Jazwinski Caps Career as D2's All-Time Fastest Champ, EGR Claims Close Team Race
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 7, 2026
BROOKLYN – Robert Jazwinski was racing down a record Saturday in the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Boys Cross Country Final.
While he didn’t reach the ultimate one, Dathan Ritzenhein’s all-Finals Michigan International Speedway course record set back in 2000, the Whitehall senior did set the Division 2 meet record Saturday with a time of 14 minutes, 49.3 seconds to claim his second-straight championship.
“TJ Hansen (who set the previous mark at 14:50.5 for Freeland in 2024) is insane, he’s a sub-4 miler, second at NXN, and that’s a great name to be in partnership with,” Jazwinski said. “But today, I’m not going to lie, my goals were a lot bigger than that. I’m happy with how I finished strong, even though I wasn’t feeling my best.”
Ritzenhein’s remarkable 14:10.4 has not been threatened in the quarter century since the future Olympian from Rockford set it. But Jazwinski, who has run 14:23 this season and is committed to Brigham Young University, seemed to have as good of a shot as anyone in that timeframe.
His time is the fifth-fastest ever run at MIS.
“I don’t know if today was my best day, but I went for it, and said I was going to go for it,” Jazwinski said. “I went through the mile right around that pace. I kind of slowed down right around the end, got a bit tired. But yeah, I’m pretty happy with it today.”
Alma’s Ezekial Baltierra was second to Jazwinski, running 15:20.4,with Lennox Naswell of Flint Powers Catholic in third at 15:22.2, Grand Rapids Catholic Central’s Mitchell Dunlap fourth at 15:23.1 and East Grand Rapids’ Micah Becker in fifth at 15:25.4.
Becker was able to celebrate a Finals title as well, as he led EGR to a first-place team finish. The Pioneers finished with 152 team points, barely holding off Holland Christian in second at 159 and Pinckney in third at 160.
“I think it’s pretty incredible,” Becker said. “You can say that cross country is about how every single person runs by themselves, but ultimately it is a team sport. You can’t win a state championship with one runner. It takes an incredible group of guys that work their tails off to achieve something like that.”
Becker and teammate Thomas Fisher both finished ahead of the top placer from Holland Christian, Grant Lampen, who himself had an all-state finish (30th). Fisher was 24th overall and 16th in the team scoring with a time of 15:55.8.
Beckett Kneisel was 48th (30th in team points) at 16:14.8, Lucas Aardema was 61st (39) at 16:22.4 and Sean Wilson-Ross was 101st (64) at 16:41.4 for the Pioneers.
PHOTOS (Top) Whitehall’s Robert Jazwinski charges through the final stretch of his record-setting run Saturday. (Middle) East Grand Rapids’ Micah Becker has the finish line in sight. (Click for more from Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)
Otsego Ace, Chelsea Outpace D2 Field
November 3, 2018
Second Half reports
BROOKLYN — When Alex Comerford of Otsego decided it was go time, the race was over.
Nobody else in the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Final field could muster a response to Comerford’s 4:49.11 second-mile surge, one which turned a close race at the mile into a 2.1-mile victory lap for the champion.
Comerford made all-state for the fourth time, but for the first time as the winner, when he crossed the line Saturday at Michigan International Speedway in 15:23.6.
East Grand Rapids junior Evan Bishop was second in 15:35.2.
“It’s awesome,” Comerford said. “I couldn’t ask for any better people to do it with. All of my teammates, we’ve come so far this year from where we started. We have so many young guys.”
Comerford is the only senior on an Otsego team that finished fifth. Two freshmen and a sophomore scored for the Bulldogs.
At the mile mark, Comerford and James Gedris of Grosse Ile came through together in 4:51, five seconds up on the chase pack. It was time for a gear shift.
“I don’t always have the last half mile the other guys do,” Comerford said. “I really had to make a hard move with two miles to go. I felt like I could sustain that pace for a long time. I’m happy with the way it turned out.”
Comerford won 12 out of 13 races this fall, finishing fourth in the Spartan Elite race on Sept. 14. He finished behind Division 1 champion Nick Foster of Ann Arbor Pioneer, Division 4 champion Corey Gorgas of Saugatuck and Gedris.
In his career, Comerford finished 13th, ninth, second and first at the Division 2 meet.
Bishop was thrilled with his finish after placing 61st in Division 1 last year and 22nd in Division 2 as a freshman.
“Going into the race, I was expecting maybe best-case scenario third place today, because Gedris is very good from Grosse Ile, and Alex obviously,” Bishop said. “Those two have always had a decent size gap on me. In the second mile, I saw Gedris coming back to me. Alex was out of the picture, at that point. Gedris was kind of coming back. I was like, “I can get him.’ I put in a little tempo there over the middle mile and used that momentum to the finish.”
A year after winning its first MHSAA Finals championship, Chelsea repeated with 121 points. Fremont was second with 134.
The Bulldogs put together two distinct packs to pull out the victory. Senior Carson Rabbitt (11th, 16:15.8), senior Foster Thorburn (12th, 16:17.0) and junior Will Scott (14th, 16:18.4) finished within 2.6 seconds of each other in the first group. Juniors Zander Hartsuff (56th, 16:55.0) and Joseph Norwood (65th, 16:58.3) were 3.3 seconds apart to complete Chelsea’s scoring.
PHOTOS: (Top) Otsego’s Alex Comerford (325), Grosse Ile’s James Gedris (285) and Corunna’s Ben Jacobs (227) lead a pack of runners during an early stretch of Saturday’s Division 2 Final. (Middle) Chelsea’s Carson Rabbitt sprints to lead team champ Chelsea’s finishers. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)