![](/sites/default/files/imported/Photos/120927_Bosmain2H.jpg)
Eagles Senior Shows She's the Bos
September 27, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
At first, Julia Bos competed against herself.
She started in sixth grade, running the mile in gym class, and she finished in seven minutes. Bos wanted to go faster, so she started running a half-mile, on her own, every day.
Then the competition became her sister, Anna, two years older, who was having success in eighth grade cross country. Julia wanted to win too. So the sisters started running together, Julia struggling to keep Anna within sight -- until one day when Julia was a freshman, decided their pace was too slow, and took off on her own.
Julia's still running away from the pack. Bos finished 18th at the Division 2 Cross Country Final as a freshman, in 19:15. She cut her time to 17:48 a year later, finishing fourth. Last fall, she beat out two previous MHSAA champions to claim her first title in 17:24.
Now what? She's back to competing against herself, but now as arguably the top runner in the state this fall.
"My freshman year, I never dreamed I’d be into the 17s,” Bos said. “Every season I have the thought that this is it. I can't get faster.
"Then I prove myself wrong."
She gets a Second Half High 5 this week after proving herself as perhaps the runner to catch statewide on Sept. 14, when she finished first in the elite race at the Spartan Invitational at Michigan State. She crossed the line in 17:20 – 15 seconds ahead of a field that included West Bloomfield’s Erin Finn, the reigning MHSAA Division 1 champion and a national meet record setter during the offseason, and one of the nation’s top middle distance track runners in Grosse Pointe South’s Hannah Meier.
Last season's MHSAA Final win was huge, but Grand Rapids Christian coach Doug Jager said he’d never seen Bos as happy as when she stood on the medal stand at MSU.
Bos said it took a mix of factors for her to finish first that day. She said Finn remains ahead of her, and respects her greatly because of how she’s handled stardom and the expectation that she’ll always win.
But Bos is in that class now too. She hasn’t finished lower than first in a race since the 2011 Spartan Invite, when she took third behind Finn and Meier.
She just gets faster
"She's very gifted as a runner. She also works harder than anyone I've ever had," said Jager, who coached the Eagles to Division 2 team championships in 2005, 2006 and 2010. "In fact, I usually have to tell her to do less."
Late last season, that meant training only four days a week. This fall it has been five, and Bos spends many of those running with the Eagles boys team, especially on longer runs. She and Anna don't really run together anymore, although Anna did finish for Rockford's third-place team at the 2010 Division 1 Final.
Julia has another theory for the jump she took between sophomore and junior year. She grew three inches, to 5-foot-5, and longer legs turned into faster ones.
Indeed, Jager said, Bos has improved her leg speed. But also her strategy.
At the Spartan Invite her freshman year, Bos was about 80th after a mile, and despite working hard to get back among the front packs, finished 10th.
At last season’s Final at Michigan International Speedway, Bos at first planned to go out behind the other favorites, drafting off them before coming on late. But figuring they expect that strategy, she charged out hard – and just kept going.
Jager said Bos’ best trait might be that she does keep going. Often, her third mile is faster than her first, which “grinds people down.” Bos isn’t so sure her third mile is her fastest. But it’s at least faster than the final third of her opponents.
Flying like an eagle
At MSU this month, Jager and Bos accidentally got separated from the rest of the Eagles before the start of the elite race. That did allow for some final one-on-one coaching, or, rather, convincing.
“Everyone was looking at Finn and Hannah Meier, and she goes, ‘What do you think? Can I get second?’” Jager said. “I said, 'Are you conceding first already?'
“She said, ‘No, but Erin is so good.’ I said, 'Look, just put yourself in position. Don’t put expectations on yourself. Just put yourself in position where you never know. … Just keep your head up and watch.”
"I'm going into it thinking to myself, there's only a 10 percent chance I can win this," Bos recalled.
Teams generally run similar schedules every season, and the Spartan was only event the Eagles run that Bos hadn’t won during her career.
Cross that off the list. Bring on the higher expectations.
"I had a really good day. I did all the right things with eating and drinking and resting, and I was ready to peak for that day," Bos said.
"(God's) the one who gave me the talent. ... I've just gotta take each race one at a time, with His help, and deal with all the pressure."
PHOTO: Grand Rapids Christian's Julia Bos broke away from the pack during last season's Division 2 Final at Michigan International Speedway. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com).
![East Grand Rapids’ Drew Muller charges toward the finish line during the LPD2 Final.](/sites/default/files/2022-11/221105_D2g_2H.jpg)
Past Races Pay Off for EGR's Muller, While Otsego Rises Again as Top Team
November 5, 2022
BROOKLYN – How strong of a cross country conference is the Ottawa-Kent Conference White?
So good that Drew Muller of East Grand Rapids didn’t even win the two conference jamborees she raced this season.
Yet, she was first when it mattered the most, winning the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 championship Saturday at Michigan International Speedway.
Muller crossed the finish line in 18:18.47 to win by 9.36 seconds over Otsego freshman Emma Hoffman.
The winner of all three O-K White jamborees was Grand Rapids Christian junior Natalie VanOtteren, who was fourth in 17:55.3. Six of the top 10 runners were from the Grand Rapids area.
“It’s been like this a lot during the season,” Muller said. “All the teams we race against in our conference are so stacked. Everyone who runs there is so amazing, so it makes it fun.
“It helps so much. Everyone we race against are such good friends. It makes it even more fun. It makes you love the sport even more.”
Muller ran with some familiar faces much of the race before making a break entering the track with one kilometer remaining.
“I was feeling pretty fatigued, but I found my group I run with a lot and we stuck with it together and kind of powered through,” she said. “In the back stretch, I took a chance and went at the 1K, which I’ve been doing in a couple meets before this. It’s worked pretty well. I was pretty fatigued, but it’s good, good to be done.”
Muller’s first words with reporters after the race were, “That hurt a lot.”
Muller became an MHSAA champion after finishing fifth in Division 2 both of the last two years. She applied lessons learned from her first two trips around the MIS course to put it all together Saturday.
“My past races were pretty rough,” she said. “It was definitely a learning experience.
“Definitely in the past, I’ve gone out a little bit faster as we entered the stadium. I feel there’s so much energy, it’s kind of hard not to. A lot of people I race also go out really fast, so I try to go with them. That didn’t really help in the past. This year, I feel like I have more endurance to keep up and have a good kick.”
The only title that eluded Muller was the team championship, something East Grand Rapids captured last year and three of the last four seasons.
Instead, it was Otsego that returned to the top for the first time since winning back-to-back championships in 2015 and 2016.
The Bulldogs scored 87 points to beat East Grand Rapids by 11. Grand Rapids Christian was third with 153.
Otsego put four runners in the top 14. Hoffman was second in 18:27.83, junior Logan Brazee was seventh in 18:42.95, junior Megan Germain was eighth in 18:47.56 and sophomore Taylor Mitchell was 14th in 18:57.08. No. 5 runner Rebekah Stachura crossed in 86th place in 20:12.64 to complete the team score.
East Grand Rapids had three runners in the top 15, then got a 39th and a 55th from its other two scoring runners.
PHOTOS (Top) East Grand Rapids’ Drew Muller charges toward the finish line during the LPD2 Final. (Middle) Otsego’s Emma Hoffman, left, and Frankenmuth’s Mary Richmond follow Muller down the stretch to finish second and third, respectively. (Click for more from Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)