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 | 12th Annual Portage Invitational
Portage Central HS, Portage MI - Saturday, October 10, 2009
DyeStat onsite with SteveU
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Kings & queens for the day: AAP boys, Rockford girls
State powers take their place at the D1 helm; Karr 15:24.9, Leptich 17:56.6 fastest
by SteveU, DyeStat ESPN RISE senior editor
Photos by John Brabbs
They’re the best – for now. But coaches Don Sleeman and Ben Watson know how tenuous the hold on #1 is. You’re thankful for the win, you’re thankful for the day, but you take nothing for granted in the future – knowing that you might be only a few injuries or sick runners away from being #2, or even an also-ran.
And Saturday was a good day for Sleeman’s Ann Arbor Pioneer boys and Watson’s Rockford girls as they claimed D1 titles at the 12th Annual Portage Invitational, Michigan’s biggest XC meet. Pioneer, defending D1 state champ and ranked #1, rode Nathan Karr’s individual victory – a best-of-the-day 15:24.9 – and a typically strong pack to a 72-point total in the 41-team field. That was 46 points up on MI D1#2 Pinckney as the two teams were clashing for the first time this season.
Rockford, tied for #4 in the D1 girls rankings, overcame the loss of a top runner to season-ending injury as everyone else ran well and combined for a 108-point total, 16 points up on a very good effort by Pinckney. Meanwhile, #1 Saline was getting a great 1-4 finish at the top, led by individual champion Alex Leptich (best-of-day 17:56.6), but didn’t get the performances beyond that to be competitive with Rockford. They were 4th behind defending champ (and defending D1 state champ) Traverse City Central.
 | Reed Kamyszek is followed by Nathan Karr in the D1 boys lead pack early.
| The other divisions also saw some outstanding performances, both individually and team-wise. For the girls, the Allendale 1-2 punch of 2-time defending D3 state champ Devan John (18:00.7) and Ali Wiersma (18:01.5) in the D3 race provided the 2nd and 3rd best times of the day. In D2, Lauren Gruenwald surprised defending champ and D2 state champ Jordan Tomecek, 18:14.5 to 18:25.8. The highest-ranked teams in each race won as expected, with #1 East Grand Rapids edging #2 Grand Rapids Christian in D2, #1 Hanover-Horton topping #4 Leslie in D3, and #2 Manton taking D4 (#1 Harbor Springs not entered).
For the guys, the D2 and D3 winners – Culver Academy IN sr Alejandro Arroyo (15:31.4) and Durand sr David Madrigal III (15:36.4) were outstanding champs reasonably close to Karr’s D1 time. The top-ranked teams in each other class – Ionia (D2), Grandville Calvin Christian (D3) and Concord (D4) – were all big winners in their races.
D1 Boys: Pioneering in Senior Dominance
Coach Don Sleeman isn’t sure what his team is going to look like when his top seven seniors graduate – they comprised Ann Arbor Pioneer’s entire varsity Saturday – but he’s certainly enjoying them now. Nathan Karr isn’t a 48-second quarter-miler (at least not yet), but he certainly looked like one flying down the final straight Saturday.
Karr gave MI D1 top-ranked Pioneer the victory at the top and the rest of those seniors finished the job Saturday as the defending D1 state champs repeated here. Pioneer lost early in the season to Detroit Catholic Central, but has beaten them twice since and Saturday beat #2 Pinckney in the first meeting of those two schools. A third straight title is definitely Pioneer’s to lose.
Along with Karr’s run, Sleeman noted the performance of Muhammad Sani, their 4th man in 19th place. “He ran really well; he’s had achilles problems and was in the pool three straight days.”
The veteran mentor also said a key was the team running the course the way it needed to. “We always want to get out quickly and be there, and run with the pack,” he said. “Our kids are strong enough to do that, and sustain it, and not back away … The thing is, you don’t have to fight this course; you can just concentrate on competing.”
That certainly worked for Karr, who hung on the early pace set by Kenowa Hills sr Reed Kamyszek. “I felt great … I was surprised how relaxed I felt,” he said. “We went out in 4:45 (actually 4:47) and I’ve never gone out faster than 4:50.”
He continued to hold on until the final stretch, where he unleashed the beast. “I’ve always had a really strong kick,” he said. “My strength has always been my leg speed.”
Monroe jr Austin Whitelaw wound up coming up for 2nd in 15:34.4, followed by Kamyszek (15:39.1) and Bedford’s 1:50.47 800 runner Nick Kaiser (15:45.8). For Pioneer, Karr was followed by twins Adam (11th/15:53) and Nick (17th/16:13) Kern, Muhammad Sani (19th/16:16) and Andy Sanz-Guerrero (24th/16:24).
Pinckney was led by senior Tanner Pesonen in 6th (15:49), but AAP had four in before their 2nd and that was that. The Pirates, though, were well clear of 3rd place Huntington North IN (176).
D1 Girls: Rockford's healthier, if not healthiest
 | Katie Carlson (1511) and Sam Anderson (15:08) were a big part of D1 Rockford's winning depth.
| It’s been a pretty good season so far for the Rockford girls, except for one unpleasant day. That was at the Spartan Invitational Sept. 18, where their #1 runner was injured (Anna Bos) and #3 (Taylor Manett) suffered a very unusual false-start DQ. They finished a very distant 8th to Saline, which took over the #1 spot in Michigan. Rockford had beaten Saline in the early-season Bath Invite, with both Bos and Manett, by seven points.
Saturday, the Rams were still without Bos, who has been sidelined for the year with a stress fracture. But with everyone else running at or close to their bests – and Saline not having as good a day after their 1-2 punch – Rockford took the title, it’s first at Portage since 2006. Jane Hawks and Manett had a good 1-2 punch themselves, taking 9th (18:46) and 11th (18:48). They were followed by Catie Rietsema (18th/19:04), Sam Anderson (28th/19:24), and Katie Carlson (42nd/19:37).
“This was more like it,” said fourth-year Rockford Coach Ben Watson. “We have lots of good depth. You count five and the 6 and 7 are important, too.”
Watson said that Manett’s time was a PR and Anderson’s a seasonal PR, and noted – in a season where he now has all runners that have been coached by him since he started at Rockford – that winning at Portage and having a good shot at progressing toward a state title in a typically crowded D1 field of contenders “is very gratifying.”
 | The early lead pack in the girls D1 race included Saline's Kate Carter and Alex Leptich, Northville's Gina McNamara and Avery Evenson.
| Rockford’s score of 108 was 16 better than Pinckney, which easily had the best 1-5 spread at 24 seconds. Julia Otwell and Samantha Ehle led defending D1 state champ Traverse City Central – which has been gradually coming on this fall – to 3rd with 167.
Saline, meanwhile, had a terrific 1st-4th finish from seniors Alex Leptich and Kate Carter (18:21.7), but were not quite as strong as usual after that.
Leptich almost didn’t score … she didn’t attach her scoring chip before she started. “I actually had it, but then I forgot it,” she said. “You do it so many times … you’re like, sure, I’m ready … then it’s ‘oh, shoot!’”
At the Spartan Invite, she remembered it, but it somehow became obscured or “folded over” before she got to the finish line and she was initially missed there, too.
But despite her chip problems, this fall has seen Leptich – a star and the leader for Saline since she was a freshman – improve to the point of having her best season yet. Her 17:56.6 was an all-time PR for her as she took the lead before mid-race and was never seriously challenged. While some of the state’s biggest names – Megan Goethals, Sara Kroll, Michelle Moriset, and Shannon Osika – were racing in Oakland and Wayne County meets Saturday, Leptich showed she’ll be a contender in November.
A big difference for her, she says, has been getting personal coaching from Greg Meyer, the Michigan running legend who won the 1983 Boston Marathon in 2:09 and was as good a road racer as there was in the country during the peak of the first running boom. “I really felt I needed longer and harder workouts, and I’ve had that.”
Behind Leptich, one of this year’s super freshmen – Hartland’s Avery Evenson – was 2nd in 18:08.9. She was followed by East Kentwood jr Alissa Williams (18:19.3) and Saline’s Carter.
D 2-3-4: Allendale's 1-2 and much more
The most exciting moment in the morning (D3 and 4 races) was probably when Allendale’s Devan John and Ali Wiersma dove across the finish line in the D3 girls race, almost together, in 18:00.7 and 18:01.5. Only Leptich, the D1 winner, would run faster during the day’s four varsity races. Last year, John won here in 18:11.9, with Wiersma – then a freshman – 5th in 19:23.1. At D3 state, John won and Weirsma was 8th, now just 48 seconds back. Now, in mid-fall 2009, Wiersma is all the way up with her teammate as arguably the best two runners in D3.
Some #1 runners would have a negative reaction to a teammate catching them, but not John – who actually won for the third time at Portage and is two-time defending D3 state champ. “It’s made a big, big (positive) difference having a teammate up with me,” she said. “It helps me have a chance to get PRs more often.”
“She’s helped me so much!” gushed Wiersma.
 | D3 winner David Madrigal of Durand
| The D3 girls race was also the first battle of the year between #1 Hanover-Horton and #2 Benzie Central. Benzie scored best at the top, scoring 3-4 with Michaela Carnegie and Taylor Nye, but Lindsey Burdette-led (7th) H-H had the best depth and a 35-second 1-5 spread and scored 72 to win. #4 Leslie wound up 2nd with 81, with Benzie at 94 and #3 Allendale at 106.
Hanover-Horton coach Dean Blackledge said his team hasn’t been at full strength due to illness and injury, “but I’m pleased. I thought we ran about as well as we could today.”
The D3 boys race saw quite a battle between most of the top returnees from last year’s race here and also the D3 state meet, including defending Portage D3 champ Paul Lewis of Albion. Durand sr David Madrigal III (4th here last year) was expected to be in the mix – and he was – but could anyone have foreseen the move he made? In the final half mile, he gained 19 seconds to win in 15:36.4, with Lewis outkicking Whitmore Lake’s Zach Carpenter for 2nd, 15:55.9-15:56.3.
“I didn’t want to take the lead, so I was drafting,” Madrigal said. “At 2-1/2 miles I felt the same as I did a ¼-mile into the race. I had a good surge. It felt really good and shows me what I can do.”
On the other hand, he didn’t want to wait too long, as he said he did recently in a loss to Omar Kaddurah at the Greater Flint meet. “I didn’t want to get outkicked again.”
Team-wise, it was a decisive win for #1 Calvin Christian, which has improved dramatically with a trio of sophomores since taking 6th here and 6th in D3 state last year. They scored 91, to 145 for defending Portage champ Hillsdale, and 146 for Benzie Central.
In D4, Concord dominated the boys race, both at the top and overall. While recovering from illness limited defending Portage champ (and top D4 state returnee) Kyle Stacks to 16:00.6 (he ran 15:42 last year), his swift soph teammate Spencer Nousain was a comforting seven seconds back in 2nd and they piled up a score of 65, 36 better than runner-up Bridgeman. The supporting cast behind Concord’s 1-2 punch has significantly improved, and that’s a big reason why they’re #1 in D4 and improved significantly from a squad that took 2nd in Portage and 6th at state last year.
“Four years ago, I would have never thought we’d be this good,” said Stacks. “Everyone just started trying harder and putting more into it. I’m really happy to be on a team like this.”
 | D4 winner Kyle Stacks of Concord.
| The D4 girls battle saw North Muskegon jr Lindsay Neal defend her title her in 19:20.5. Manton, ranked #2 and 2nd at state last year – both behind Harbor Springs, which was not at Portage – won the team race decisively with 77 points, 24 up on defending Portage champ Hesperia.
The D2 races, which started the afternoon, saw probably the biggest upset on the girls side as East Grand Rapids senior Lauren Grunewald beat defending Portage and state D2 champ Jordan Tomecek of Milan. Tomecek last year set a D2 record at Portage with her 17:53.8, while Grunewald was 7th. By the state meet, Grunewald was 3rd to Tomecek’s first.
Saturday, though, was a PR day for the East Grand Rapids senior, while Tomecek was off form. “I wasn’t expecting to get first place,” said the winner, “but I was confident our team would win.”
East Grand Rapids lost last year to their perennial rival Grand Rapids Christian, but then won the D2 state meet over them by 68 points. This year they’ve been ranked 1-2 again, and EGR came out on top again, 76-86.
“That’s our big goal (winning state),” said Grunewald, “but we’re just trying to become a better team each week right now.”
The only out-of-state winner came in the D2 boys race, as Culver Academy IN senior Alejandro Arroyo pulled away mid-race and won in an impressive 15:31.4. He was 2nd here last year to now-graduated Brad Ferrara of Linden. “I felt amazing today,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of good competition this year (in Indiana) and gained confidence. I’ve ncreased my mileage, and run more tempo runs and hills.”
In the team race, defending Portage and state champ Linden has fallen on hard times, and Ionia – 8th at state last year – has rocketed to new heights. Ionia went 6-8-17-18-29 to score 78 and top Vicksburg by 42. Linden was a distant 3rd – despite the runner-up finish by Jake Hord.
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At right, Lauren Grunewald of East Grand Rapids (2125) leads en route to victory - for her and her team - in the D2 girls race.
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Ionia packed it together to win the D2 boys race, including Connor Montgomery (2876) and Don Blight (2869).
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