Troy, Rockford Leader Make Title Jumps
November 4, 2017
Second Half reports
BROOKLYN — Finally, a pleasant memory at Michigan International Speedway for Rockford junior Ericka VanderLende.
Her first two trips around the cross country course at MIS were OK, but weren’t indications of the greatness that awaited her.
VanderLende was pretty much a middle-of-the-pack finisher, placing 81st in the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final in 19:13.1 as a freshman and 99th in 19:57.1 as a sophomore.
“It’s a lot different than all the other courses,” VanderLende said. “It’s a lot more intimidating going into it.”
Everything — both mentally and physically — came together for VanderLende on Saturday in her latest trip to Brooklyn.
After splitting two regular-season meetings with Traverse City Central senior Sielle Kearney, it was all VanderLende as she cruised to victory in 17:16.8. Kearney was second in 17:30.2.
“It’s been a really good season,” VanderLende said. “I stayed a lot more consistent with my races. Last year, I was kind of all over the place.”
VanderLende won eight of her 10 races this year.
She was fourth behind two Division 2 runners and a Division 3 runner in the Spartan Invitational, with Kearney taking fifth and Waterford Mott’s Rylee Robinson placing sixth. That turned out to be the finish order for the top Division 1 runners Saturday, with Robinson taking third behind VanderLende and Kearney in 17:34.8.
At the Portage Invitational, Kearney took first and VanderLende was third.
VanderLende and Kearney ran together until about the midway mark of the 3.1-mile race Saturday.
“I just let her get away, and she was going really strong,” Kearney said. “She had an awesome race. It was really cool to be in the same race and have that kind of competition.”
VanderLende’s victory led Rockford to a third-place finish with 153 points.
Troy won its first MHSAA championship since capturing Class A in 1993, edging Northville by a 127-132 score. Troy hadn’t made the top five since taking third in 2000, while Northville and Rockford are perennial title contenders.
Northville has six straight top-five finishes, while Rockford has been a top-10 finisher 21 times in the last 22 years.
While Troy didn’t have a runner break 18 minutes like Northville and Rockford, the Colts had their five scoring runners in the top 32 in the team race, with their second through fifth runners separated by only 3.7 seconds.
Senior Megan Worrel was 10th among team runners in 18:07.8, senior Hannah Palomino was 26th in 18:42.5, freshman Paige Anderson was 29th in 18:44.5, senior Meghan Monaghan was 30th in 18:44.8 and junior Katie Scoles was 32nd in 18:46.2.
PHOTOS: (Top) Rockford’s Ericka VanderLende (1240) and Traverse City Central’s Sielle Kearney quickly moved to the front of the pack Saturday. (Middle) Troy’s Paige Anderson (1276), Meghan Monaghan (1279) and Katie Scoles (1281) all placed between 41st and 44th to help the Colts to the team title. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)
#TBT: MHSAA Cross Country Goes 5K
September 3, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Oxford Hills Country Club hosted the 1980 Lower Peninsula Class B Cross Country Finals on what had to be a chilly day, considering the heavy coats and winter gloves worn by spectators in the photos above and below taken during the races that day.
A little cool in the air isn’t unusual for this annual championship event. But there was a little change in the air as well on this day, as it was the first MHSAA Finals ran at the current race length of five kilometers (3.1 miles).
Brighton’s Pat Hamparian ran the fastest girls time of the 1980 Finals, 17:54.2 – which remained the fourth-fastest 5K time in LP Class A Finals history when those records were retired with the move from classes to divisions in 2000. Mount Clemens’ Bill Brady ran the fastest boys time of 15:07, also in Class A. His time remained the third-fastest 5K time in LP Class A Finals history when the records were retired.
There were plenty of differences too from the meets that will take place this season Oct. 24 in the Upper Peninsula and Nov. 7 in the Lower Peninsula.
From 1961-96 for the boys and 1979-96 for the girls (girls cross country at the MHSAA tournament level began with just one open class Final in 1978), MHSAA individual championships were awarded separately to the first-place finishers among both team and individual qualifiers. Also, while all three 1980 Upper Peninsula Finals were run at Gladstone, the four Lower Peninsula Finals were run at multiple sites, one class at each.
Flint Kearsley, Caro, Concord, Kingsley, Marquette, Ishpeming Westwood and Norway won MHSAA boys team championships in 1980. Brighton, Livonia Ladywood, Williamston, Ann Arbor Greenhills, Marquette and Ishpeming won girls titles (there was one fewer girls race, with Class C-D U.P. teams in one class rather than two for that sport).
PHOTOS: (Top) Livonia Ladywood’s Kelly Champagne crosses the finish line to finish first among team racers at the LP Class B Final in 1980; her time was 18:37.1. (Middle) Cadillac’s Mark Smith finished first among team racers in the boys race with a time of 15:25.5.