One More Shot at No. 1
December 16, 2011
Nervousness is part of Spencer Nousain's pre-race preparation.
“I’m scared I’m going to lose,” he said earlier this week, just days before his final high school cross country race -- Saturday's MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 Final at Michigan International Speedway.
And it seems a little odd, considering his resume.
The Concord senior has never finished lower than 10th at an MHSAA Finals. So far this fall, he's placed first in every race but one – Michigan State’s Spartan Invitational, where he was seventh in the “Elite” race against many of the state’s best from all divisions.
But if Nousain is first to cross the finish line for the Division 4 Final, he won’t celebrate right away. Instead, he’ll turn around and wait.
There’s definitely a pressure in having one last chance to win an MHSAA title. But Nousain has poured that into his team, which he is focused on leading to its second team championship in three seasons.
“I think the team relaxes me. If I focus on helping my teammates, that takes the pressure off of me,” Nousain said. “That’s the one thing I have changed. I’m a little more concerned about team this year.”
The Yellow Jackets have followed their leader to a spotless team record so far, including a Regional win without him. Concord is ranked No. 1 in Division 4 by MichiganCrossCountry.com’s coaches panel.
Nousain is fresh off his second-straight championship at the Jensen Memorial meet, which pits all of the Jackson-area cross country teams. He crushed the field in 16:05.7, 35 seconds faster than the runner-up. It's been that kind of fall, coming off last year’s state final when Nousain ran a 15:51.7.
Leading and following is nothing new for him. He’s the seventh of nine children in a running family. All but one of the first six ran high school cross country, and three of his siblings have gone on to run at the college level.
Unintentionally, Nousain’s sitting out the Regional allowed younger brother Mason, a sophomore, to place as Concord’s fifth runner that day. Mason has been the recipient of some of Spencer’s best lessons.
Starting in seventh grade, Nousain began training hard during the winter even as some of Concord’s high school runners were a little less serious, Yellow Jackets coach David Jordon said. Nousain has imparted that work ethic on his younger brother, and also become a target for some of the team’s younger runners to chase during practices.
“He wants to go out and run a great race, and everybody would love to win. But more of his focus is on how his teammates do,” Jordon said. “He’s definitely matured and seen the bigger picture. It’s exciting to win, but when the team wins, it’s more exciting.”
That might add some of the anxiety Nousain feels of late. Family, friends and others in the community expect him to lead Concord to another MHSAA team championship. But when Saturday’s starting gun goes off, he’ll only be able to control his race – and use the lessons he learned himself during the two near-misses.
The first time Nousain took second at an MHSAA Final, he was excited. The only runner to cross the finish line ahead of him was teammate Kyle Stacks, and their Concord team had just won the 2009 overall championship.
The second time Nousain finished second – a year ago this weekend – Nousain was a little disappointed. He’d expected to be first. He didn’t feel like he improved at all.
On Saturday, he has one more chance. And only one way to get better individually, although he’ll still celebrate coming in second if his team comes in first. He’ll race as he has all fall – start smart, close hard in the last mile, and then watch for more purple coming soon after.
“It’s going to be amazing. I love watching not just Mason, but my teammates improve,” Spencer said.
“In the sense of watching them be happy, when we win as a team, I’ll be happy. It makes me proud to say I helped them.”
One race, two champions, more contenders
The most competitive of Saturday’s races could be the Division 2 girls final. The field includes reigning individual champion Rachele Schulist of Zeeland West, last season’s third place finisher Megan O’Neil of Remus Chippewa Hills and fourth-place Julia Bos of Grand Rapids Christian.
Also in Division 2 this time is Allendale and Ali Wiersma, last season’s Division 3 MHSAA champion. Bos (17:43.2), Wiersma (17:59) and Schulist (18:19) were the top three, respectively, at last Saturday’s Regional at Allendale.
O’Neil (18:03.55) was third at the Benzie Central Regional behind two more runners who could break into the top group this weekend, including the possible favorite: Cedar Springs freshman Kenzie Weiler won that Regional in 17:13.07, and her junior sister Katie was runner-up in 17:57.55.
Final countdown
Also in Division 2, in the boys race, Chelsea senior Bryce Bradley will try to finish with a championship after improving from 20th as a freshman to 10th and then to runner-up last season.
At last year's final, he finished less than a second ahead of Dearborn Divine Child’s Nicholas Soter, who also will be back at MIS. They'll both might have to fend off Mason Tanner Hinkle, who beat Bradley by 19 seconds in their Regional.
Fast start
Only 15 girls have won at least three MHSAA cross country individual championships. But Breckenridge sophomore Kirsten Olling has lots of time – and at least a few opportunities.
Olling won last season’s Division 4 championship in 18:09.8. Fast forward to last weekend’s regional at Harbor Beach, which she won in 17:17 – more than 2 minutes faster than the runner-up.
Click for Saturday's schedule and race information, all Lower Peninsula finalists and links to regional results, and check back Saturday for coverage from MIS. Go online to FoxSportsDetroit.com for live coverage via the Finish Line Camera and live audio commentary throughout the race from reporters around the course.
PHOTOS
(Top) Concord's Spencer Nousain will attempt to win his first MHSAA championship after finishing runner-up in Division 2 the last two seasons (Photo courtesy of Concord cross country program).
(Middle) Zeeland West's Rachele Schulist (1001) emerged from the pack -- including Grand Rapids Christian's Julia Bos (829) to claim last season's Division 2 championship.
(Bottom): Breckenridge's Kirsten Olling won last season's Division 4 championship as a freshman.
Garces Sisters Helping Set Pace as Racers, Leaders for Hopeful Chargers
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
October 2, 2024
As Victoria Garces prepared for her first race of the season Sept. 21 at the Veterans Serving Veterans Invitational in Cadillac, she went through her normal pre-race routine.
But while she jumped in the air as she’s done so many times before, she realized she now had a shadow – her younger sister Emilia.
“We both kind of do the same little warm-up thing,” Victoria Garces said. “We both like to jump before the race, and we were doing it before and I was like, ‘Aw, nobody ever does that with me.’”
On that day, for the first time, the Garces sisters competed together for Midland Dow in a varsity race. They finished first (Victoria) and fifth (Emilia), leading the Chargers to a first-place finish in the event.
Now, having run the second and sixth-fastest times in Lower Peninsula Division 1 this season, they’re looking to take another leap together and lead Dow to even greater things.
“I’ve been in this not too terribly long, but long enough to know not to count your chickens before your eggs hatch,” Dow girls cross country coach Jamie Haruska said. “But we do have a very strong team. What I’m seeing is a lot of inspiration that comes from Victoria and Emilia and Syd Roberts and Maddie (Varhola), and the rest of the team is pushing themselves to say, ‘I want this. I want to be part of this, too.’ We have kids that want to be on that team, and are pushing really hard to be at that level. It’s great, because it’s bringing everybody up.”
Victoria Garces is already well known in Michigan running circles. She finished fifth in each of the past two LP Division 1 Finals, and finished second in the 3,200 and third in the 1,600 at this past spring’s LPD1 Track & Field Finals. She also has to her credit a ninth-place finish in the Wisconsin Division 1 cross country final as a freshman.
This past weekend, she committed to Duke to continue her running career.
“Academics were a big thing for me, and it’s such a good school, but I really liked the team and the coaches,” she said. “I was doing my fair share of visits these past couple of weeks, and it was a tough decision, but I kind of knew as soon as I took my visit (to Duke).”
She’s run just twice for Dow this season, winning both races. Her time of 17 minutes, 16.91 seconds at the Veterans was a personal best, and she followed that up with a 17:26.1 to win the Shepherd BlueJay Invitational Elite race.
Both of those times are faster than her Finals time of 17:29.1 a year ago, which set the school record.
“Going into the first race, I didn’t really have high expectations,” Victoria Garces said. “I kind of always wanted to run under 17:20; that was kind of a goal for me. Ultimately, I hope I break 17, so I got that out there. A lot of my goals are for later in the season. But it was nice just to kind of prove to myself that I’m capable of what I hope to do.”
The lighter start to the season is in service of those later goals. Garces ran into December a year ago, competing in regional and national meets.
Dow competed in five meets before Victoria Garces hit the trail, although it was not without a Garces at the front.
In big sister’s absence, Emilia Garces stepped up in a big way. She finished first at three meets and second at the others, including the Duane Raffin Festival of Races in Holly. She broke 18 minutes in her third career race, running 17:57.2 at Northwood. She’s since run 17:49.8.
“That was pretty wild,” Emilia Garces said of her early-season success. “Going into the season, I definitely had not too high of expectations, so when I started doing well, I was a little surprised, for sure.”
That time also gave Victoria a chance to be the fan watching her sister thrive at the varsity level, a role reversal from the past few years.
“She was having tons of success early on,” Victoria said. “After a little bit, I was itching to race, but I’m glad I held back and she got to shine.”
While Emilia certainly enjoyed leading the pack, she’s excited to now be running with her sister, something she’s looked forward to for years.
“Oh my gosh, it’s been so much fun,” she said. “I went to all my sister’s meets for the past few years and I always thought, ‘I can’t wait to do that, too.’ And the team atmosphere is so great, too.”
The Garces sisters are two of 46 runners on the Dow girls roster, and Haruska said their contributions as teammates have been as impactful as their accomplishments on the course.
“I’ve worked really hard to create a culture where everybody runs and everybody is valued,” Haruska said. “Victoria and Emilia are incredible, they’re national-level runners, but my slowest runners are an equal part of the team, too. Victoria is invested in all of those runners. Emilia, she’s just getting started, but I can see that she’s the same way.”
As for competition between the sisters, it’s friendly if anything. Emilia knows she has some work to do before she can approach her sister’s success, even if she’s off to a faster start to her career.
“I think she knows that she’s a lot better than me as a freshman, so she doesn’t need to rub it in,” Victoria said. “My coach is like, ‘Don’t go out there and just race each other.’ But we normally have our own goals. I guess there’s a little bit of competition, but I think she respects me, and I respect her.”
There’s also some mutual inspiration. Victoria said watching her sister train and thrive early in the season was motivating. Emilia has been motivated by her sister’s work ethic and success for years.
“She motivates me, definitely a lot,” Emilia said. “I feel like she inspires me a lot, watching her do those big things. I want to do those big things, too.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Victoria (475) and Emilia Garces (474) pace with the lead pack during a race this season. (Middle) Victoria, left, and Emilia take a photo at a finish line. (Photos courtesy of the Garces family.)