Preview: Northville, Trio of Reigning Individual Winners Set to Chase Championships Again
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
November 6, 2026
One of the most notable winning streaks in MHSAA boys cross country history will be on the line – and could become even more extraordinary – Saturday at Michigan International Speedway.
Northville has won four straight Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals championships, and a fifth in a row this weekend would tie the Mustangs for the longest Finals winning streak in Lower Peninsula history. The Mustangs are attempting to catch Dexter (2002-06) and Charlevoix (1987-91) for that honor.
Three of last season’s four individual champions – Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Kamari Ronfeldt, Whitehall’s Robert Jazwinski and Charlevoix’s Hunter Eaton – also are headed back to Brooklyn seeking to repeat.
See below for several more team and individual contenders. The "season bests" list referred to frequently is a ranking of every runner's best time this season, maintained by Athletic.net. The first boys race, in Division 4, begins at 9:30 a.m.; click here for the full schedule and ticket information.
Additionally, all eight races Saturday at MIS will be streamed live and viewable with subscription on the NFHS Network: Divisions 1 & 2 | Divisions 3 & 4.
Division 1
Reigning champion: Northville
2025 runner-up: Ann Arbor Pioneer
Top-ranked: 1. Brighton, 2. Ann Arbor Skyline, 3. Traverse City West.
Northville is ranked No. 5, and Brighton will run as the favorite to break the Mustangs’ streak and is the last team not Northville to win Division 1, doing so in 2021. The Bulldogs return five of their runners from last season’s fourth-place finisher. Skyline is running for its first Finals championship and is expected to make a major jump from 16th a year ago with four runners back from that team. Traverse City West also is seeking to become a first-time champion and brings back four runners from last year’s 11th-place performance. Titans senior Liam Wierzba has the fastest time this season from those three teams, a 15:04.5 to rank 13th on the Division 1 top times list, just ahead of Northville senior – and last season’s individual runner-up – Brandon Cloud (15:06) at 14th, Skyline junior Roman Stilwell (15:20.6) ranking 18th and Brighton sophomore Grant Kulesza (15:25.2) listed 23rd.
Individuals: Three juniors were the first three to cross the finish last season, and four juniors total placed among the top six – and all four will run again this weekend. Ann Arbor Pioneer senior Kamari Ronfeldt is the reigning champion and has the second-fastest top time in Division 1 this season at 14:44.3, just behind the 14:43 of Grandville senior Caden Livermore – last year’s third-place finisher. Northville’s Cloud placed second in 2025 and is noted above, and Howell senior Jack MacGregor placed sixth last fall for the second-straight season and has the sixth-fastest top time this year at 14:58.3. Macomb L’Anse Creuse North junior Xavier Solgot was 11th last season and ranks fifth (14:55) on this year’s top times list, with Grand Haven senior Luka Hammond third this season (14:50.1) and sophomore teammate Archer VerHage fourth (14:51.8). Hammond was 14th at MIS last year and fifth as a sophomore. Fenton junior Gavin Katic finished fourth in Division 2 last season and enters the Division 1 race tied for the ninth-fastest top time in this field.
Division 2
Reigning champion: Flint Powers Catholic
2025 runner-up: East Grand Rapids
Top-ranked: 1. Holland Christian, 2. Pinckney, 3. East Grand Rapids
As in Division 1, the reigning champion enters ranked No. 5 this time and certainly still in the mix. Holland Christian is looking to make a jump from sixth last year to win its first championship and returns four runners from a year ago with sophomore Grant Lampen (16th) and freshman Drew Franken (20th) on the Division 2 top-times list. Pinckney has two among the top 18 – seniors Cole McCraw (fourth, 15:22.2) and Lincoln Reed (18th) – as it looks to jump from 10th last season while returning five runners. East Grand Rapids returns only three runners after finishing second last season, eight points off the lead, but among them are junior Micah Becker – who placed seventh individually. He ranks ninth on the top times list (15:32.7), and senior teammate Thomas Fisher ranks 21st.
Individuals: Whitehall senior Robert Jazwinski won last season’s championship by five seconds and will attempt to repeat with the top time in the state this season in any division by 20 seconds at 14:23 – which is also nearly 44 seconds faster than anyone else in the Division 2 field this fall. Flint Powers junior Lennox Naswell is the next-highest returning placer after coming in fifth a year ago, and he has the second-fastest top time in Division 2 at 15:06.6. Alma senior Ezekiel Baltierra (sixth), Becker (seventh) and Grand Rapids Catholic Central senior Mitchell Dunlap (eighth) also are back from the 2025 top 10, Baltierra ranking third on the top times list (15:08.6) and Dunlap seventh (15:29.2).
Division 3
Reigning champion: Charlevoix
2025 runner-up: Lansing Catholic
Top-ranked: 1. Hart, 2. Hanover-Horton, 3. Charlevoix.
Charlevoix’s first championship last season since 1991 was among the stories of the day at MIS, and the Rayders will turn to five returning runners led by reigning individual champion Hunter Eaton, now a senior, and 10th-place finisher Ryder Hopkins, also a senior. Hart was 10th last season but without a senior, and five of those runners are back as well. Hanover-Horton has two runners among the top 19 on the Division 3 top times list, seniors Cooper Flick (sixth) and Chad Tyson (19th) and six runners back total from last year’s 13th-place finisher. Hart last won Division 3 in 2022, and Hanover-Horton most recently claimed the title in 2019.
Individuals: Only four seniors finished among the top 17 last season, and Eaton leads a large group of returning runners after claiming last year’s title by three seconds. He ranks eighth on the fastest times list this fall at 15:30.9, with Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest junior Nole Lorenzen setting the pace at 15:10.3 after finishing fifth at last year’s Final. Hillsdale senior Logan Youngman finished fourth a year ago and is second on the top times list at 15:18.3, and Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central junior Christian Craanen placed third last year and has the third-fastest top time this fall at 15:21.3. Caro senior Luke Herron (sixth), Holland Black River senior Jonas Ballard (seventh), Bath junior Owen Poppema (eighth), Saugatuck senior Marcus Silva (ninth) and Hopkins also are back from the top 10, and Jonesville senior Caleb Blonde also could be in the mix ranking fourth on the top times list (15:27.1) coming off a 17th-place finish a year ago.
Division 4
Reigning champion: Holland Calvary Christian
2025 runner-up: Maple City Glen Lake
Top-ranked: 1. Holland Calvary Christian, 2. Breckenridge, 3. Hillsdale Academy.
Calvary returns its top five runners and six total from last year’s program-first championship team, with seniors Noah Schipper (15:39) and Christian Getz (15:39.6) ranking third and fourth, respectively, on the Division 4 top times list and six runners total among the top 23. Getz was eighth and Schipper 18th at last year’s Final. Breckenridge last won in 2019 and placed eighth last season with four freshmen and three juniors; the Huskies return their top five with senior Anthony Rowe 14th individually last season and entering this weekend with the top time in Division 4 this fall at 15:33.2. Hillsdale Academy is seeking to move back into the top spot after finishing third last season but winning Division 4 three times over the last six seasons. Three runners are back from the 2025 lineup, and sophomore Stephen Holm ranks 14th on the top times list.
Individuals: Getz was one of only two non-seniors to finish among the top 10 last fall, and he’s the only one back this weekend. Wyoming Tri-unity Christian junior Lincoln Laansma placed 20th last season and ranks second on the top times list this year at 15:35.8, and Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart senior Brady Edwards ranks fifth (15:41.7) after placing 11th last season. Mesick senior Kyle Redman finished 13th as a sophomore and 12th last fall, and could make a move as well entering 10th on the top times list.
PHOTOS (Top) Charlevoix’s Hunter Eaton pulls away from the field during his team’s Division 3 Regional championship run last week at Mancelona. (Middle) Several runners including those from East Grand Rapids break from the starting line during the Oct. 21 Ottawa-Kent Conference White championship race. (Top photo by kishba media. Middle photo by Michigan Sports Media.)
Finals Aspirations Drive Experienced Laker Cross Country Teams as 2025 Chase Begins
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
August 21, 2025
When Aubrey Zarnke started running cross country nine years ago in the Elkton Pigeon Bay Port Laker elementary program, she wasn’t thinking about being part of a varsity turnaround.
In fact, it wasn’t something she thought was possible until the end of her sophomore season, two years ago.
“It was a lot different (when I started), the team was a lot smaller, but I just kind of joined and I stayed with it,” Zarnke said. “It kept growing and got so much more fun. I would say when our boys varsity team won the league championship (in 2023), that was a really big thing. Then it kept getting bigger, and records kept getting broken.”
Now a senior, Zarnke is part of a cross country renaissance at Laker, with both boys and girls teams coming off Big Thumb Conference titles and having their eyes on a trip to the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals on Nov. 1 at Michigan International Speedway. The boys advanced as a team a year ago for the first time since 1994, while the girls are looking for their first trip.
“I feel like it’s a lot better than if only one was doing it,” Zarnke said. “It’s almost like we’re lighting a fire in each other and pushing even more to be better.”
Mike Klosowski, a 1999 Laker graduate and former runner at the school, took over the program in 2009. At that point, he said, getting enough kids to score as a team was hard.
He got to work building elementary and middle school programs, and it’s paying dividends – not only in quality, but quantity.
Now, the boys are carrying nine runners, and the girls have 11.
“This has been a lot of fun,” Klosowski said. “I’ve taken some of the stuff I did and that my coaches taught me when I was in cross country, and now we’re doing that same thing in the same locations, same spots. That’s kind of fun.”
As this current group was coming up through his program, Klosowski could see the potential.
“When a lot of this core group was in middle school, they had some great success, so I thought they could be very good if they could stay together and keep working hard,” Klosowski said. “A lot of it is their offseason willingness to put time in and work. But also the fact they’re just a real tight group. They get along real well, work well together, push each other and keep each other on track. They’re like a big family, and it’s great to see that.”
This year’s Laker teams look a lot like last year’s teams, as both bring back the majority of their runners.
For the boys, six of the seven runners who competed at the MHSAA Finals are returning, including junior Evan Olson, who holds the school record at 16 minutes, 16.2 seconds. Olson finished two places from earning all-state a year ago.
Sophomore Kale Miklovic, juniors Henry Haag and Noah Mantey, and seniors Achilles Jackson and Jeffrey Ignash also return from the Finals-qualifying team.
Miklovic and Olson both won their first race of the year, as the Lakers ran at the Hemlock Huskie Classic, which runs a freshmen/sophomore race and a junior/senior race.
Two other freshmen – Walter Haag and Jonah Mantey – also placed among the top seven, adding more strength to an already established team.
Also in that boat is junior Noah Young, who had not run since middle school.
On the girls size, Zarnke is one of two runners who qualified for the Finals last year as an individual, as she was joined in Brooklyn by junior Pyper Braun.
The Lakers were two points away from tying for third place in last year’s Regional, and all six runners who competed that day have returned, also including sophomores Lydia Popp and Julia Shupe, junior Olivia Hooper and senior Payton Scott.
Hooper is also a returning Finals qualifier, having raced at MIS as a freshman. She’s healthy now after being slowed by injuries a year ago.
That core, plus the motivation of getting so close a year ago, has the Laker girls fired up to make that first run to the Finals.
“It would be crazy,” Zarnke said. “We’ve already got so much support from the community just with us growing. But that would be amazing. I don’t even know how to describe it.”
Laker was scheduled to run today at the Birch Run Early Invitational, a meet that features some of the top schools in the state in all divisions.
Among them are teams Laker would be competing with at the Regional this year, like Ithaca and St. Louis.
“We had a good talk on Monday, reflecting back on the (Hemlock) meet on Friday and how it was our first meet,” Klosowski said. “This week at Birch Run, there are a lot of schools we’ll see at Regionals, and we talked about how we want to set the tone early, and put our mark and our stamp on things. Show everyone that we’re the real deal.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker’s Aubrey Zarnke (2027) races toward the finish during last season’s MHSAA Finals at MIS. (Middle) Evan Olson (840) works to outpace a pair of runners during the closing stretch of his Finals race. (Photos by RunMichigan.com.)