Jacobs, Corunna Finish Title Quests
November 5, 2016
Second Half reports
BROOKLYN – Noah Jacobs’ race was done, but the job wasn’t finished.
So, he took zero time to soak in the moment after he won the MHSAA Division 2 individual cross country championship Saturday at Michigan International Speedway.
Instead, he turned around and kept a close eye on the runners finishing behind him, hoping to see the white Corunna singlets not too far back.
The first teammate he greeted was his sophomore brother, Ben, who finished eighth in 16:01.8.
Before long, he would be reunited with the rest of his teammates. When the places were added up, not only did Jacobs win an individual championship, but he led his school to the team title.
Corunna beat reigning champion Fremont, 92-99, for its first MHSAA championship since 1997.
With his time of 15:28.0, Jacobs joined 1998 winner Jared Aldrich as the only Corunna boys to win the individual title. He won by 12 seconds over Pontiac Notre Dame Prep senior Brendan Fraser.
“I came into the stadium, and the wind was in my face,” said Jacobs, who recently committed to run for the University of Wisconsin. “It was a battle that last mile, it really was. It was one of the harder races I ever ran. The course was a little bit soft; it wasn’t exactly ideal. I’m proud. I gave it everything I had, and my team gave it everything they had. That’s all you can ask for. What I take away from it is it’s a great last race in my Corunna jersey.”
The cross country championship has eluded Jacobs, who has two MHSAA Division 2 track and field titles in the 3,200-meter run on his resume. He was 56th as a freshman, fifth as a sophomore and second to two-time champion Morgan Beadlescomb of Algonac as a junior.
Jacobs has a personal best of 15:00 in cross country and 8:55.57 in the 3,200, so he had hoped to put his name among the all-time greats who have ever run at MIS. That plan changed when he saw that rain from earlier in the week turned portions of the course into slop.
“Originally, I wanted to run in the 14s,” Jacobs said. “But running the warmup on the course and figuring everything out, it wasn’t worth my time to go out and only think about time. It wasn’t going to be beneficial. It was just going to end in a day I felt I could do more.”
Even with the graduation of Jacobs, Corunna should be well-positioned to repeat next year.
The Cavaliers ran only two seniors Saturday, the other No. 5 man Kyle Mesh. There might even be a future individual champion in the Jacobs household.
Ben Jacobs was fourth among non-seniors and the second sophomore in Division 2. His time was only 5.2 seconds slower than Noah ran as a sophomore at MIS.
“He was one of two guys who PR’d today,” Noah said. “He ran awesome. A lot of people in Michigan don’t know Ben that well. Ben’s a sophomore this year. He has a lot of big things coming. He’s faster in the mile (as a sophomore), but in the 5K he’s a little behind me, but we’re close.”
With junior Dakota Hundley placing 25th in 16:24.5, Corunna had three all-staters. The top 30 make all-state.
Sophomore Charlie Bruckman was 50th in 16:44.2 and Mesh was 52nd in 16:46.4 to round out Corunna’s scoring.
Fremont has won eight MHSAA championships, but was trying to repeat for the first time. Grand Rapids Christian finished third with 139 points.
The MHSAA Cross Country Finals are sponsored by the Michigan National Guard.
PHOTOS: (Top) Corunna’s Noah Jacobs charges toward the finish for his first MHSAA cross country title. (Middle) Ben Jacobs (296), Noah’s brother, finished eighth to help the Cavaliers to their first team title since 1997, while Otsego's Alex Comerford (392) also posted a top-10 finish. (Click to see more from RunMichigan.com.)
Flashback 100: Fisher Races to Finals Stardom on Way to U.S. Olympic First
October 11, 2024
No American had ever won medals in both the 5,000 and 10,000-meter events at an Olympic Games until Grand Blanc’s Grant Fisher did so in Paris this summer.
He claimed bronze in both races, finishing just two-hundredths of a second behind second place in the 10,000. Fisher secured his opportunities in Paris by finishing first in both events at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon.
During his time at Grand Blanc, Fisher won two Lower Peninsula Finals championships in cross country, taking first place in Division 1 in both 2013 and 2014, his junior and senior years, respectively. In Track & Field, he earned five MHSAA titles, including winning the 3,200 meters in 2013 and both the 1,600 and 3,200 meters in 2014 and 2015.
As a sophomore, Fisher played on the Grand Blanc soccer team that advanced to the Division 1 Final, ultimately losing to East Kentwood 1-0. He played for coach Greg Kehler, who retired from coaching boys soccer after the 2020 season with 340 wins, ninth most in MHSAA history. Kehler is the current girls coach at Grand Blanc and is fourth all-time with 402 victories.
Currently, Fisher holds the American records in the 3,000 meters, two-mile, 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters. In 2015, he became the seventh American high school student-athlete to run a mile in under four minutes and holds the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Finals record (all divisions) in the 1,600 meters at 4:00.28. At Stanford, Fisher was a 12-time Track & Field All-American and three-time Pac-12 champion.
Previous "Flashback 100" Features
Oct. 4: Lalas Leaves High School Legacies on Ice & Pitch - Read
Sept. 27: Tamer's History-Making Run Starts in Dexter, Continues to Paris - Read
Sept. 20: Todd Martin’s Road to Greatness Starts at East Lansing - Read
Sept. 13: James Earl Jones, Dickson High Hoops to Hollywood Legend - Read
Sept. 6: Pioneers' Unstoppable Streak Stretches 9 Seasons - Read
Aug. 30: Detroit dePorres Rushes to 1995 Class CC Football Championship - Read
PHOTOS (Top) Grant Fisher (15) takes a photo with his Grand Blanc soccer teammates as a sophomore. (Bottom) Fisher competes in multiple Cross Country and Track & Field Finals during his high school career. (Soccer photo courtesy of Greg Kehler. Running photos by RunMichigan.com.)