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Preview: Seniors to Shine 1 More Time
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 18, 2019
We always can count on high school sports to be cyclical in the way athletes move through their four seasons and are replaced by the next wave.
But some groups certainly are more memorable than others. And Saturday’s Upper Peninsula Girls Cross Country Finals will provide an opportunity to wave good-bye to an accomplished group of seniors who have combined to win five MHSAA individual cross country championships.
Races begin Saturday at Gentz’s Golf Course in Marquette with the Division 1 girls at 11 a.m. and finish with the Division 3 boys at 1:30 p.m. Check back Saturday evening for coverage, and see below for more teams and individuals to watch. (Click for race information and competitors.)
Division 1
Reigning champion: Sault Ste. Marie
2018 runner-up: Marquette
Top-ranked: 1. Marquette, 2. Sault Ste. Marie, 3. Houghton.
Marquette and Sault Ste. Marie have finished first or second together the last five seasons and alternated claiming the championship over the last four. The Blue Devils won last season despite their highest placer coming in eighth, and three of the top four from that lineup are back this weekend – junior Haleigh Knowles (eighth in 2018), sophomore Anna Hildebrand (10th) and senior Shelby Eavou (16th). Marquette senior Ericka Asmus has finished Division 1 runner-up the last two seasons after coming in 10th as a freshman, and she’s joined by three more of the team’s top five from the 2018 Final including senior Reegan Ketzenberger (13th).
Individuals: Negaunee senior Emily Paupore hopes to finish her high school cross country career with a third straight Division 1 championship and won last year’s Final by 32 seconds. She’s been surging not only against Upper Peninsula competition this fall but also against many of the best from downstate. Ishpeming Westwood senior Tessa Leece also should be in the mix again after finishing fourth last season coming off her Division 2 championship in 2017. Paupore teammate Talon Prusi also will run her final high school race after coming in seventh a year ago, and Houghton sophomore Ingrid Seagren could be on the way to becoming the favorite in 2020 after finishing sixth at her first Finals a year ago.
Division 2
Reigning champion: Hancock
2018 runner-up: St. Ignace
Top-ranked: 1. Ishpeming, 2. Ironwood, 3. Wakefield-Marenisco/Bessemer.
Ishpeming didn’t finish enough runners to place last season, but the Hematites are back to full strength. After winning three straight titles from 2014-16, they are expected to add another with their top three runners returning from last year’s Final: sophomore Abby Racine (fourth place), sophomore Taylor Longtine (seventh) and junior Chyanne Gardner (14th). Reigning champ Hancock isn’t ranked but is going to be in the mix. The Bulldogs had six of the top 12 finishers in winning that team title, and sophomores Jacie Anderson (eighth), Adia Keranen (11th) and Sierrah Driscoll (12th) all are back for a team that will run one senior and six underclassmen.
Individuals: The top three finishers from last season graduated, making Racine the highest-placing returnee. Joining her, Longtine and Anderson back from the top 10 is St. Ignace junior Hallie Marshall (10th), and West Iron County junior Avery Bociek (15th) also is a strong candidate to climb in the standings.
Division 3
Reigning champion: Chassell
2018 runner-up: Cedarville
Top-ranked: 1. Chassell, 2. Brimley, 3. Cedarville.
Chassell will be chasing its third straight championship and fifth in six seasons with four of last season’s top 20 individual placers leading the way. Sophomore Paige Sleeman (fifth), junior Gwen Kangas (seventh), sophomore Kamryn Sohlden (ninth) and freshman Trisha Pietila (20th) make the Panthers the team to beat again. Cedarville is an intriguing contender though with five of last year’s top seven back including freshman Lilianna Cason (eighth) sophomore Meredith Emigh (10th) and junior Cassidy Barr (14th). Rock Mid Peninsula isn’t ranked but brings back all six of last year’s runners who combined to finish third, led by senior Daisy Englund (second) and sophomore Landry Koski (fourth).
Individuals: Eben Junction Superior Central now-senior Danika Walters outpaced 2017 champion Englund by nearly 20 seconds to win last season’s title, and they should provide an excellent individual competition at the front. Total, eight of last year’s top 10 return – the others are mentioned above – and Pickford senior Natalie Miller (11th) and Ewen-Trout Creek junior Elise Besonen also bolster the returning field. Newberry sophomore Jorja Suriano finished 13th in Division 2 last season.
PHOTO: Eben Junction Superior Central’s Danika Walters broke away from the Division 3 field at last season’s Upper Peninsula Finals and will run for a repeat Saturday. (Photo by Cara Kamps.)
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What a Finn-ish for West Bloomfield Star
November 7, 2012
By Bill Khan
Special to Second Half
Success comes so easily for some great athletes that they take it for granted.
West Bloomfield senior Erin Finn has experienced enough adversity in her running career that she appreciates each and every accomplishment.
Finn’s freshman year in cross country and track was cut short by stress fractures. So one of the greatest distance stars ever to come out of Michigan remained under wraps until 10th grade, when she placed fourth at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 meet in cross country and second in the 3,200-meter run in track.
She went on to win the MHSAA cross country title as a junior in 2011 before setting the all-class/division record for with her time of 10:17.86 in the 2012 Track Finals.
Finn entered her senior year brimming with confidence, hoping to enhance her reputation as one of the state’s all-time greats.
Instead, she endured one frustrating performance after another. The worst part was nobody could understand why Finn was regressing.
Finally, one month before the state cross country meet, Finn was diagnosed with an iron deficiency that was correctable primarily through supplements but also by getting more meat in her diet.
“My parents cook meat really poorly,” she said. “Really, like leather. I started doing some more of the cooking.”
She got stronger in the final weeks of the season, peaking with a personal-best 17:07.9 that dominated the Division 1 Final meet by 26.6 seconds. It was the fourth-best time ever by a girl in an MHSAA final since Michigan International Speedway began hosting in 1996.
“My freshman year, I got stress fractures,” recalled Finn, who receives a Second Half High 5 this week. “I kind of went crazy, because I was a little too underweight from running too much. I
wouldn't take that back. I wouldn't take this back. I've learned so much. God always has a plan. It’s just sometimes I’m too dumb to figure it out.”
Finn sustained her only loss of the year to two-time Division 2 champion Julia Bos of Grand Rapids Christian, by 15 seconds at the Spartan Invitational on Sept. 14. That’s when Finn began to wonder what was wrong with her.
“I ended up getting a fever the next day,” Finn said. “At first I thought it was over-hydration. Then I thought it was being sick. Then I had worse and worse races. I didn't train this hard this summer to get slower and slower. I’m doing everything right. I’m finally getting to bed early this year.”
When her problem was pinpointed in early October, Finn established a mindset that nothing mattered until MIS. After failing to break 18 minutes in three straight races before the diagnosis, Finn ran 17:47.1 in her final conference meet and 17:50.8 in the Regional before running her personal best Saturday.
“I’m definitely getting back there,” Finn said. “God has blessed me. I don’t think I ever prayed so much before a race.”
Finn joked that her goal prior to her senior year was to make people ask, “Who is Megan Goethals?”
“Just kidding,” Finn said. “That will never happen.”
Goethals is considered the greatest distance runner Michigan has produced, having run the only sub-17 time by a girl in an MHSAA Final as a senior at Rochester in 2009.
Goethals, in fact, is one of Finn’s idols, as is former Waterford Mott star Shannon Osika. Goethals now runs at the University of Washington, while Osika is a future teammate of Finn’s at the University of Michigan. She competed against both at one time or another over the last four seasons.
And back in the pack at MIS are runners who undoubtedly look up to Erin Finn.
These are the glory days of girls distance running in Michigan. Finn’s name is in the conversation with the very best. Of the top 15 times ever run at MIS, 14 have been run during the last five years by girls who have helped the state make an impact at the national level.
Finn shattered the national high school indoor record in the 5,000 meters last March with a time of 16:19.69 in the New Balance Nationals Indoor in New York.
She took second in the national Foot Locker cross country meet last year after placing seventh as a sophomore.
“I hope to follow in Megan’s footsteps by placing so well in nationals, both in high school and in college,” Finn said. “There are so many other wonderful runners. I’m so excited to run at Michigan next year. I was at Big Tens. I was never so excited to be at a cross country race. It was so much fun to see the girls who are going to be your teammates perform so well.”
In her final cross country meet for West Bloomfield, Finn let speedster Hannah Meier of Grosse Pointe South set the early pace before taking the lead one kilometer in and never looking back.
After reaching the finish line with a second straight MHSAA title, Finn was greeted by at least a half dozen reporters.
“Wow!” she exclaimed. “I never felt so cool before with all these cameras and stuff.”
The way Finn is running, she’d better get used to it.
PHOTO: West Bloomfield's Erin Finn crosses the finish line first during Saturday's Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final at Michigan International Speedway. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)