Sophomore Pair Clinch 1st Finals Titles, Korpi Wins 3rd to Cap Ishpeming Career
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
October 21, 2023
FLAT ROCK — Pickford’s Talya Schreiber is a first-year high school cross country runner.
The Pickford sophomore placed an exclamation point at the end of her season, setting the Upper Peninsula Division 3 Finals record by covering the 3.1-mile course in 18 minutes, 49.2 seconds here Saturday.
“That’s nine seconds off my PR (personal record),” she said. “I wanted to go out hard because it gave me a cushion to work with.
“This has definitely been a real good learning experience. I dealt with some illness last summer (2022). I needed a lot of rest and had to get back into running very slowly. It’s disappointing I didn’t get to do anything in my freshman year, but I’m definitely happy to be back.”
Chassell was crowned champion for the first time in four years by edging Newberry 52-54. Third-place Stephenson scored 58 points.
“The girls are really excited,” Chassell coach Marco Guidotti said. “I’m so happy for them. Stephenson beat us at Munising (Sept. 26) and kept an eye on the times Newberry was running. We knew it’d be tough. I’m so proud of the girls for believing in themselves. When you see a team running times like that, every place counts.
“The girls really started to find their groove late in the season. Winning the Copper Mountain Conference really motivated us, and Ironwood put on a great meet over there. We have a real strong community that supports the school and runners.”
Newberry grabbed the next three places, led by sophomore and runner-up Samantha Taylor (19:28.6), freshman Abby Taylor (19:48.6) and senior Kaylen Clark in a season-best 20:19.1, Dollar Bay senior Taryn Maki (21:06.3) and Chassell junior Lily Etelamaki (22:04.9).
“We put in lot of hard work during the week,” Etelamaki said. “We were definitely on a mission. Our area teams did real well. There’s a lot of trophies going back home. We were kind of in shock when we found out we won. We thought we’d be runner-up. We tried to run in a pack, and I think our depth helped us.”
Division 2
Ishpeming senior Lola Korpi ran the fourth-best time in U.P. Division 2 Finals history at a personal-best 19:04.8, clinching her third individual championship in her final race for the Hematites.
“I ran about 20:18 here last year and was trying to beat that,” she said. “That was amazing. It feels like I’m on top of the world right now.
“I’m also proud of my sister. Laynie ran real well. I was thinking to myself ‘leave it all here.’ I’m not as sad as others because I know I’ll be running in college. Plus, I still have track to look forward to next spring.”
Hancock gained its third straight team title with 38 points, followed by Munising with 71 and Ironwood with 93.
The Bulldogs were led by juniors Ella Keranen in a personal-best 20:56.9 and Rayna Towles (21:06.3), who placed second and third, respectively.
“I never broke 21 minutes before,” Keranen said. “It’s hard to run against the clock at the Finals. It can be a little nerve-wracking, but I was excited when I saw my time. Rayna and I ran together. It’s good to have someone to run with. We definitely ran as hard as we could. We wanted to win it for the third time for our senior Jolene Larson.”
Division 1
Marquette, as expected, retained its D1 title by tying the UPD1 Finals scoring record with 23 points, followed by Houghton with 53 and Sault Ste. Marie with 92.
Led by sophomore individual champion Ella Fure, the team placed five in the top 11.
Fure was clocked at 19:24.6, followed by junior teammate Monet Argeropoulos in 19:30.2.
“I’m definitely happy. I was faster than in the GNC (Great Northern Conference) meet,” Fure said. “I was a little nervous about my time. I was running with Monet, and she told me to take off with a quarter-mile to go. I was about 17 seconds off my PR. The weather was nice. It was about the perfect temperature (near 50).
Argeropoulos was followed by Houghton junior Roman Peterlin (19:55.3) and sophomore Tessa Rautiola (19:55.5), and Marquette senior Abby Harma (19:58.5).
“Ella and I helped each other out,” Argeropoulos said. “I’m happy about my time and our team winning. Houghton did really well. We were really close last year. It’s really fun to see our whole team do well. It’s kind of a reward for the hard work we did.”
PHOTOS (Top) Pickford's Talya Schreiber runs during the Division 3 U.P. Final at Farmhouse B & B in Gladstone on Saturday. She won the race. (Middle) Ishpeming's Lola Korpi runs to her third straight U.P. Division 2 championship. (Below) Marquette’s Ella Fure runs with Houghton's Tessa Rautiola in Division 1. (Photos by Jason Juno. Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)
Dudek's Dominance Paces Pioneer Title Run
November 2, 2019
Second Half reports
BROOKLYN – Zofia Dudek wasn’t on anyone’s radar as a potential MHSAA champion cross country runner during her freshman year.
She not only wasn’t running in Michigan, she wasn’t running in the United States.
Dudek was in her homeland of Poland when she was in ninth grade after two years in Florida and one year in Indiana because of her father’s job as a visiting professor of economics.
When Maciej Dudek was hired at the University of Michigan, Dudek enrolled at Ann Arbor Pioneer for her sophomore year.
From a school that has produced some of the top distance runners in Michigan history, Dudek may be the best of them all.
She won the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 championship Saturday with a time of 17:00.4, the fourth-fastest time by a girl at Michigan International Speedway.
Dudek had the fastest time in the state this year, a 16:46.9 performance on Oct. 11 in Ypsilanti, but the muddy conditions at MIS made it a tough day for chasing personal records.
“It was mostly just going for place and trying to do my best out there,” Dudek said.
Dudek proved to be a solid addition to the Pioneer team two years ago when she placed 20th at MIS in 18:13.0. She improved to third last year in 17:59.8.
“My sophomore year when I got 20th place, I thought that was amazing,” Dudek said. “I thought I could never be one of the top five runners. Now it just feels amazing to be able to do this.”
The potential successors to Dudek’s throne made their presence known Saturday, as the next five places were taken by a freshman, two sophomores and two juniors.
It was the freshman, Arianne Olson of Holland West Ottawa, who took runner-up to Dudek with a time of 17:53.0. Olson had no intention of trying to chase Dudek when runners took off from the start line.
“Not really, because I saw her times were a lot faster than mine, so I was just going to run my own race,” Olson said.
Dudek’s victory led Pioneer to its first championship since 1997 and fourth overall. The Pioneers scored 80 points to finish 33 ahead of Traverse City Central.
Pioneer had been second twice and fourth once in the last three years before ending its championship drought.
“It definitely helped a lot having people to push me in workouts and racing,” Dudek said. “It’s just amazing and helps me a lot.”
Sophomore Sarah Forsyth was ninth in 18:14.4, sophomore Cookie Baugh was 32nd in 18:50.2, senior Anna Vogel was 36th in 19:01.2 and sophomore Charlotte Batra was 39th in 19:07.9 to round out Pioneer’s scoring.
PHOTOS: (Top) Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Zofia Dudek charges down the stretch at MIS on Saturday, well ahead of the rest of the Division 1 field. (Middle) Pioneer’s Sarah Forsyth (1106) leads another pack, just ahead of Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills’ Adit Dau (1973). (Photos by Matt Yacoub/RunMichigan.com.)