Marquette Caps Perfect Season with Final Win
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
October 19, 2013
HARVEY — The Marquette girls and Menominee senior Kameron Burmeister concluded their cross country seasons in impressive fashion in Saturday’s Upper Peninsula Division 1 Final.
Marquette capped a perfect season by scoring 27 points, followed by defending champion Calumet 89 and Escanaba 112.
“It has been a tremendous performance by the ladies all year,” said Marquette coach Dale Phillips. “We had a veteran team and an excellent freshman (Amber Huebner). Summer running really paid off for them. Since Day 1 in practice they knew they were going after the championship.”
Burmeister also finished undefeated by covering the 3.1-mile course in 19 minutes, 36 seconds to become the first Menominee girl to be crowned U.P. champion since 1980.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” Burmeister said shortly after the race. “This is kind of bittersweet with this being my last cross country race of my high school career. I’m so fortunate to be able to do this against so many good runners.”
Marquette sophomore Lindsey Rudden was runner-up (19:42), with Huebner third (19:56).
“Kameron deserves to win it,” said Rudden. “I’m not disappointed I lost because I gained so much. I learned a lot this year. I learned how to be a teammate and a runner. I’m so proud of our boys and girls teams.”
Division 2
Hancock gained its first title since 1990 with 47 points. The Bulldogs were followed by St. Ignace with 60 and defending champion Newberry with 69.
“We had a real good day,” said Hancock coach Matt Dennis. “We came together as a team and kept pushing each other all year. We knew we had a good shot at winning trophies. We kept shooting for today and gave our best effort.”
Hancock senior Abbey Tembreull won in 21:04, followed by St. Ignace’s Lily Calcaterra (21:12), Newberry sophomore Natalie Beaulieu (21:16), Norway sophomore Kyra Johnson (21:30) and Ironwood senior Jessica Gering (21:37), who won a year ago.
“I had quite a bit left in the end,” said Tembreull, who plans to run cross country at Finlandia University next fall. “Once I saw the finish, I realized I could do it. I usually try to get in front of the pack early. Once I get in front it seems easier to keep the lead than trying to catch up. When that happens, I feel I’m more in control of my pace.”
Division 3
Munising copped its first Division 3 title with 46 points and Cedarville squeezed past Dollar Bay 54-55 for runner-up honors.
“This is a great bunch of girls,” said Munising coach Fran DesArmo. “We’re going to miss our seniors. Cedarville and Dollar Bay were tough. I kept looking at the scores and saw Dollar Bay was running against Houghton, Hancock and Calumet all year. They ran against good competition. The key for us is the girls ran hard in the middle of the race and they stuck with it.”
The Mustangs were led by freshman Marissa Immel at 21:16.
“I was pleased with my race and proud of our girls team,” said Immel, who also plays on the school’s volleyball and tennis teams. “We pulled though today. We have four seniors who realized it was their last high school race and they left it all on the course. I think our perfect score at the (Central U.P./Skyline) conference meet helped a lot. All the girls wanted it real bad. We also have some good eighth graders coming up. I’m excited for next year.”
Rudyard junior Kaylee Hoolsema, who won in 20:32, was followed by Immel and Cedarville’s Emma Bohn (21:19).
“Our coaches told me I could probably get first if I went after it,” said Hoolsema, who became the first Rudyard girl to be crowned U.P. champion. “I was a little nervous coming over here because I never ran here before. I really didn’t know what to expect. The course was kind of slippery at Mile 2 and the rolling hills were kind of tiring in the end. But once you get that far into the race, you just have to go for it.”
PHOTO: Runners charge to the front at the start of Saturday's Upper Peninsula Division 1 Final. (Photo courtesy of RunMichigan.com/Paul Gerard.)
Sophomore Pair Clinch 1st Finals Titles, Korpi Wins 3rd to Cap Ishpeming Career
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
October 21, 2023
FLAT ROCK — Pickford’s Talya Schreiber is a first-year high school cross country runner.
The Pickford sophomore placed an exclamation point at the end of her season, setting the Upper Peninsula Division 3 Finals record by covering the 3.1-mile course in 18 minutes, 49.2 seconds here Saturday.
“That’s nine seconds off my PR (personal record),” she said. “I wanted to go out hard because it gave me a cushion to work with.
“This has definitely been a real good learning experience. I dealt with some illness last summer (2022). I needed a lot of rest and had to get back into running very slowly. It’s disappointing I didn’t get to do anything in my freshman year, but I’m definitely happy to be back.”
Chassell was crowned champion for the first time in four years by edging Newberry 52-54. Third-place Stephenson scored 58 points.
“The girls are really excited,” Chassell coach Marco Guidotti said. “I’m so happy for them. Stephenson beat us at Munising (Sept. 26) and kept an eye on the times Newberry was running. We knew it’d be tough. I’m so proud of the girls for believing in themselves. When you see a team running times like that, every place counts.
“The girls really started to find their groove late in the season. Winning the Copper Mountain Conference really motivated us, and Ironwood put on a great meet over there. We have a real strong community that supports the school and runners.”
Newberry grabbed the next three places, led by sophomore and runner-up Samantha Taylor (19:28.6), freshman Abby Taylor (19:48.6) and senior Kaylen Clark in a season-best 20:19.1, Dollar Bay senior Taryn Maki (21:06.3) and Chassell junior Lily Etelamaki (22:04.9).
“We put in lot of hard work during the week,” Etelamaki said. “We were definitely on a mission. Our area teams did real well. There’s a lot of trophies going back home. We were kind of in shock when we found out we won. We thought we’d be runner-up. We tried to run in a pack, and I think our depth helped us.”
Division 2
Ishpeming senior Lola Korpi ran the fourth-best time in U.P. Division 2 Finals history at a personal-best 19:04.8, clinching her third individual championship in her final race for the Hematites.
“I ran about 20:18 here last year and was trying to beat that,” she said. “That was amazing. It feels like I’m on top of the world right now.
“I’m also proud of my sister. Laynie ran real well. I was thinking to myself ‘leave it all here.’ I’m not as sad as others because I know I’ll be running in college. Plus, I still have track to look forward to next spring.”
Hancock gained its third straight team title with 38 points, followed by Munising with 71 and Ironwood with 93.
The Bulldogs were led by juniors Ella Keranen in a personal-best 20:56.9 and Rayna Towles (21:06.3), who placed second and third, respectively.
“I never broke 21 minutes before,” Keranen said. “It’s hard to run against the clock at the Finals. It can be a little nerve-wracking, but I was excited when I saw my time. Rayna and I ran together. It’s good to have someone to run with. We definitely ran as hard as we could. We wanted to win it for the third time for our senior Jolene Larson.”
Division 1
Marquette, as expected, retained its D1 title by tying the UPD1 Finals scoring record with 23 points, followed by Houghton with 53 and Sault Ste. Marie with 92.
Led by sophomore individual champion Ella Fure, the team placed five in the top 11.
Fure was clocked at 19:24.6, followed by junior teammate Monet Argeropoulos in 19:30.2.
“I’m definitely happy. I was faster than in the GNC (Great Northern Conference) meet,” Fure said. “I was a little nervous about my time. I was running with Monet, and she told me to take off with a quarter-mile to go. I was about 17 seconds off my PR. The weather was nice. It was about the perfect temperature (near 50).
Argeropoulos was followed by Houghton junior Roman Peterlin (19:55.3) and sophomore Tessa Rautiola (19:55.5), and Marquette senior Abby Harma (19:58.5).
“Ella and I helped each other out,” Argeropoulos said. “I’m happy about my time and our team winning. Houghton did really well. We were really close last year. It’s really fun to see our whole team do well. It’s kind of a reward for the hard work we did.”
PHOTOS (Top) Pickford's Talya Schreiber runs during the Division 3 U.P. Final at Farmhouse B & B in Gladstone on Saturday. She won the race. (Middle) Ishpeming's Lola Korpi runs to her third straight U.P. Division 2 championship. (Below) Marquette’s Ella Fure runs with Houghton's Tessa Rautiola in Division 1. (Photos by Jason Juno. Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)