Jazwinski Brings Hart Individual Title as St. Francis Moves to Front of Team Pack
November 5, 2022
BROOKLYN – Cross country races can be won between the ears before runners ever step foot onto the course.
Attitudes were tested as rain began to descend on Michigan International Speedway and the wind picked up just before the start of the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 girls race late Saturday morning.
Hart sophomore Jessica Jazwinski was loving life as she prepared to race.
“As a distance runner, I really try to love the wind,” she said. “Distance running and cross country is just a tough sport. The wind just adds to it — and the rain, too. It’s super fun.
“I was just thinking these conditions are just gonna feed my great race. This is real cross country. Yeah!”
Jazwinski overcame the elements to run the fifth-fastest Division 3 time ever, winning with a time of 17:36.70. She has two of the top-five times in Division 3 Finals history, having run 17:31.4 to place third last year.
“Today my race plan was just to go out hard and try to hold on to my pace,” she said. “I feel like I tried to race a lot like Steve Prefontaine, just go out and hold on.”
Lansing Catholic senior Hannah Pricco was second in 18:17.59, Onsted sophomore Emmry Ross was third in 18:20.96 and Hart junior Alyson Ens was fourth in 18:28.52.
“I love having great teammates to work with and encourage each other,” Jazwinski said. “We really try to encourage each other so much throughout the races. Throughout this year, some races she’s been a minute behind me, some races she’s been five seconds. I don’t want her to ever beat me, so that pushes me so much. I know she’s trying to race me and get up there with me.”
The only downer for Hart was having its string of Division 3 championships end at five with a fourth-place finish. Hart had two runners in the top four, but its No. 3 runner was 68th.
“I would totally trade my individual title for a team title,” Jazwinski said.
Traverse City St. Francis emerged from a close battle to win its first title since 2016 with 134 points. Pewamo-Westphalia was second with 142 and Lansing Catholic third with 165.
Sophomore Betsy Skendzel led St. Francis, placing seventh in 18:48.33. Completing the team score were senior Sophia Rhein in 26th (19:43.27), sophomore Grace Slocum in 33rd (20:07.95), junior Rylee Duffing in 60th (20:44.82) and junior Margot Hagerty in 63rd (20:45.78).
Lansing Catholic had three place in the top 10, but didn’t get another finisher until 103rd.
PHOTOS (Top) Hart’s Jessica Jazwinski pushes toward the finish during Saturday’s LPD3 Final. (Middle) Traverse City St. Francis’ Betsy Skendzel leads the way for the eventual team champion. (Click for more from Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)
Central Montcalm's Hoffman Pulls Away, Lansing Catholic Claims Close Race
November 2, 2024
BROOKLYN — Kyah Hoffman was winning cross country races for the first four weeks of the season, but wasn’t satisfied with her performances.
As much as coaches stress that it’s place, not time, that matters in cross country, kids are still motivated by lowering their personal records.
Through six meets, Hoffman won five times — taking sixth in the Spartan Elite race against mostly Division 1 runners — but her times were nowhere near where she finished her junior year at Central Montcalm.
Her breakthrough moment came Sept. 28 in Shepherd where she took third against another loaded field in 17 minutes, 40.4 seconds, shaving 0.4 seconds off her fastest time from last season.
Hoffman’s confidence was restored.
She would break 18 minutes four more times this season, the last being a 17:31.6 performance which was good for first place in the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 Final on Saturday at Michigan International Speedway.
Hoffman won 11 of 13 races this season, her fastest time being 17:25.3 on Oct. 19 in the Northern Michigan Meet of Champions.
“It’s been ups and downs,” Hoffman said. “At first, I was super scared because I was like, ‘I haven’t PR’d. I’ve barely reached the 17s. I don’t know if I’m going to PR this year.’ I was so nervous until I ran at Shepherd and broke my record by .4, which is better than nothing, for sure.
“At Cadillac, I bumped that all the way down to 17:25. I was like, ‘Oh, wow, I am improving. It’s not just a fluke. I’m doing well.’ I knew I could do it. I just had to tell myself I could do it and it was going to happen.”
Hoffman made it happen by putting in a surge in the second mile after her and Emmry Ross of Onsted reached the mile mark in 5:38.8. At the two-mile mark, Hoffman’s lead increased to 9.1 seconds over Ross.
From there, it was just a matter of holding it together over the final 1.1 miles. Hoffman wouldn’t let herself feel comfortable, even if spectators near the finish could see she had a large lead.
“To be honest, I thought there was someone behind me the whole time,” said Hoffman, a four-time all-stater who was third in Division 3 last year. “I was like, ‘I didn’t go this far just to get second.’ I wanted it really badly, so after I passed her at the mile I had to get a gap.
“I can always hear someone being like, ‘Woo, woo! Go so-and-so!’ But they could be a couple ways away from me or they could be screaming early because they see them coming. It’s just a mystery. Somebody at the very end said, ‘You have 60 meters.’ I knew I’ve got this. I might as well just keep dying.”
The team race was about as close as it gets, with four teams in the hunt heading into the final mile.
Only 23 points separated the top four, with Lansing Catholic emerging from the fray with its second Finals championship by a 136-147 margin over Pewamo-Westphalia. The Cougars were Division 2 champions in 2017.
Central Montcalm was third with 157 points, and Traverse City St. Francis was fourth with 159.
Lansing Catholic became champion after a seventh-place finish last year, despite graduating sixth-place individual Tessa Roe. The Cougars returned four runners from that team and benefited from an infusion of three freshmen who made the varsity lineup.
One of those ninth-graders, Josie Bishop, led the Cougars by placing 20th in 19:01.8. She was the team’s only all-state finisher, but Lansing Catholic got its five scoring runners across the line among the first 38 places in the team race and first 60 overall.
Sophomore Grace Wonch was 32nd in 19:21.0, missing all-state by two places. Junior Frances Melinn was 42nd in 19:43.6, freshman Isabelle Currie 58th in 20:05.3 and sophomore Avery Miller 60th in 20:10.5.
Pewamo-Westphalia had an 11th-place finisher in senior Whitney Werner (18:17.3) and 14th-place finisher in sophomore Alyssa Kramer (18:39.3), but Lansing Catholic had five runners across before the Pirates had four.
PHOTOS (Top) Central Montcalm’s Kyah Hoffman finishes her Division 3 championship run Saturday at Michigan International Speedway. (Middle) Lansing Catholic holds up its team title trophy. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com; top photo by Dave McCauley and team photo by Carter Sherline.)