UP Girls Finals Stacked with Champions
October 23, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
All three individual champions from 2014 will run at Saturday’s MHSAA Upper Peninsula Cross Country Finals, sponsored by Michigan National Guard, and two team champions from last season are favored to repeat.
Marquette in Division 1 and Chassell in Division 3 are ranked No. 1 in the final coaches association Upper Peninsula polls after also winning last season. But this time, Marquette will have to compete as well with Ishpeming Westwood, which moved up from Division 2 and features the reigning individual champion from that race. And Chassell won’t get the push from last season’s runner-up St. Ignace, which moved up into Division 2.
Here's a look at some of the teams and individuals expected to contend in all three races at Beauchamp Grove in Gladstone. Click for Saturday's race schedule and a list of all qualifiers.
DIVISION 1
Reigning champion: Marquette
2014 runner-up: Sault Ste. Marie
2015 top three: 1. Marquette, 2. Sault Ste. Marie, 3. Negaunee.
The Redettes are running for their third straight championship and fourth in five seasons with a lineup led by Michigan State University recruit Lindsey Rudden. She’s seeking her first cross country championship to go with five MHSAA Finals records in track and field, and finished runner-up as a sophomore. Even with Rudden missing a flag and finishing well back in 2014, Marquette still placed five among the top 10 – including runner-up Amber Huebner and eighth-place Becci McNamee, both juniors – while senior Holly Blowers has the second-fastest time in UPD1 this season. Three of Sault Ste. Marie’s top six from last season’s runner-up finish also are back, led by fourth-place junior Courtney Arbic and fifth-place sophomore Mackenzie Kalchik. Negaunee sophomore Clara Johnson finished sixth last season as her team came in ninth; the Miners are expected to follow her up the standings.
Individuals: Eight of the top 15 from last season will run again Saturday, led by reigning champion Leigha Woelfer of Gladstone, a junior. She finished fifth at the Great Northern Conference meet behind four Marquette runners. Calumet seniors Alexa Anderson and Leah Kiilunen also should be in the hunt again after finishing 13th and 12th, respectively, in 2014. There will be another reigning champion in the field as well – Ishpeming Westwood senior Kathryn Etelamaki finished first in Division 2 last year but her team is in Division 1 this weekend. She’ll be joined by teammate Amber Gransinger, also a senior, who was 15th in Division 2 in 2014.
DIVISION 2
Reigning champion: Ishpeming
2014 runner-up: Hancock
2015 top three: 1. Gogebic, 2. Ishpeming, 3. Hancock.
Only four full teams ran in the Division 2 Final last season, and one of them wasn’t the Bessemer/Wakefield-Marenisco co-op commonly known in the U.P. as Gogebic – those schools ran solo in Division 3. However, the top finishers from both schools are back for the new team this fall, 10th-place junior Lily Wieringa and 30th-place sophomore Melissa Wanink. They hope to finish ahead of an Ishpeming team that brings back its top five from last season – third-place junior Khora Swanson, fourth-place sophomore Kayla Kaukola, sixth-place sophomore Desirae Fernandes, eighth-place sophomore Chloe Sjoholm and 11th-place sophomore Mariah Bertucci. Hancock senior Madisyn Wright finished fifth last season, and senior Ashley Aho was 12th as the team attempted to defend its 2013 title.
Individuals: In addition to the numerous Ishpeming and Hancock runners back from last season’s top 15, senior Kyra Johnson finished fourth for Norway and is the highest returning finisher to this division. Junior Callie Kammers and sophomore Mia Singleton were 12th and 15th last season in Division 3 for St. Ignace, which was team runner-up in that race.
DIVISION 3
Reigning champion: Chassell
2014 runner-up: St. Ignace
2015 top three: 1. Chassell, 2. Dollar Bay, 3. Munising.
Reigning champion Chassell is the favorite with all six runners from last season’s team back in the lineup, including three who finished back-to-back-to-back among the top 10 – fifth-place freshman Lela Rautiola, sixth-place senior Shitaye Sam and seventh-place senior Shumete Sam. Junior Cami and senior Carli Daavettila are back for Dollar Bay after finishing eighth and 14th, respectively, last season as the team placed third behind St. Ignace, now in Division 2. Munising was seventh in 2014, but sophomore Alyssa Webber was individual runner-up and leads a team made up almost entirely of underclassmen.
Individuals: Three of the top five from last season are back, led by champion Natalie Beaulieu of Newberry, now a senior, and third-place junior Emma Bohn of Cedarville. Rounding out the total of 10 top-15 finishers returning are ninth-place senior Bridget Stoetzer, also of Newberry, and 13th-place Caitlyn Havelka, a senior at Stephenson.
PHOTO: A pack of Ishpeming runners, plus Norway’s Kyra Johnson (white long-sleeve shirt) emerge from the start during last season’s U.P. Division 2 Final.
Buckley's Harrand Repeats, Livingston Leads Whitmore Lake Run in MIS Debut
November 4, 2023
BROOKLYN — Whitmore Lake freshman Kaylie Livingston is the next great thing in MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 cross country, but those ranks still belong to Buckley senior Aiden Harrand.
Harrand parlayed her Michigan International Speedway racing experience and veteran savvy into a second straight individual championship Saturday, as well as a Division 4 course record.
Harrand and Livingston ran together most of the race before Harrand pulled away slightly down the stretch to win in 17:38.9. Livingston was second in 17:44.7, also eclipsing the previous Division 4 mark set by four-time champion Kirsten Olling of Breckenridge in 2013.
“It was a little nerve racking, because she’s a good athlete, but I have — I don’t want to say seniority — but I’ve been here longer. I have experience being here,” Harrand said. “I was freaking out, but I knew in the end I could probably hold my own.”
It was the fourth top-five finish for Harrand, who was fifth in 2020 and second in 2021 before winning the last two years.
Understanding the unique characteristics of the MIS course may have given her an edge against a runner who appears primed to take the next three Division 4 crowns.
“Definitely the finish, because I know the finish is longer than a normal finish,” Harrand said. “I feel like I had a little bit of an advantage in that aspect of when to kick it in and when to keep holding it.”
Livingston had a phenomenal freshman season, winning 10 of 13 races heading into MIS. Her three second-place finishes were to runners who placed high in Division 3.
“Running this course was great,” Livingston said. “I’ve been coming here since I was really little, watching everyone run. It was nice to run here for the first time and run against Aiden.”
Although the individual victory eluded her grasp, Livingston got a championship as the top runner for a Whitmore Lake team that scored 78 points to win the team title by 34 points over Johannesburg-Lewiston.
The Trojans put five runners in the top 49, with sophomore Carina Burchi taking sixth, sophomore Sofia Robertson 20th, senior Natalie Meadows 30th and sophomore Elodie Weaver 49th.
Ranked third in Division 4 before the meet, Whitmore Lake won its first team championship since 1996. The Trojans have won four MHSAA titles.
“It was great,” Livingston said. “We worked really hard all season. All the girls put in all the work. I’m just happy to see it pay off.”
PHOTOS (Top) Buckley’s Aiden Harrand approaches the finish Saturday on the way to her second-straight Division 4 championship. (Middle) Whitmore Lake’s Kaylie Livingston led her team’s title win with an individual runner-up finish. (Photos by Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)