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.
“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.
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.)
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.)