by Dan Wytko

The first weekend in October has arrived and it’s time for the 5th annual Portage Invitational. Once again this meet features many of Michigan’s top teams in all divisions. Some even might call this a pre-state meet, as 70 teams that qualified for the state finals last year are in attendance. This fun festive cross country atmosphere promises to be one of the best events in the Midwest. Even DyeStat’s Donna Dye is looking forward to coming back to Michigan for a “Pop”. Although there have been several requests from coaches, athletes, and spectators for different weather than the cold of the past two years. Will it be sunshine, rain, snow, fog…who knows until October 5th.

Now it’s time to highlight each of the varsity races.

Division 4 – Women
Like last year, the D4 race turned out to match the top three teams from the state finals, Ann Arbor Greenhills, Glen Lake, and Concord. Greenhills is currently ranked first in the state, and won both the Portage Invitational and Michigan state championship last year. Concord is ranked fifth, and Glen Lake has an honorable mention ranking. Third ranked Rogers City is led by Lauren Fairbanks, looks to be the top threat to challenging Greenhills for the title. Cassidy Edwards has been clocked at 19:01 at Carson City-Crystal and looks to challenge defending champion Caitlin Kelly from North Huron.

Division 4 – Men
Five of the top ten ranked teams in Michigan’s division 4 are competing in this race: Jonesville (#3), Central Lake (#5), Vandercook Lake (#6), Saranac (#8), and Ann Arbor Greenhills (#10). Honorable mention teams Saugatuck and Glen Lake look to contend also. The individual honors look to be a battle between Glen Lake’s Matt Kibbey and Central Lake’s Stephen Shay. Shay’s older brother is Notre Dame standout Ryan Shay, former NCAA 10,000 m champion.

Division 3 – Women
Don’t let the fact that division 3 schools have a small student enrollment, because this will be one of the hottest races to see. 13 of the 22 competing teams were state qualifiers last year. A new team to this year’s meet is first ranked Williamston. They will be looking to unseat Spring Lake, last year’s state champion. Other teams chasing the title will be Hillsdale (#3), Albion (#7), Laingsburg (#9), and Perry (#10). If you think that the team competition is hot, wait until you see Nicole Bush of Kelloggsville, 2-time defending state champion, and Jaime Watson of Allendale go head to head four the fourth time this year. Watson beat Bush in their first match-up this year, only to have Bush win the next two races. Bush has a season best of 17:57, and Watson has a best of 18:17.

Division 3 – Men
This is another stellar field, as 12 of this year’s teams either have state rankings or were team qualifiers for the state finals last year. Fourth ranked Jackson Lumen Christi looks to be the early favorite, but will definitely challenged by Kelloggsville (#6), Stockbridge (#7), and local favorite Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Central (#8). Sophomore Paul Lange from Laingsburg and senior Ben Hammer from Elk Rapids look to be the front runners at this point.

Division 2 – Women
Three-time defending state champion Middleville looks to defend their invitational title again, sporting a number one state ranking again. Lakeview, Grand Rapids Christian, St. Joseph, and Gull Lake look to be the top contending teams. Lakeview is lead by junior Michelle Diverio, state runner-up in 2001. Carrie Davis of Eaton Rapids and Amber Myers from Jackson Northwest look to challenge Diverio for top individual honors.

Division 2 – Men
Defending state champion, Big Rapids is back to defend their title, but will be heavily challenged by first ranked Dexter. Fremont, Gull Lake and St. Clair will be other teams to contend for the title. Dexter is led by Chris Burke and Dan Meyer. Meyer is the son of Boston Marathon champion Greg Meyer. Top contenders for the individuals are Tim Kelsh of Chippewa Hills and Jim Pancoast of Lakeshore.

Division 1 – Women
This race looks to be a barn burner as four of the top five ranked girls teams are competing, Rockford (#2), Brighton (3#), Saline (#4), and Holt (#5). The co-hosts from Portage Central are ranked tenth and look to get into the mix, also. Sarnia, Ontario will be bringing its loaded crew of runners led by Amy Kohlmeier. Kohlmeier was the runner-up last year in 17:49.3. Portage Northern’s Elisa Zemlick, and Holt’s Kelly Robinson look to run with Kohlmeier up front. Rockford’s Nicki Bohnsack will be hoping to make her return to racing after sitting out much of the season with a hip injury. Bohnsack won last year’s meet with a meet record time of 17:33.9. Bohnsack nearly broke the course record of 17:31.0, set by Portage Northern’s Sharon VanTuyl in 1995.

Division 1 – Men
This year’s favorite looks to be Bedford, as they come in with a number three state ranking. Traverse City Central, Ann Arbor Huron, Muskegon Mona Shores, and Traverse City West will be looking to knock off Bedford. Rockford looks to be a contender also, but they took a serious hit when Matt Wish was diagnosed with mono, according to coach Mark Nessner. Top runners are TC West’s Tim Kenny, Saline’s Dustin Voss, TC Central’s Andrew Manning, Rockford’s BJ Meyers, and Ann Arbor Huron’s Frank Tinney.

Note: Michigan’s divisions are based upon student enrollment, with Division 1 having the largest enrollment and Division 4 the smallest enrollment.

Portage Invitational