Preview: History-Making Opportunities Await Girls Finals Contenders
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
November 5, 2021
Saturday’s Lower Peninsula Girls Cross Country Finals feature a pair of storylines that could make the event one of the most history-making of the 2020-21 school year.
On the team side, Hart is seeking to tie the Lower Peninsula Girls Cross Country Finals record with its fifth-straight championship. The Pirates will again be running in Division 3 as they chase the Rockford teams that won five straight LPD1/Class A titles from 1998-2002.
Muskegon Western Michigan Christian senior Abby VanderKooi is back in Division 4 after winning the Division 3 individual championship in 2020. She’ll be racing to finish as a four-time individual champion, and would become the eighth to accomplish the feat and first to do so since 2013.
The day’s first races at Michigan International Speedway begin at 9:30 a.m., and all eight will be broadcast live on MHSAA.tv – click for full details.
DIVISION 1
Reigning champion: Ann Arbor Pioneer
2020 runner-up: Traverse City Central
2021 top-ranked: 1. Ann Arbor Pioneer, 2. Holland West Ottawa, 3. Saline.
The last two Division 1 Finals have finished with Ann Arbor Pioneer as champion and Traverse City Central as runner-up, 39 points separating them in 2020 and 33 in 2019. Those two certainly could end up as the top two again – Central is ranked No. 4 and Pioneer has been the top-ranked team all season. But Holland West Ottawa has been the No. 2 team in every week’s coaches poll, and Saline and No. 5 Brighton are just a few more contenders among a strong group overall. Pioneer’s five scoring runners from last season all are back this weekend, sophomore Rachel Forsyth as the returning individual runner-up with senior Cookie Baugh (fifth) next for an imposing lineup. West Ottawa brings back its top five from the team that finished fourth in 2020, with junior Arianne Olson looking for her first title after finishing second and eighth her first two seasons, and freshman teammate Helen Sachs already one of the speediest in the state. Saline is expected to make its jump with four scorers back from 2020, and Traverse City Central also is loaded with four returnees led by senior Julia Flynn, who finished third last fall.
Individuals: Birmingham Seaholm’s Audrey Dadamio graduated after winning last season’s title, but 12 from last year’s top 20 are back. Flynn actually has finished third the last two seasons after coming in 10th as a freshman, and Plymouth senior Lauren Kiley has improved from 20th as a freshman to 11th as a sophomore to fourth last fall. Temperance Bedford senior Madison Foster was seventh last season, having made a massive jump from her first two Finals.
DIVISION 2
Reigning champion: Petoskey
2020 runner-up: East Grand Rapids
2021 top-ranked: 1. East Grand Rapids, 2. Grand Rapids Christian, 3. Ada Forest Hills Eastern.
East Grand Rapids has finished first or second five of the last six seasons, claiming its most recent titles in 2018 and 2019 before coming in 11 points back of Petoskey last fall. The Pioneers bring back five of last season’s seven runners including three of their top four finishers led by sophomore Drew Muller (fifth) and senior Ainsley Workman (sixth). Grand Rapids Christian was third last season and is seeking its first championship since winning back-to-back in 2013 and 2014, and the Eagles have four of their top seven running again led by senior Madelyn Frens – who finished third last fall and is tied for the fastest time in the division this season. Forest Hills Eastern is expected to make a jump from ninth with four of its top seven back, and Petoskey is ranked No. 4 with three runners returning.
Individuals: Total, nine of last season’s top 20 are running this race again, including seven of the top 10. Mason sophomore Meghan Ford was runner-up last season to Petoskey’s now-graduated Emma Squires, and Ford is again one of the fastest in Division 2. Frankenmuth sophomore Mary Richmond has tied Frens with a 17:56 to top that fastest-times list, after Richmond placed fourth in 2020. Grand Rapids Catholic Central sophomore Emily Tomes is back after coming in eighth, and Freeland senior Mara Longenecker returns after finishing 10th.
DIVISION 3
Reigning champion: Hart
2020 runner-up: Ithaca
2021 top-ranked: 1. Hart, 2. Jackson Lumen Christi, 3. Traverse City St. Francis.
Hart claimed last year’s fourth-straight Division 3 title by 55 points. Four of the team’s seven runners from that clincher are back, led by sophomore Alyson Enns after she finished individual runner-up and senior Audrianna Enns coming off her fifth-place finish. Lumen Christi could jump back into the top two for the first time since winning in 2012, with four runners back from last season’s 10th-place team finisher including seventh-place now-senior Faith Smith. St. Francis finished 13th last season and has two runners back, and No. 4 Lansing Catholic was 10th in Division 2 in 2020 and has four of its top seven back including 16th-place individual finisher Hannah Pricco.
Individuals: VanderKooi may be back in Division 4, but 11 of last season’s top 20 are returning in this race including six of the top eight – plus another past champion, and Pricco from Division 2. Ithaca senior Lani Bloom finished fourth a year ago and has the division’s fastest time this fall at 17:09, and the second-fastest time belongs to Stockbridge senior Rylee Tolson – who won Division 3 in 2019. Roscommon senior Allison Chmielewski was sixth last fall and third as a sophomore, and Benzie Central sophomore Mylie Kelly will be looking to build on her eighth-place finish from 2020.
DIVISION 4
Reigning champion: Lansing Christian
2020 runner-up: Kalamazoo Christian
2021 top-ranked: 1. Muskegon Western Michigan Christian, 2. Johannesburg-Lewiston, 3. Kalamazoo Christian.
Western Michigan Christian will make a run at its first team championship as VanderKooi goes for her fourth individual title. The Warriors didn’t qualify for the Division 3 race last season as a team, but VanderKooi has the fastest time in Division 4 this fall at 17:29 and freshman sister Grace has posted the sixth-fastest. Kalamazoo Christian was second last season with no seniors and one junior, and four runners return, and Johannesburg-Lewiston also has four runners back after finishing eighth in 2020 with just one senior. Returning champion Lansing Christian is ranked No. 13 and bringing five runners back led by junior Ashlyn Kephart, who finished sixth. Keep an eye on Beal City, which is ranked No. 13 after finishing third last fall. Five of its 2020 runners are back, including three who finished among the top 14 individual placers – led by senior Rachal Weber, who came in fourth.
Individuals: With 13 of last season’s top 20 back including seven of the top eight, this was going to be a loaded field even without VanderKooi’s return. Reigning Division 4 champ Mackenna Scott from Maple City Glen Lake has the third-fastest time in the division, and Buckley sophomore Aiden Harrand is second on that list after placing fifth at the 2020 Final. Ubly sophomore Maze Gusa debuted with a third-place finish last season, and Huron Valley Lutheran junior Erika Van Loton (seventh) and Hillsdale Academy junior Megan Roberts (eighth) also are back from the top 10.
PHOTO Among runners returning to the Division 4 race this weekend are Pittsford’s Brooke Smith (611) and Lutheran Westland’s Michaela Kurth (595). (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)
Longterm Investment Paying Off as Kingston Racers Pace Among State's D4 Elite
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
August 16, 2023
When dozens of Kingston elementary students made the decision during the mid-2010s to run cross country, they didn’t realize what they were building.
But their coach, Melinda Freeland, knew that for the program she was building to have a chance at success, it needed a foundation – even if it was more about simply getting involved with something positive at the time.
“It was always a fun thing,” she said. “There was never any pressure. It was just, ‘Do this race, have some snacks, and have a good time.’”
Fast forward to 2022, and the Kingston girls, all of whom had started running in third, fourth or fifth grades, found themselves finishing among the top four as a team at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 Final.
“I had high aspirations and high goals all the way through,” Freeland said. “I knew it was a good group when I started coaching them. Eight years ago, I had these kids as elementary kids. On both sides (boys and girls), I’ve been coaching them for a long time.”
The 2022 season wasn’t a culmination, however. It feels more like the beginning of the next step for the Cardinals, who have their top six runners back.
While the division’s top teams were filled with underclassmen – Johannesburg-Lewiston, Hillsdale Academy and Whitmore Lake, which finished ahead of Kingston, graduated a combined five runners from their top 7s – Kingston’s strong group of returners has the team excited as well about what’s ahead.
“We think it would be awesome to get top three, that’s something that we’re keeping in the back of our heads,” senior Gracy Walker said. “We want to start out strong this year. We started summer workouts in June, and it’s been pretty consistent since June. We’re definitely going to be more in shape this year. Our workouts have been a lot more intense.”
Spending significant offseason time on a sport can be tough in Kingston, where the best athletes are needed for multiple sports throughout the year, or sometimes during a single season.
Walker, for example, is part of the Cardinals’ highly-successful basketball program, which also demands quite a bit of a player’s time during the summer months.
“You just kind of have to find a way to make all of it work,” she said. “I have cross country in the morning and basketball at night. You try to make it work and do the best you can.”
Walker is one of two seniors, along with Zoe Van Rijn, on a still-young Kingston team. Meegan Flikkie is the lone junior, while three sophomores – Lilah Kiley, Molly Walker and Hailey McGuire – are back for their second seasons. Freshman Violet Tetil joins the group, which does feature just seven runners.
“I think we’re all so close together in our times, if one person can’t go 100 percent that day, the other person makes up for it,” Van Rijn said. “But we push each other more at practice. We all push each other to go better, and that really helps us. It’s so much fun going to practice every day. We’re more than just teammates – these are some of my closest friends.”
While Gracy Walker had the highest finish (24th) at the Final last fall, it’s Kiley that spent the majority of the season as the Cardinals’ No. 1 runner. Her personal best of 19 minutes, 45.6 seconds, which was good for second at the Regional meet, was the team’s best time of the season.
She started running in third grade, and she credits that extra time running competitively with having her ready to compete as a freshman – even if she wasn’t 100 percent sure what she was getting into at first.
“I always liked watching the Olympics, and honestly, when I thought about cross country, I automatically thought about track,” Kiley said. “I didn’t think I was going to be running around the yard and stuff. My first cross country meet, I was very surprised. I just liked running. I think it was sixth grade at North Branch, I came in first and I was surprised. I didn’t know my body could do that. That was the turning point for me.”
Gracy Walker was close behind Kiley with a PR (personal record) of 20:03, while Molly Walker and Flikkie both have PRs within a minute of Kiley, and Van Rijn has run 21:50.
“I think there’s a lot of motivation, with it being a small group, they all realize the role they have to play,” Freeland said. “It’s not a situation of, ‘If I run bad, somebody else will take my spot on the team.’ I was involved in the restart of Kingston cross country. Back in the 80s (1983), our girls program won a state championship for Class D. We’ve been told the story, they had five girls and there was a tie, so that fifth girl won it. Everybody has to contribute if we want to be a success.”
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) Kingston's Gracy Walker (2057) pushes down the stretch during last season's LP Division 4 Final at Michigan International Speedway. (Middle) Lilah Kiley (2053) paces a pack at MIS last fall. (Below) Meegan Flikkie (2052) charges toward the finish. (Click for more from Carter Sherline/Run Michigan.)