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.)
Ronfeldt Makes Most of Finals Return, Northville Makes History with 4th-Straight Title
November 1, 2025
BROOKLYN, Mich. — Kamari Ronfeldt of Ann Arbor Pioneer came to Michigan International Speedway last year with dreams of winning a championship and left after receiving medical attention on the course.
Ronfeldt was among the contenders to win the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals championship as a sophomore last season, having set a freshman record of 15:08.6 while placing fourth in 2023.
The race was going according to plan when he hit the mile with the lead pack in 4:51.6. But he experienced breathing issues after that and had to drop out before reaching the two-mile mark.
The 2025 season has been a redemption tour for Ronfeldt, who broke the school record for a tradition-rich program and ran the fastest time in Michigan this season by going 14:47.9 at the Jackson Invitational.
The coronation came Saturday when he won a kick to the finish just ahead of Northville junior Brandon Cloud, taking the championship with a time of 14 minutes, 50.6 seconds. It’s the fifth-fastest time ever at MIS.
“I’m just so happy I was able to push through today,” Ronfeldt said. “Last year I had a rough run. At two miles, I couldn’t breathe and dropped out. I took care of that, so I’m happy I won.
“It was kind of cold-induced asthma. I started taking inhalers before races now, and it seems to work pretty well.”
Ronfeldt and senior teammate Beckett Crooks are the first runners in Pioneer history to break 15 minutes. The previous school record of 15:03.1 was set by Nick Foster in 2018.
Crooks finished fourth Saturday in 14:59.0, making he and Ronfeldt the only teammates to break 15 minutes at MIS. The previous fastest duo was Rockford’s Jason Hartmann and Dathan Ritzenhein, who ran 14:51 and 15:11, respectively, in 1998. Ritzenhein went on to be a three-time Olympian, and Hartmann was a four-time U.S. Olympic Trials qualifier.
“I’m only here right now because of him,” Ronfeldt said of Crooks. “Every day the practices are just amazing. I couldn’t be more thankful for him.”
As for breaking Foster’s record, Ronfeldt said: “I have so much respect for him. He was a great runner, who ran for Michigan, a crazy miler. That’s my motivation for getting to where I am.”
It was expected that Crooks would be Ronfeldt’s greatest competition for the individual title, but it was Cloud who was neck-and-neck with him as the finish line approached. Cloud’s time of 14:52.8 shattered his personal best of 15:24.6, which he ran while winning the Regional meet.
“I did not think I was going to be anywhere near him in this race,” Cloud said. “I was like, ‘I’m here. I’m going to try to take it’ with 200 out. He had more than I did.”
Cloud came away with the championship he and his teammates have been pursuing all season, as Northville won a fourth consecutive Division 1 team title by a 125-134 margin over Pioneer.
The Mustangs are the first boys team to win four consecutive championships in the MHSAA’s largest classification since Kalamazoo Central won four in a row in the open division and Class A from 1925-28.
Only four other teams have won three championships in a row in Class A or Division 1.
Cloud and senior Ben Hartigan have been part of Northville’s last three championships. Hartigan came to MIS as an alternate but didn’t run as a freshman.
“Even in middle school, people see the success the program has,” Cloud said. “People come up and they’re like, ‘Oh, Northville’s good at cross country.’ It encourages people to get into cross country in middle school. They want to be part of a state championship, too.”
Northville offset Pioneer’s firepower up front with some star power of its own. Following Cloud across the line were Hartigan in eighth place (15:12.8), Ryan Stojov in 10th (15:17.6), Ethan Hertza in 61st (16:00.7) and Emmanuel Coates in 103rd (16:18.7).
PHOTOS (Top) Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Kamari Ronfeldt pulls away from Northville’s Brandon Cloud at the front of Saturday’s Division 1 championship race. (Middle) Northville’s Ben Hartigan (312) stays a pace ahead of Kalamazoo Loy Norrix’s Jackson Lam. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)