Through the Years: Girls Cross Country 1978-2015
July 26, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The MHSAA Girls Cross Country Finals is never short on star power and awe-inspiring performances, whether rivals are racing on the state's largest track at Michigan International Speedway or among the changing leaves at one of the Upper Peninsula's wooded courses.
Our first fall sports installment of "Through the Years" takes us down the trail of nearly 40 years of girls cross country championships.
This feature is from the spring issue of benchmarks, built and written by Rob Kaminski. Scroll to the bottom of the page for a link to our previous installments. We'll continue to look at more MHSAA postseason events every Tuesday and Friday this fall.
Previous installments
July 22: Boys/Girls Lacrosse - Read
July 19: Boys/Girls Tennis - Read
July 15: Boys/Girls Golf - Read
July 12: Girls Soccer - Read
July 8: Boys Track & Field - Read
July 5: Girls Track & Field - Read
July 1: Baseball - Read
June 28: Softball - Read
Performance of the Week: Midland Dow's Victoria Garces
October 11, 2024
Victoria Garces ♦ Midland Dow
Senior ♦ Cross Country
The two-time MHSAA Finals top-five placer is undefeated in three races this season after winning last weekend's Saginaw Heritage Hawks Invitational by nearly 14 seconds with a time of 18:08.47. She opened her season Sept. 21 with a personal-record 17:17 to win the Gold championship at Cadillac's Veterans Serving Veterans Invitational, and that time remains the second-fastest in Lower Peninsula Division 1 this season.
Garces finished fifth at the LPD1 Finals at Michigan International Speedway as both a junior and sophomore, and she placed ninth in Wisconsin's Division 1 championship race as a freshman. She finished second in the 3,200 (10:21.85) and third in the 1,600 (4:51.28) at this past spring's LPD1 Girls Track & Field Finals, and she will continue her career next fall at Duke.
@mhsaasports 🏃♂️POW: Victoria Garces #crosscountry #HHDow #chargers #run #part1 #highschoolsports #tiktalk #interview #performanceoftheweek #mistudentaid #fyp #MHSAA ♬ original sound - MHSAA
@mhsaasports 🏃♂️POW: Victoria Garces #tiktalk #questiontime #qdoba #hearthands #emoji #gummyclusters #hawaiian #part2 #performanceoftheweek #mistudentaid #fyp #MHSAA ♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys - Kevin MacLeod & Kevin The Monkey
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Previous 2024-25 honorees
Oct. 4: Asher Clark, Bay City John Glenn soccer - Report
Sept. 26: Campbell Flynn, Farmington Hills Mercy volleyball - Report
Sept. 19: TJ Hansen, Freeland cross country - Report
Sept. 12: Jordan Peters, Grayling soccer - Report
Sept. 6: Gabe Litzner, Sault Ste. Marie cross country - Report
Aug. 30: Grace Slocum, Traverse City St. Francis golf - Report
(Photos courtesy of the Midland Dow girls cross country program.)