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.)
Munising Goes from No Team to Best
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
October 25, 2020
MUNISING — Hattie Cota was the lone runner on the Munising girls cross country team last year.
She became part of an Upper Peninsula championship team here Saturday as the Mustangs earned the Division 3 title with 54 points.
“We’re just so happy,” said Cota, who was individual runner-up on this partly sunny and chilly afternoon at Pictured Rocks Golf & Country Club. “I’m not used to being on a team, especially a good team.”
This marked the first title in seven years for the Mustangs, who were followed by three-time reigning champion Chassell with 73 points and Stephenson with 106.
“I’m just so excited,” said Munising coach Mark Kinnunen. “I thought it’d be many, many years before I’d have a championship team. We came in blind, not knowing who’d come out on top. We didn’t really know what to expect from Chassell. We told the girls to ‘run like you want to win.’ The only reason why we had a full team is because Hattie went out and recruited some girls.”
Rock Mid Peninsula senior Daisy Englund won the individual title for the first time since her freshman year by covering the 3.1-mile course in 21 minutes, 16.4 seconds. Cota, who led much of the third mile, was clocked at 21:27. They were followed by Ewen-Trout Creek senior Elise Besonen (21:41).
"That was so scary,” said Englund, who ran a 6:17 split for her first mile. “I could hear Hattie after the second mile, and I kind of lost my focus for a little while. I knew everybody was going to be targeting me today and told myself I had to hang on. I finished strong, but I don’t know where that came from. I didn’t feel strong the whole race. I was cruising for sure in the first mile. This was my last high school cross country race. I just wanted to win so bad.”
Englund was trailing until the last turn when she used a strong surge to regain the lead.
“I was behind a bunch of girls.” said Cota. “I didn’t think I’d be able to catch her. Daisy ran a great race herself. Once she started pulling away (after the last turn), I knew I couldn’t catch her. I just didn’t have enough left.”
Mid Pen junior and last year’s champion Landry Koski took fourth this time at 21:46.7, and Stephenson senior Kylee Kuntze was fifth (21:47.5).
“This was one of my better races,” said Koski. “I actually felt pretty strong until the last mile. This was also the last race of the year. I had to leave it all on the course.
“I’m just so happy for Daisy. I’m also happy with the weather. This was better than I was expecting. The course was a little wet, but I just went through the puddles. I was going to get wet anyway.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Munising's Monique Brisson (143) and Hattie Cota (144) run in the Upper Peninsula Division 3 Final held at Pictured Rocks Golf Course in Munising. (Middle) Rock Mid Peninsula's Daisy Englund approaches the finish line on the way to winning the individual title. (Photos by Cara Kamps.)