Freshman Setting Pace as St. Joseph Finds Footing Among State's Best
By
Wes Morgan
Special for MHSAA.com
October 12, 2021
If this fall marked the starting line for St. Joseph freshman Elena Figueroa, it’s sure to be an exciting finish for the budding talent as she progresses over the next three cross country seasons.
Having already claimed titles at a pair of Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference West division meets, a victory at the Berrien County Invitational, wins in the underclassmen races at the Harper Creek Optimist Club Invitational and St. Joseph Invitational — which included times that would have placed her first and second, respectively, among the upperclassmen — and a runner-up performance at the Lakeview Invite, Figueroa leads a Bears program looking to have a strong kick as the year winds down.
“I started getting more serious last track season and started training more,” Figueroa explained. “I’ve been training since the summer, and I’ve been doing more weights and working on my strength.”
“She’s having a really solid and strong season,” veteran St. Joseph coach Mike Mahler added. “Coming into this season I knew she’d be on our varsity along with a lot of other strong runners this year, but I had no idea she’d end up being our No. 1 runner. That was a little surprising for me.”
St. Joseph competes at the Rock ‘N Run Invitational on Thursday in Dowagiac before closing out the schedule with the SMAC Championship on Oct. 23 and Lower Peninsula Division 1 Regional meet on Oct. 29 with a chance to earn spots in the Nov. 6 Finals at Michigan International Speedway. The Bears are ranked No. 14 this week in LPD1.
Along with Figueroa, seniors Riley Mullen and Jillian Tunnicliff, sophomores Grace Kelley and Cecilia Ruchti, and junior Olivia Ippel have helped fuel St. Joseph’s success this season. And though she isn’t officially part of the team, sophomore Gail Vaikutis, a transfer from Illinois who will be eligible next season, has played a critical role this year.
“She probably would be our No. 1 runner,” Mahler said of Vaikutis. “Gail is full of energy and very team-oriented and really pushing the girls in workouts. Gail and Elena have been able to train together every day. I have six girls that could be our No. 1 runner at any given point.”
But someone had to claim that spot, and Figueroa emerged as the pace setter for the Bears, setting up what will be an exciting partnership on the course with Vaikutis in years to come.
“She’s probably faster than me, and she’s been pushing me a lot at practice,” Figueroa said of Vaikutis. “Next year you will see her. We have so much talent on this team.”
Shy and humble, Figueroa is learning to deal with the newfound attention she’s getting, as well as how to navigate larger races like the ones rapidly approaching.
“Probably the only thing we need to work on is she gets really nervous when we go to a course she hasn’t run before,” Mahler said. “We just have to make sure we have plenty of time before the race to go over the course, and just keeping those nerves under control.”
At the ultra-competitive Ottawa Hills Invite, the freshman finished fifth overall in 18 minutes, 52.34 seconds. At the prestigious Portage Invitational, and while not feeling up to par, Figueroa was 34th overall in the Division 1 race. But with multiple sub-19-minute finishes already under her belt, she’s hoping to keep up with the top half of the field come Finals time.
“It was a lot of good competition (at Portage),” Figueroa said. “It was really big. I really got to see the competition and talent that is around me and the faces that I need to try to keep up with next time.”
“It’s just a great group of kids, and I’m thrilled for Elena having a super solid season,” Mahler said. “She’s coachable, she works hard, asks a lot of questions about workouts and it is exciting. I’m just so happy for the season she’s having so far, and hopefully we’ll see more improvement over the next few weeks.”
Wes Morgan has reported for the Kalamazoo Gazette, ESPN and ESPNChicago.com, 247Sports and Blue & Gold Illustrated over the last 12 years and is the publisher of JoeInsider.com. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Berrien, Cass, St. Joseph and Branch counties.
PHOTOS (Top) St. Joseph’s Elena Figueroa has won five of her nine races this season. (Middle) Figueroa (1160) leads the field during the Oct. 2 Berrien County Invitational. (Photos courtesy of the St. Joseph cross country program.)
Squires Leads Petoskey to 1st Finals Win
November 6, 2020
Second Half reports
BROOKLYN – Petoskey was outmatched last year and knew it.
“East Grand Rapids had an amazing year,” Petoskey senior Emma Squires said. “Last year, even at our best, we would have never beaten them.”
It was a different story this year. The Northmen returned all five of their scoring runners from a team that took second to East Grand Rapids by 56 points last year in the MHSAA Division 2 cross country championship race. East Grand Rapids was ranked No. 1, just ahead of Petoskey, coming into Friday’s MHSAA Finals at Michigan International Speedway, but had graduated individual champion Anna Petr.
The loss of Petr was just the opening Petoskey needed to break through and win its first MHSAA championship by a 68-79 margin over the Pioneers.
This year, it was Petoskey that had the individual champion. Squires ran the fastest time in the two Division 2 heats Friday in an MHSAA Final that was altered to reduce the size of fields.
Squires ran a time of 17 minutes, 54.56 seconds to finish ahead of Mason freshman Meghan Ford, who ran 18:18.08.
“I knew a freshman was my biggest competition,” Squires said. “Just having more experience, I knew I had to get out fast, kind of scare them a little bit. That’s what I did. I went out really strong. I was a little scared around the middle. I was so tired already.”
It was the fourth MHSAA Final for Squires, who was 36th in 19:19.9 as a freshman, seventh in 18:45.3 as a sophomore and fifth in 18:27.1 as a junior.
“It’s been a progression, but I’ve always died in the last mile,” Squires said. “I was really trying hard not to this year.”
Bringing the title home for Petoskey were Cambrie Smith in ninth place (19:01.69), Noel Vanderwall in 17th (19:14.65), Sarah Liederbach in 28th (19:39.73) and Caroline Farley in 36th (19:54.99).
“Our second girl, she moved here from Gaylord two years ago,” Squires said. “She’s kind of been my training partner. It’s been really exciting and helpful to have someone to pace with. We’ve all been working together. Our whole team has been trying to get to that state championship. We did this year.”
Petoskey, a 22-time Finals qualifier, previously placed second in 2002 and 2019.
PHOTOS: (Top) Petoskey’s Emma Squires sprints toward the finish at Friday’s Lower Peninsula Division 2 Final. (Middle) Caroline Farley, left, and Otsego’s Chelsea Glessner (320) push through the final stretch. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)