety. The Guard adds value to our communities through continuous interaction. National Guard soldiers are part of the local community. Guardsmen typically train one weekend per month and two weeks in the summer. This training maintains readiness when needed, be it either to defend our nation's freedom or protect lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
Previous 2016-17 honorees:
Oct. 6: Shuaib Aljabaly, Coldwater cross country – Read
Sept. 29: Taylor Seaman, Brighton swimming & diving – Read
Sept. 22: Maggie Farrell, Battle Creek Lakeview cross country – Read
Sept. 15: Franki Strefling, Buchanan volleyball – Read
Sept. 8: Noah Jacobs, Corunna cross country – Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Ann Arbor Pioneer's Anne Forsyth runs a cross country race last fall. (Middle) Forsyth placed individually and as part of a relay at this spring's Track & Field Finals. (Photos courtesy of Ann Arbor Pioneer Cross Country/Peter Draugalis.)