Stellar Debut, 4-Peat Kick Off Girls Finals
November 3, 2018
Second Half reports
BROOKLYN — Other states have reputations for producing great athletes in other sports, but Michigan is known for cranking out elite high school cross country runners.
The latest running phenom to come out of the state is freshman Abby VanderKooi of Muskegon Western Michigan Christian.
VanderKooi could turn out to be the best female runner to come out of Michigan if she’s able to continue progressing on an already incredible ninth-grade season.
VanderKooi ran the fifth-fastest time ever by a freshman girl at Michigan International Speedway, winning the MHSAA Division 4 individual title in 17:47.3 on Saturday.
It was a solo coronation for one of the top freshmen in the nation. She won by 1 minute, 15.6 seconds over Madison Volz of Lansing Christian, the largest margin of victory ever in a girls MHSAA final meet. It edged out the 1:15.5 difference between Rochester’s Megan Goethals, who went on to win the Foot Locker national championship that year, and Hartland’s Avery Evenson in the 2009 Division 1 meet.
VanderKooi is the first freshman in United States history to break 17 minutes three times. She did it in her second high school meet and posted her personal best of 16:57.3 in the Greater Muskegon Athletic Association meet Oct. 12 at University Park Golf Course in Muskegon.
The muddy conditions at MIS made it difficult to chase personal records Saturday, but her time still is second all-time in Division 4. Breckenridge’s Kristen Olling won her fourth MHSAA title in 2013 in 17:44.9.
The incredible part is VanderKooi is in only her second year of competitive running. She began running for fun as an 8-year-old, but didn’t begin racing until eighth grade.
“I knew I had a good chance to win it, but in my whole life I never thought I’d get to this point,” VanderKooi said.
It was her first race at MIS, but not her first trip to the site of the Cross Country Finals. Her brother, Nick, was a four-time all-stater at Fremont Providence Christian, running the Division 4 meet from 2009-12.
“My brother, Nick, is graduated now and on to college,” she said. “I’ve been coming here since he was a freshman in high school, so I’ve been coming here since I was very little. It was more fun watching it, because you’re not as nervous.”
VanderKooi’s performance helped Western Michigan Christian place third with 199 points, the best finish in school history.
In the end, Division 4 continued to be the domain of Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart.
The Irish won their fourth straight team championship, holding off a strong Saugatuck squad by a 69-82 margin.
Desiree McConnell was sixth in 19:44.7, Scout Nelson was eighth in 19:50.1, Lauren MacDonald was 10th in 19:50.7, Cammie McConnell was 18th in 20:13.3 and Hannah Wilkinson was 55th in 21:26.5 for Sacred Heart.
Nelson and MacDonald ran at MIS for all four championships.
PHOTOS: (Top) Muskegon Western Michigan Christian freshman Abby VanderKooi charges through the finish of her first MHSAA Finals championship run. (Middle) Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart’s Desiree McConnell (1789) and Lauren MacDonald push through a straightaway in helping the Irish to another team title. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)
Livingston Claims 1st Title to Lead Whitmore Lake to Championship Sweep
November 2, 2024
BROOKLYN — When Kaylie Livingston finished second to Buckley senior Aiden Harrand at last year’s MHSAA Lower Peninsula Finals, the moment she enjoyed Saturday seemed inevitable.
And it very well could be repeated each of the next two years.
After finishing as the Division 4 Final runner-up as a freshman, Livingston dominated the field to take first place in 18 minutes, 6.5 seconds at Michigan International Speedway.
Eliza Keith of Auburn Hills Oakland Christian was second in 18:20.1.
“That motivated me a lot,” Livingston said of her runner-up finish last year. “Aiden was an amazing runner. I got to train with her, and she helped me my first year to know the course, when to speed up and when to kick. I’m just happy I got to accomplish that today.”
Livingston was no stranger to MIS when she arrived in Brooklyn her freshman year, but watching the Finals as a spectator and racing the course are two entirely different experiences.
“I’ve been coming here since I was younger,” she said. “It was my first time racing it. I was just happy to execute my finish today.”
Livingston actually ran a faster time last year, going 17:44.7, but she didn’t need the extra gear Saturday. When she hit the mile mark in 5:39.5, she already had an 8.6-second lead. That lead increased to 21.6 seconds at the two-mile mark.
“It wasn’t my fastest mile of the season,” Livingston said. “It was a little behind. I had to make up for it in the last two miles.”
Livingston is Whitmore Lake’s first individual champion since Betsy Speer won the Class D team race with the fastest time of the day in 1995. The Trojans had winners at the Finals four straight years from 1992-95, with Speer also winning in 1993.
What also could be inevitable for at least the next two years is Whitmore Lake winning team Finals championships.
Whitmore Lake repeated as team champion by a 110-125 margin over Oakland Christian.
The Trojans had only one senior in their lineup, No. 6 runner Isabella Nelson-Daniels.
Whitmore Lake had three all-staters (top 30 in Livingston, 11th-place junior Carina Burchi (19:20.3) and 24th-place junior Elodie Weaver (19:53.0). Also scoring for the Trojans were freshman Malynda Lambros, who was 63rd in 20:57.7, and junior Sofia Robertson, who was 65th in 20:59.5.
“I wanted this state individual championship, but the team is most important to me,” Livingston said. “This program has meant a lot to me. I get to run with my best friends. I’m just so happy we get to accomplish this great thing and show off our hard work.”
Oakland Christian had three all-state finishers in Eliza Keith (second, 18:20.1), Raley Keith (13th, 19:29.5) and Lydia Gleason (19th, 19:41.8), but Whitmore Lake had five runners across 16 team places before Oakland Christian’s final finisher.
PHOTOS (Top) Whitmore Lake’s Kaylie Livingston approaches the finish during her Division 4 championship race Saturday at Michigan International Speedway. (Middle) Elodie Weaver (1538) pushes through the final stretch on the way to crossing the line third for Whitmore Lake. (Click for more from Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)