Preview: Racing to Reign Again
October 19, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
All three reigning team champions are loaded again. All three reigning individual champions are back in the field (even if two are this time running the same race).
Saturday’s Upper Peninsula Girls Cross Country Finals at Pictured Rocks Golf Course in Munising easily could see repeat champions one way or the other in every division – but with a number of other high placers also back from 2017, that’s easier anticipated than done.
Races begin Saturday with the Division 1 boys at 11 a.m. and finish with the Division 3 girls at 1:30 p.m. Check back Saturday evening for coverage, and see below for more teams and individuals to watch.
Division 1
Reigning champion: Marquette
2017 runner-up: Sault Ste. Marie
Top-ranked: 1. Marquette, 2. Sault Ste. Marie, 3. Houghton.
Marquette’s title last season was its fourth in five years, and the Redettes and Sault Ste. Marie have finished first and second in some order the last four seasons (with the Blue Devils crowned champions in 2016). Marquette won last year’s title with four underclassmen and a junior, and four returnees are leading the charge this time. Junior Ericka Asmus moved up from 10th as a freshman to second last season, and juniors Reegan Ketzenberger (sixth) and Delaney Sall (eighth) and senior Samantha Borzick (14th) also are back this weekend. Three of Sault Ste. Marie’s top seven are back, led by sophomore Haleigh Knowles (seventh).
Individuals: Reigning champion and Negaunee now-junior Emily Paupore leads 10 returnees from last season’s top 20 – but she’s not the only champion in the field, as Ishpeming Westwood junior Tessa Leece won Division 2 a year ago. Kingsford sophomore Sarah Kulas will look to build on her ninth place in Division 1 last season, while juniors Katie Anderla of Menominee and Talon Prusi of Negaunee are back after finishing 12th and 13th, respectively. Houghton senior Anabel Needham will try to make a jump in her final high school meet after coming in 16th a year ago. Ishpeming Westwood sophomores Allyssea Smith and Elizabeth Williams finished 12th and 14th, respectively, in Division 2 in 2017.
Division 2
Reigning champion: St. Ignace
2017 runner-up: Ishpeming
Top-ranked: 1. Ishpeming, 2. Gogebic (Wakefield-Marenisco/Bessemer), 3. Ironwood.
St. Ignace broke Ishpeming’s three-year reign in Division 2 last fall, but the Hematites finished runners-up and return two top-20 finishers from last season – sophomore Chyanne Gardner (10th) and senior Brooke Johnson (16th) – and were led by two freshmen in finishing second at the Mid-Peninsula Conference final. Still, the Saints might be favored with four top-seven finishers back from last season – senior Elizabeth Becker (second), sophomore Emmalee Hart (third), sophomore Hallie Marshall (fifth) and senior Emily Coveyou (senior).
Individuals: Even with the Westwood runners in Division 1, 10 of last season’s top 20 are back. Sophomores Naomi Aili (13th) and Macie Ahonen (19th) were Gogebic’s top finishers in 2017, while Ironwood senior Emily Carey (fourth) and Newberry sophomore Sophy Smithson (eighth) will be looking to contend. And Munising senior Madeleine Peramaki should be in the mix too after she finished second in Division 3 a year ago.
Division 3
Reigning champion: Chassell
2017 runner-up: Rock Mid-Peninsula
Top-ranked: 1. Chassell, 2. Dollar Bay, 3. Rock Mid-Peninsula.
Chassell has won three of the last four Division 3 titles and finished second in 2016. The Panthers took four of the top eight team places last season, and all four of those standouts are back – senior Lela Rautiola (third), senior Jenna Pietila (seventh, sixth for team), freshman Paige Sleeman (eighth/seventh) and sophomore Gwen Kangas (ninth/eighth). Rock Mid returns three top-14 finishers – reigning champion and now-junior Daisy Englund, sophomore Landry Koski (fifth) and junior Chevey Koski (14th).
Individuals: A mighty 15 of last season’s top 20 return, not counting Munising’s Peramaki now in Division 2. Cedarville might also be a team contender with three of the 15 – sophomore Cassidy Barr (12th last season), freshman Meredith Emigh (16th) and junior Lily Freel (17th). Eben Junction Superior Central junior Danika Walters (sixth), Stephenson sophomore Kylee Kuntze (10th), Painesdale-Jeffers sophomore Keena Larson (11th), Pickford junior Natalie Miller (15th) and Engadine senior Annika Hollinger (19th) also are back.
PHOTO: Marquette and Ishpeming, here during a race earlier this season, are among title favorites Saturday. (Photo by Cara Kamps.)
Forsyth Sisters Pace Pioneer in Division 1 Championship Sweep
November 6, 2021
BROOKLYN — If there is an expectation to maintain a family legacy, Rachel Forsyth doesn’t feel it at home.
“My dad makes it very known there’s no pressure put on any of us, but it does feel really good to follow in my sisters’ footsteps,” Forsyth said.
Forsyth is carving out her own legacy at Pioneer, becoming the first of three talented sisters to win an MHSAA cross country championship after crossing the Lower Peninsula Division 1 finish line first Saturday at Michigan International Speedway in 17:09.32.
Her time was the fastest by a sophomore girl in 26 MHSAA Finals at MIS, breaking the mark of 17:17.5 set by Waterford Mott’s Shannon Osika in 2008.
The Forsyth parents, Ian and Jessica, were standout runners for the University of Michigan.
Anne Forsyth was the 2016 Division 1 runner-up and placed fifth at the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships. Sarah Forsyth, a senior on this year’s team, placed eighth in 18:02.86 Saturday for her third all-state finish.
The sisters led Pioneer to a third straight Division 1 team championship by a 68-100 margin over Holland West Ottawa.
Senior Cookie Baugh was 12th in 18:16.55, junior Emily Cooper 35th in 18:44.39 and sophomore Natalie Mello 45th in 18:54.67 to complete the Pioneers’ scoring.
“My teammates are really fast,” Rachel Forsyth said. “They definitely push me in workouts. We all work together. I love all of them, so it’s a nice atmosphere.”
It was the second time that Forsyth had crossed the finish line first at MIS, but she places an asterisk on last year’s first-place performance.
The MHSAA Finals were split into two sections last year to reduce the size of fields as a COVID-19 precaution. Forsyth won the heat for runners whose teams finished first or second at Regionals, but Birmingham Seaholm senior Audrey DaDamio had the fastest time of the day in the other heat.
“I like ‘won’ the race, but there were two,” Forsyth said. “I feel accomplished right now.”
Forsyth ran fearlessly, going to the lead right away to provide a target for some strong runners. Forsyth reached the mile mark in 5:27.9, with Arianne Olson of Holland West Ottawa (5:28.1) and Julia Flynn of Traverse City Central (5:29.6) the only runners within 10 seconds.
By the two-mile mark, which Forsyth hit in 11:00.3, she had an 8.6-second lead over Olson and a 12.1-second cushion over Flynn.
Flynn finished second in 17:20.49, while Olson was third in 17:36.81. The top seven runners broke 18 minutes.
“It’s really special,” Forsyth said. “I watched my sisters run here. It’s just so exciting to be doing it myself.”
PHOTOS (Top) Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Rachel Forsyth pulls away during the closing stretch of Saturday’s Division 1 race at MIS. (Middle) Sarah Forsythe makes her final sprint to finish second for Pioneer. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)