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.)
Potter's House's Osterink, Hillsdale Academy Earn 1st Finals Wins
November 6, 2021
BROOKLYN — Lezawe Osterink’s arrival among the state’s elite was deferred for a year.
He was ready to make a run at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 cross country championship in 2020, but was unable to run at Regionals after breaking his collarbone on a training run.
Who says cross country isn’t a contact sport?
The junior from Wyoming Potter’s House showed up Saturday at Michigan International Speedway as a different runner than the one who had a respectable 55th place as a freshman in 2019.
Osterink completed an undefeated season by winning the Division 4 race in 15:50.60. He won by 23.76 seconds ahead of Concord senior Jonathan Mikovits.
Last year, Osterink was on track to get to MIS when he won the Pre-Regional meet.
“I broke my collarbone before Regionals, then I got COVID,” he said. “That was kind of a big disappointment. I couldn’t run at all. We were going to try to push it and try to win state that year.”
Osterink won all 13 races in which he competed this fall, giving him a 14-race winning streak going back to last season.
After racing at MIS as a freshman, he began to dream about becoming a Finals champion.
“I didn’t know if it would become realistic,” Osterink said. “I put in a lot of work. Our coach knows what he’s doing. I had good teammates to train with. That’s what I would say got me here.”
Osterink reached the mile mark in 5:03.3, giving him a 4.6-second cushion over Mikovits. The lead increased to 7.6 seconds when Osterink hit a two-mile split of 10:10.1.
“I could feel myself running away,” he said. “I was surprised. They went out good. They stuck with me for a while. I was scared of the guy behind me. I didn’t look back, but people who were there said he was close, so I had to keep hammering the whole time.”
In the team competition, Hillsdale Academy grouped its second through fifth runners only 13 seconds apart to win with a score of 154 points.
Senior Emil Schlueter gave Hillsdale Academy a low stick with his eighth-place finish in 16:49.75, good for sixth among team runners. Two eighth-graders scored for the Colts: Cole Bates (64th, 17:56.70) and Grayson Rorick (72nd, 18:02.22). Also scoring were sophomore Thomas Holm (51st, 17:49.17) and freshman Vincent Reagle (69th, 17:59.71).
It was the first MHSAA team championship for the Colts, whose best finishes were 10th-place showings in 2010 and 2018.
Concord had three runners in the top 22, but had to count runners who were 75th and 159th overall.
PHOTOS Potter’s House’s Lezawe Osterink approaches the finish of the Division 4 Final at Michigan International Speedway. (Middle) Hillsdale Academy’s Thomas Holm (844) and Adrian Lenawee Christian’s Grant Long (764) push down the final stretch. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)