Division 1 Winners Lead Speedy Packs

November 7, 2015

By Bill Khan
Special for Second Half

BROOKLYN — Panic set in, but only momentarily.

With all of the pressure that takes place in an MHSAA Cross Country Final, a runner could easily become unraveled by the unexpected. 

Like a fall, for instance.

Grandville sophomore Madison Troy went to the ground during a gravel section of the Michigan International Speedway course midway through the Lower Peninsula Division 1 meet Saturday. Afterward, she bore scuff marks on her right shoulder, hands and legs from the tumble. 

But she also wore the smile of a champion, having quickly composed herself. She got back in the lead pack, then pulled away from a three-girl race down the final stretch to win in 17:28.2. Close behind were Saline sophomore Jessi Larson (17:30.9) and Farmington senior Maddy Trevisan (17:31.7).

Troy said she was in third or fourth place when she fell. 

"It wasn't too bad," said Troy, Grandville's first individual champion. "I fell all the way through on my back. I quickly got up, because I didn't want to lose my spot. I was nervous at first. I thought I was going to fall behind."

Troy finished 13th in the Final last year in 18:15.8. She had to beat six runners who placed higher than her a year ago. 

"I was hoping to win by my junior or senior year," Troy said. "This year was not unexpected, because I knew if I gave it a lot, I'd be able to."

Some rivalries to watch may have formed Saturday, as three of the top four were sophomores. Traverse City Central 10th-grader Sielle Kearney was fourth in 17:41.2. 

"It's hard to push yourself when you don't have a group to run with, so that was nice," Troy said.

Troy was coming off a personal-best 17:20.5 performance to win the Regional on the fast Portage Central course. Coming within eight seconds of that time was a solid effort on the wind-swept MIS course. 

In the team race, Birmingham Seaholm won for the third time in the last four years, despite graduating two-time champion Audrey Belf (Georgetown) and 2014 runner-up Rachel DaDamio (Notre Dame).

The Maples scored 90 points to beat second-place Brighton by 46. 

Without two stars at the front, Seaholm won with a solid pack. The Maples' top four runners finished 16.7 seconds apart, with all five scorers breaking 19 minutes.

Junior Audrey Ladd was 11th (18:06.3), sophomore Rachel McCardell 16th (18:21.6), senior Mary Sanders 18th (18:21.9), senior Patty Girardot 19th (18:23.0) and sophomore Emily Rooney 53rd (18:54.6). 

Neither of the top two teams had a runner in the top 10, as fifth-ranked Brighton also came away with the runner-up trophy because of a tight pack.

Brighton's five scoring runners finished 22 seconds apart, as the Bulldogs had their best finish since placing second in 1993. Senior Kirsten McGahan was Brighton's first finisher in 28th place (18:32.1), but she was quickly followed by junior Miranda Reynolds (29th, 18:32.3), senior Jenna Sica (18:34.3), sophomore Lauren Parrell (43rd, 18:49.5) and sophomore Lexi Reynolds (51st, 18:54.1). 

Milford, which beat Brighton for the Kensington Lakes Activities Association West championship, was third with 149 points.

Click for full results.

The MHSAA Cross Country Finals are sponsored by the Michigan National Guard.

PHOTOS: (Top) Grandville’s Madison Troy (1052) stays just ahead of Saline’s Jessi Larson (1146) and Farmington’s Maddy Trevisan (1031) during the final meters of the Division 1 Final. (Middle) Birmingham Seaholm’s Patty Girardot (1005) leads a pack that includes teammates Mary Sanders (1009) and Rachel McCardell (1007), plus Midland Dow’s Emily Wall. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)

MHSAA Vault: MIS Rose to Challenges to Host 2020 LP Finals

By Rob Kaminski
MHSAA benchmarks editor

November 12, 2021

The “MHSAA Vault” features stories from past publications and other documents in the MHSAA Library. This issue takes a look at the MHSAA Cross Country Finals at Michigan International Speedway, which celebrated 25 years in 2020 – although it was an event that nearly didn’t happen last fall …

In 1996, the MHSAA and Michigan International Speedway began a partnership the changed the course of the Lower Peninsula Cross Country Finals – quite literally.

The land in and around the track at Brooklyn would host the Finals for all classes of runners in one place on one day, an annual festival of nearly 2,000 runners competing for the MHSAA’s top honors.

Even skeptics – and there were several among running purists who thought the course was too flat, for example – can’t deny the results.

Finals attendance nearly doubled in that first year, and crowds in excess of 10,000 have enjoyed a day of racing several times, including a record 12,153 in 2011.

Enthusiastic crowds were the norm in recent years, with 11,232 in 2017, and nearly 11,000 in 2018 (10,989) and 2019 (10,873).

In fact, attendance failed to reach at least 8,000 only twice since the move to MIS.

Of course, last year was an exception, when attendance was limited to 1,000 spectators per session due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Fans also were restricted to the grandstands rather than following the action throughout locations on the course.

To reduce the number of runners in each race, the event was spread over two days, with each Division being run in two separate “sections” with times then combined at the end to determine team and individual champions.

While not ideal, the end result was another year of fantastic efforts at MIS – both from student-athletes and those behind the scenes.

“Even at the last hour, less than a week ahead of the Finals, we were closer to not having the Finals than we were to having them,” said MHSAA Assistant Director Cody Inglis, who coordinates the cross country postseason. “Rumors and challenges of mandated shutdowns, testing and other requirements were being discussed and caused a lot of unknowns. Even at the Regional level, we had schools, Regional courses and hosts shutting down their facilities; we had to relocate four Regionals 48 hours prior to race times. That scenario just could not happen at the Finals level where far more runners and much more travel would be involved.”

Among the many last-minute hurdles was the edict from NASCAR – which owns MIS – that all persons on site be temperature checked upon entry. That meant securing thermometers that were easy to operate in short order, along with personnel necessary to conduct the readings.

The attendance limitations certainly helped to implement the temperature screening, but brought their own issues.

“Limiting spectators was not a popular decision, but it really was the only way to have a race,” Inglis said. “We were taking direction and working with policies and protocols from the MDHHS, the Governor’s office, Lenawee County Health Department, MIS and NASCAR.”

Part of the solution was to utilize the grandstands as a “barrier” between participants and spectators. The reduced number of fans were dispersed over thousands of seats while still allowing them the chance to watch their student-athletes compete.

“It wasn’t the same, it wasn’t easy or perfect, but it was what we had to do to have a race,” Inglis said. “Separating the Finals into two days and different sections also allowed us to spread out the event and limit the number of people on site at any one time. This was a key part of the plan and worked well even though it separated races within a Division.” 

The MHSAA, MIS and the cross country community never lost focus of the main goal: a culmination of the season for the student-athletes, who deserved something last year more than ever. And, more than ever, MIS once again displayed its advantage as a venue that could adapt to the fluid nature of the times to pull off the event.

“There were some thoughts of using four different sites, but as we learned during the Regionals, the climate of things was so tenuous from one area of the state to another that we couldn’t be 100-percent certain that there wouldn’t again be last-minute cancelations,” Inglis said. “MIS was wonderful to work and collaborate with, and was the best option to get it done. It was never mentioned once publicly about the possibility of not having the Finals – only how we could best do it under uncharted conditions.”   

 The moving parts and ever-changing scenarios created more complexity than ever in finalizing a season, but every decision was made with the complete desire to conduct the Finals as close to normal as possible.

“I firmly believe that a finish to the season, no matter the differences in race formatting and fan experience, was something everyone would have taken when the season began in August,” Inglis said.

Indeed, the finish line in Year 25 at MIS might have been the most gratifying of them all.