#TBT: Legends Made at 1997 LP Finals
August 10, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
MHSAA Lower Peninsula Finals race day in 1997 looks a little gray as the Class B participants are taking their first strides above.
But it turned out to carry plenty of significance in the four-decade history of Michigan girls cross country.
The LP Class B race at Michigan International Speedway was memorable for Fremont, which claimed its first and still only title by edging runner-up Whitehall 111-118. Harmony Dykhuis claimed the individual title for Fremont in 19:41.
The Class A race included a few more significant details. Rochester Adams freshman Katie Boyles won the race in 19:07, by more than four seconds, claiming her first of what would be four individual MHSAA cross country championships. She remains the only girl in MHSAA history to win four Finals titles in Lower Peninsula Class A or Division 1, and one of seven total to win four Finals in any division or class. Her string of four titles beginning in 1997 also was significant because that season was the first that the MHSAA awarded only one individual champion per class/division, rather than an individual champion from the team qualifiers and an individual champion from those who weren't running as part of a team finalist.
Ann Arbor Pioneer was an easy champion in the Class A team competition with 68 points, 46 fewer than runner-up Rockford with Emily Magner leading the way with an eighth-place individual finish. The team was coached by the legendary Bryan Westfield, who previously had led his 1987 and 1988 teams to LP Class A titles and also eventually guided the Pioneers' girls track & field program to 16 MHSAA Finals championships with the most recent coming in 2008. He died after a fight with cancer in 2015.
Kalamazoo Hackett won the Class C team title, its first in the sport, and Mendon also was a first-time winner in Class D before repeating as champ a year later. Saginaw Valley Lutheran's Bethany Brewster claimed the Class C individual title in 18:46 after also winning the individual race championship in 1996, and Mendon's Kasey Culp was the 1997 individual champion after finishing first in the team race the year prior.
Performance of the Week: Holland West Ottawa's Helen Sachs
September 22, 2022
Helen Sachs ♦ Holland West Ottawa
Cross Country ♦ Sophomore
Sachs ran what was the second-fastest time in the state this season, 17:15.8, to win the Elite race at the Spartan Invitational on Sept. 16 at Michigan State University's Forest Akers East. On Tuesday, she took over the top spot on fastest times list with a 17:01.6 personal record at the first Ottawa-Kent Conference Red jamboree. She's won three of four races this season, finishing second only to teammate Arianna Olson at the season-opening Under the Lights Invitational on Aug. 26 at Grand Rapids South Christian. Olson's 17:11.30 in that race was the only time faster than Sachs' best before this week.
An immediate standout last season, Sachs went on to finish fifth at the Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final as Olson placed third and West Ottawa as a team was runner-up. At this past spring's LPD1 Track & Field Finals, Sachs finished fourth in the 3,200 (10:26.59), sixth in the 1,600 (4:52.38) and ran on the runner-up 3,200 relay (9:04.06) as West Ottawa finished fourth as a team. Her 17:01 earlier this week was nearly 25 seconds faster than her season-best cross country time a year ago. West Ottawa finished second as a team in the Spartan Invitational Elite race, to Ohio championship contender Hilliard Davidson.
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2022-23 Honorees
Sept. 15: Nina Horning, Lake Orion volleyball - Report
Sept 8: Arturo Romero, Muskegon Oakridge soccer - Report
Sept. 1: Austin King, Midland Dow tennis - Report
Aug. 25: Olivia Hemmila, Troy Athens golf - Report
(Photos courtesy of Helen Sachs.)