Dow's Garces Runs with Legends, Romeo Makes Run at Legendary Team Score

November 2, 2024

BROOKLYN — When the name of Dathan Ritzenhein is brought up around current Michigan high school cross country runners, it’s a legendary name from the past whose exploits at Rockford took place before they were born.

The female equivalent is Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Rachel Forsyth, who shattered the girls course record at Michigan International Speedway only last year.

To Midland Dow senior Victoria Garces, Forsyth is not just a legendary name, but a contemporary. Garces was in the same race last year — albeit from a distance, like everyone else — when Forsyth posted her epic time of 16 minutes, 28.5 seconds to lower the MIS girls record by a jaw-dropping 23.6 seconds.

Forsyth seemed like she was on a different planet to Garces and anyone else who attempted to challenge her last fall.

Fast forward one year and Garces established herself as one of the all-time greats in Michigan cross country history by winning the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final in 16:37.1.

Garces’ time is the second-fastest ever at MIS and still a healthy 15 seconds lower than the mark Forsyth broke last year.

Romeo’s Natalia Guaresimo (355) and Kalamazoo Central’s Annie Alkema surge toward the finish line. “Honestly, I’m in shock,” said Garces, who was fifth at both of the last two Division 1 Finals. “I’m just so grateful I’m here healthy. Last year states was a little bit of a challenge for me. I dealt with a little bit of an injury going in. Being here healthy, I just changed my outlook and I’m trying to focus on different things this season. I’m just so grateful to be anywhere near Rachel Forsyth’s time, because she’s just incredible.”

Garces knew she had a special race going when her and 2022 Division 1 champion Helen Sachs of Holland West Ottawa reached the mile mark in 5:24. At the two-mile mark, Sachs was first in 10:43.5, with Garces hot on her heels in 10:44.7.

“Helen started turning it on after the first mile,” Garces said. “I’m like, ‘I’ve never done this before,’ but I still felt pretty good, so I’m like, ‘All right, I’ll try it.’”

Garces broke away on a downhill before entering the stadium, hitting the three-mile mark in 16:04.1. She wound up lowering her personal record by 18.3 seconds.

“I was like, ‘Oh, wow, if I really bring this in, I can maybe get under 16:40,’” she said. “That was insane. I was not expecting to get a PR today, but it was super cool.”

Garces raced only six times all season, winning each time. She broke 17 minutes in all of her final three races.

Finishing third in 17:04.1 was Pioneer freshman Natasza Dudek, who shattered the MIS freshman record of 17:28.7 set by Romeo’s Annie Hrabovsky last year.

Romeo repeated as team champion with a dominant performance, putting six of its seven runners on the all-state podium with top-30 finishes.

The Bulldogs scored 61 points to best runner-up Saline by 82. Romeo had six runners across the line before Saline’s second runner finished.

Junior Natalia Guaresimo was sixth in 17:40.8, sophomore Annie Hrabovsky was 11th in 17:46.8, senior Lillian Deskins was 17th in 17:57.4, senior Violet Hrabovsky was 20th in 18:03.9 and senior Olivia Purdy was 22nd in 18:08.4 for Romeo. Even though her score didn’t count, junior Emmerson Clor made all-state by placing 30th in 18:21.1.

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PHOTOS (Top) Midland Dow’s Victoria Garces eyes the finish as she pushes for what ended up the second-fastest girls time in Finals history at MIS. (Middle) Romeo’s Natalia Guaresimo (355) and Kalamazoo Central’s Annie Alkema surge toward the finish line. (Click for more from Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)

Forsyth Closes Career as Legendary, Romeo Caps Memorable 1st Title Run

November 4, 2023

BROOKLYN — Dathan Ritzenhein’s time of 14:10.4 at the 2000 MHSAA Cross Country Finals has become the stuff of legend.

During the 23 years that have followed, no other runners has come remotely close to breaking the record set by the three-time Olympian from Rockford.

Years from now, perhaps Rachel Forsyth’s performance Saturday at Michigan International Speedway will be just as revered.

She not only set the girls course record, she obliterated it.

Running solo from the gun, Forsyth ran a scorching 16:28.5 to shatter the course mark of Lansing Catholic’s Olivia Theis in the 2017 Division 2 race.

It’s worth noting that some of the greatest high school cross country runners in the country have graced MIS since the MHSAA moved its Finals there in 1996.

Megan Goethals of Rochester (2009) and Zofia Dudek of Ann Arbor Pioneer (2019) won Foot Locker national championships. Others have gone on to become college All-Americans.

It wasn’t even Forsyth’s fastest time this season. She ran 16:07.5 to win her Regional meet. Forsyth was more fixated on beating that time than taking down the course record.

Midland Dow's Victoria Garces (200) and Romeo's Annie Hrabovsky run side-by-side down the closing stretch. “I just handled it like a normal race,” Forsyth said. “Me and my friends goofed off. We got ready as we normally did. No one put too much pressure on it.”

It was the second MHSAA championship for Forsyth, the other coming two years ago when she ran 17:09.32.

After that, she began to struggle with an eating disorder which put her life in jeopardy.  She was hospitalized at the University of Michigan’s Mott Children’s Hospital and was then admitted to the Eating Recovery Center in Illinois.

She was finally healthy enough to rejoin her team on the race course in late September last year, but had lost much of her spectacular fitness. She finished 62nd in last year’s state meet.

“It’s very surreal, because I missed so much,” Forsyth said. “So, to be able to be at my best …”

At this point, Forsyth began choking up before she finished the sentence … “is very special.”

Forsyth said the process of making healthy decisions is still difficult, “but the benefits of doing what I have to pays off 100 percent.”

Forsyth reached the finish line before anyone else hit the three-mile mark in the 3.1-mile race. Finishing a distant second was Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills senior Selma Anderson, whose time of 17:13.6 would have ranked 11th in MIS history coming into a record-setting day across the board.

“It was pretty cool to watch, but I know I couldn’t run with her,” Anderson said. “So, I was just going to focus on my race.”

Forsyth hoped to cap her record-breaking day with a team championship celebration, but Romeo had something to say about that, putting up a winning total of 65 points to claim its first Finals championship and after finishing runner-up a year ago. Pioneer was second this time with 126 points.

Freshman Annie Hrabovsky of Romeo established herself as a future championship contender, placing fourth in 17:28.7. Sophomore Natalia Guaresimo was seventh, sophomore Emmerson Clor 13th, junior Lillian Deskins 22nd and junior Olivia Purdy 41st for Romeo.

The Bulldogs had four runners cross before Pioneer had two.

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PHOTOS (Top) Ann Arbor Pioneer's Rachel Forsyth takes the final paces of her record-setting run Saturday at MIS. (Middle) Midland Dow's Victoria Garces (200) and Romeo's Annie Hrabovsky run side-by-side down the closing stretch. (Photos by Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)