Central Montcalm's Hoffman Pulls Away, Lansing Catholic Claims Close Race
November 2, 2024
BROOKLYN — Kyah Hoffman was winning cross country races for the first four weeks of the season, but wasn’t satisfied with her performances.
As much as coaches stress that it’s place, not time, that matters in cross country, kids are still motivated by lowering their personal records.
Through six meets, Hoffman won five times — taking sixth in the Spartan Elite race against mostly Division 1 runners — but her times were nowhere near where she finished her junior year at Central Montcalm.
Her breakthrough moment came Sept. 28 in Shepherd where she took third against another loaded field in 17 minutes, 40.4 seconds, shaving 0.4 seconds off her fastest time from last season.
Hoffman’s confidence was restored.
She would break 18 minutes four more times this season, the last being a 17:31.6 performance which was good for first place in the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 Final on Saturday at Michigan International Speedway.
Hoffman won 11 of 13 races this season, her fastest time being 17:25.3 on Oct. 19 in the Northern Michigan Meet of Champions.
“It’s been ups and downs,” Hoffman said. “At first, I was super scared because I was like, ‘I haven’t PR’d. I’ve barely reached the 17s. I don’t know if I’m going to PR this year.’ I was so nervous until I ran at Shepherd and broke my record by .4, which is better than nothing, for sure.
“At Cadillac, I bumped that all the way down to 17:25. I was like, ‘Oh, wow, I am improving. It’s not just a fluke. I’m doing well.’ I knew I could do it. I just had to tell myself I could do it and it was going to happen.”
Hoffman made it happen by putting in a surge in the second mile after her and Emmry Ross of Onsted reached the mile mark in 5:38.8. At the two-mile mark, Hoffman’s lead increased to 9.1 seconds over Ross.
From there, it was just a matter of holding it together over the final 1.1 miles. Hoffman wouldn’t let herself feel comfortable, even if spectators near the finish could see she had a large lead.
“To be honest, I thought there was someone behind me the whole time,” said Hoffman, a four-time all-stater who was third in Division 3 last year. “I was like, ‘I didn’t go this far just to get second.’ I wanted it really badly, so after I passed her at the mile I had to get a gap.
“I can always hear someone being like, ‘Woo, woo! Go so-and-so!’ But they could be a couple ways away from me or they could be screaming early because they see them coming. It’s just a mystery. Somebody at the very end said, ‘You have 60 meters.’ I knew I’ve got this. I might as well just keep dying.”
The team race was about as close as it gets, with four teams in the hunt heading into the final mile.
Only 23 points separated the top four, with Lansing Catholic emerging from the fray with its second Finals championship by a 136-147 margin over Pewamo-Westphalia. The Cougars were Division 2 champions in 2017.
Central Montcalm was third with 157 points, and Traverse City St. Francis was fourth with 159.
Lansing Catholic became champion after a seventh-place finish last year, despite graduating sixth-place individual Tessa Roe. The Cougars returned four runners from that team and benefited from an infusion of three freshmen who made the varsity lineup.
One of those ninth-graders, Josie Bishop, led the Cougars by placing 20th in 19:01.8. She was the team’s only all-state finisher, but Lansing Catholic got its five scoring runners across the line among the first 38 places in the team race and first 60 overall.
Sophomore Grace Wonch was 32nd in 19:21.0, missing all-state by two places. Junior Frances Melinn was 42nd in 19:43.6, freshman Isabelle Currie 58th in 20:05.3 and sophomore Avery Miller 60th in 20:10.5.
Pewamo-Westphalia had an 11th-place finisher in senior Whitney Werner (18:17.3) and 14th-place finisher in sophomore Alyssa Kramer (18:39.3), but Lansing Catholic had five runners across before the Pirates had four.
PHOTOS (Top) Central Montcalm’s Kyah Hoffman finishes her Division 3 championship run Saturday at Michigan International Speedway. (Middle) Lansing Catholic holds up its team title trophy. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com; top photo by Dave McCauley and team photo by Carter Sherline.)
VanderKooi Joins Elite Champions Club, Leads WMC to 1st Team Title
November 6, 2021
BROOKLYN — Abby VanderKooi made it look easy for three years, dominating the small-school divisions at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Cross Country Finals as one of the top runners in the nation.
But the 2021 season has been anything but easy for VanderKooi, and neither was the race in which the Muskegon Western Michigan Christian senior won her fourth MHSAA championship.
VanderKooi joined a select group of four-time champions by running a time of 18:06.58 Saturday at the Division 4 race at Michigan International Speedway.
As she crossed the finish line, completing her four-year mission, VanderKooi staggered a bit before gathering herself, even though the time wasn’t anywhere near her fastest.
“That hurt,” she said. “I was happy to be done. I saw the flag and I was like, ‘Oh, the gates of heaven!’”
VanderKooi finished third in the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships as a freshman and sophomore before the 2020 race was canceled because of COVID. Along the way, she won the MHSAA LP Division 4 title in 2018 and 2019 and the Division 3 crown when her school moved up a division for one year in 2020.
VanderKooi became only the fourth girl to win four outright MHSAA Lower Peninsula individual championships.
The others are Carrie Gould of Burton Bendle and Flint Powers Catholic (1992-95), Katie Boyles of Rochester Adams (1997-2000) and Kirsten Olling of Breckenridge (2010-13). Amber Smith of Ishpeming Westwood (2000-03) and Tara Kiilunen of Calumet won four MHSAA Upper Peninsula titles.
Valari Ambrose of Riverview Gabriel Richard (1981-84) won the individual race four times, but only twice had the fastest time in Class C back when there were two races at the MHSAA Finals. Theresa Padilla of Camden-Frontier won four individual races from 1984-87, but had the fastest time in Class D only once.
“It’s really special,” VanderKooi said. “Not many people get to do that. I’m so thankful I have the ability to do that.”
VanderKooi said she had trouble breathing in the cold air in the first race of the day at MIS. It was just one of several challenges she’s faced this year.
“I wonder if I have cold-induced asthma,” she said. “My sister does. I don’t have it as bad as her. I haven’t been having a good season; I don’t know why. I haven’t been able to click into it. Ever since I broke my toe in track season, I haven’t been able to get back into running fast times, so that’s been really frustrating.”
Unlike her past three MHSAA Finals, VanderKooi had company after the initial burst from the start line.
VanderKooi reached the mile mark in 5:47.9, with Buckley sophomore Aiden Harrand close behind at 5:49.5. The gap increased to nine seconds at the two-mile mark.
“I could hear her the whole time,” VanderKooi said. “When you hear people cheering for other people behind you, it’s kind of scary.”
With VanderKooi graduating, Harrand could be the heir apparent to the Division 4 throne. Harrand was fifth as a freshman.
Harrand’s plan Saturday was “just pretty much stay as close as I can and try to gap the move, move when she does and try my best. About the mile-and-a-half marker, she just had more in the tank than I did.”
For VanderKooi, her performance wasn’t all about individual glory. Her first-place stick helped Western Michigan Christian win its first MHSAA team championship by an 81-108 margin over Kalamazoo Christian.
Her freshman sister, Grace, took eighth in 19:28.28. Completing the team score were Ava Rotman (33rd, 20:41.09), Brianna Zuidema (36th, 20:43.09) and Eleanor Kingshott (59th, 21:12.33).
“Having my team along, especially my sister, it means the world to me,” Abby VanderKooi said. “I’ve never had so much fun with such a wonderful team.”
PHOTOS Muskegon Western Michigan Christian’s Abby VanderKooi travels the final stretch on the way to clinching her fourth MHSAA Finals individual title Friday. (Middle) The WMC runners prepare to begin Saturday’s Division 4 race; they’d go on to claim their first team title. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)