Preview: History in the Racing
October 17, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Gentz Homestead Golf Course in Harvey will host MHSAA Finals on Saturday that could showcase a few extremes in Upper Peninsula girls cross country.
In Division 1, Marquette is seeking its 29th MHSAA team title – owning the most by far of any school in either peninsula. Ishpeming in Division 2, meanwhile, is piling up accomplishments it hadn’t achieved in 35 years – and can add the crowning achievement with its first Finals win since 1980.
Somewhere in the middle, rivals Cedarville and St. Ignace should battle in Division 3 in what could be the most exciting race of the day.
Here's a look at some of the teams and individuals expected to cross the finish line first. Click for Saturday's race schedule and a list of all qualifiers.
DIVISION 1
Reigning champion: Marquette
2013 runner-up: Calumet
2014 top three: 1. Marquette, 2. Calumet, 3. Sault Ste. Marie.
Marquette has won more than twice as many Upper Peninsula Finals as any other school – Calumet happens to be second on that list with 11. The Redettes are heavy favorites again with four of the top nine individual finishers from last season back after the team scored 62 points fewer than the field. Junior Lindsey Rudden and sophomore Amber Huebner finished second and third, respectively, last season, while seniors Calla Martysz and Shayla Huebner came in eighth and ninth. But Calumet returns three of its top five, led by sixth-place Leah Kiilunen and 15th-place Corey Miller; both are juniors and Kiilunen finished second in 2012.
Individuals: Three more of last season’s top 15 will run this weekend. Escanaba senior Aimee Giese will race for her third top-10 finish after coming in fourth as a sophomore and 10th as a junior. Gladstone sophomore Leigha Woelfer was fourth last season in her first MHSAA Final, and Sault Ste. Marie senior Michaela Rushford improved from 17th in 2012 to 13th last season. Menominee senior Lilly Johnson also will try to finish on a fast note – she came in eighth as a freshman.
DIVISION 2
Reigning champion: Hancock
2013 runner-up: St. Ignace
2014 top three: 1. Ishpeming, 2. Ishpeming Westwood, 3. Hancock.
Ishpeming is favored to win its first MHSAA title since 1980 – but it’s been that kind of season for the Hematites, who also won their Mid-Peninsula Conference title for the first time since 1980. Ishpeming is shining with a lineup featuring five freshmen and two sophomores including Khora Swanson, who finished eighth a year ago. Westwood, second in the M-PC, is led by league individual champion Kathryn Etelamaki, a junior, and junior Anastasia Bjork, who finished ninth at last season’s Final. Hancock is keyed by two top-15 finishers from 2013 – 10th-place Kaylor Holmstrom, a senior, and junior Ashley Aho, who came in 14th.
Individuals: Iron River West Iron County senior Tori Harris-Hogaboom finished eighth as a freshman, sixth as a sophomore and seventh as a junior. She’s the second-highest returning finisher to this race, behind Norway junior Kyra Johnson, who finished fourth in 2013. Ironwood senior Katie Piispanen finished 14th as a sophomore.
DIVISION 3
Reigning champion: Munising
2013 runner-up: Cedarville
2014 top three: 1. Cedarville, 2. St. Ignace, 3. Dollar Bay.
Cedarville was champion in 2011 and runner-up last season and 2010, and returns a pair of top sophomores that lead a team with six underclassmen total. Emma Bohn is back after finishing third, and Leila Schlosser came in 12th as a freshman in 2013. But St. Ignace should provide an incredible challenge with its top five finishers back from last season’s runner-up in Division 2. Junior Lily Calcaterra was the individual runner-up in that race and in Division 3 as a sophomore, and sophomore Rosy Shimkovitz and junior Katie O’Rourke finished 11th and 12th, respectively, last season.
Individuals: Rudyard senior Kaylee Hoolsema will attempt to repeat as champion after winning last season's race by 44 seconds. Dollar Bay's Cami Daavettila was eighth last season as a freshman, and Chassell juniors Julia Pietila and Sam Shitaye finished 13th and 15th, respectively.
PHOTO: Cedarville's Emma Bohn (127) finished third in the Division 3 race a year ago and leads this season's favorite. (Photo courtesy of RunMichigan.com/Paul Gerard.)
Century of School Sports: Cross Country Finals Among MHSAA's Longest-Running
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 23, 2024
While we are celebrating multiple milestones this fall – the beginning of the MHSAA’s 100th anniversary, and our 50th Football Playoffs – we already can circle another notable date for the first season of the 2025-26 school year.
This time next fall, we’ll be on the cusp of our 30th Lower Peninsula Cross Country Finals at Michigan International Speedway, which has drawn an average of 9,332 fans to those four championship races since becoming their home in 1996.
Boys cross country actually was one of the first sports to have postseason events organized by the newly-formed MHSAA. Annual boys cross country championship races had been run since 1922 (according to L.L. Forsythe’s “Athletics in Michigan High Schools – The First Hundred Years”), and although the 1924 Open Class Final – won by Ann Arbor High School – was competed before the MHSAA’s official start date that December, it is counted on the list of official MHSAA championships. Cross country would be joined that inaugural school year by boys basketball, boys swimming & diving, boys tennis and boys track & field as the first sports with MHSAA-sponsored championship events. Girls cross country would be added in 1978 – the 10th girls sport introduced that decade – as the first steps were taken to provide opportunities for all high school athletes.
Several changes over the 55 years have led to a Michigan high school cross country competitive format that has remained mostly unchanged over the last four decades.
Initially, Lower Peninsula and Upper Peninsula teams ran Finals together until the break in championship meets for World War II during the 1942 and 1943 seasons. Since 1974, the Lower Peninsula has been separated into four Class (previously) or Division (currently) groupings for postseason competition, and the Upper Peninsula into three. Also, from 1971-96, two individual champions were awarded in each Lower Peninsula Class/Division – a winning runner from a race of team qualifiers, and another winning runner from a race of only those who had qualified for the Finals as individuals. The current field again includes all team and individual qualifiers in one race.
The distance of the championship race was two miles through 1969, then 2.5 miles in 1970 and 1971, and then three miles through the end of that decade. In 1980, the race became the standard five kilometers (or 3.1 miles) run today.
As noted above, the Lower Peninsula Finals moved to MIS in 1996, and annually a course is charted that begins on the stadium infield, continues into the surrounding property and concludes alongside the racetrack’s finishing stretch.
The Upper Peninsula Cross Country Finals are among the most picturesque of any MHSAA championship competitions, run in late October generally against a backdrop of reds, oranges, yellows and greens as tree leaves begin to change and fall. This past weekend, Upper Peninsula winners were celebrated at Pictured Rocks Golf Course in Munising. The Division 1 Boys Final featured the three fastest times run in the history of U.P. championship races.
Lower Peninsula teams will run their Regionals this Friday and Saturday, with Finals qualifiers convening at MIS again Nov. 2 while chased and cheered by an anticipated 10,000 fans in Brooklyn.
Previous "Century of School Sports" Spotlights
Oct. 15: State's Storytellers Share Fall Memories - Read
Oct. 8: Guided by 4 S's of Educational Athletics - Read
Sept. 25: Michigan Sends 10 to National Hall of Fame - Read
Sept. 25: MHSAA Record Books Filled with 1000s of Achievements - Read
Sept. 18: Why Does the MHSAA Have These Rules? - Read
Sept. 10: Special Medals, Patches to Commemorate Special Year - Read
Sept. 4: Fall to Finish with 50th Football Championships - Read
Aug. 28: Let the Celebration Begin - Read
PHOTOS (Clockwise from top left) The 1998 Lower Peninsula Class D Final begins at Michigan International Speedway. (2) Caro’s Yami Albrecht (542) holds onto the lead ahead of Bridgman’s Brian Njuguna during the 2016 LP Division 3 Final. (3) Eventual runner-up Leah Kiilunen of Calumet (9) leads a pack at the 2012 UP Division 1 race in Munising. (4) Runners begin the 1949 LP Class B Final at Washtenaw Country Club. (Photos of 1998 and 2016 Finals by RunMichigan.com; 2012 Finals photo by Paul Gerard; 1949 photo from MHSAA archives.)