2025 Runners-Up Become 2026 Champions in Girls Division 4 Final
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 7, 2026
BROOKLYN – Runner-up redemption was the theme of the Lower Peninsula Division 4 Girls Cross Country Final.
Hillsdale Academy and Gobles senior Libby Smith, who finished as runners-up in the team and individual standings a year ago, got over the hump Saturday at Michigan International Speedway to bring home the first titles in their program’s histories.
Smith was dominant in the individual race, leading throughout on her way to a winning margin of nearly 18 seconds. She finished in 18 minutes, 18.9 seconds, with Martin’s Veyda Conley finishing second at 18:36.8. Two-time defending champion Kaylie Livingston was third at 18:53.2.
“I felt really ready,” Smith said. “Sometimes I feel really nervous, and I was nervous, but it’s good to have nerves going into a race. I felt really confident. I knew that I just had to believe in myself and I did, and it showed.”
Smith was just six seconds behind Livingston a year ago, and had finished third as a sophomore and seventh as a freshman.
Having been so close in past years served as motivation this time, but her biggest regret from a year ago was missing some of her teammates finish while giving an interview. This year, she made sure to see every Gobles runner cross the line, including Ava DeYoung and Lauren Shaffer who finished seventh and 10th.
“Oh my gosh, we kept talking about it, that we’re all seniors and we can all go top 10,” Smith said. “I was so happy when I saw Lauren and Ava. I knew they could do it – they just had to know it, too, and they did.”
Hillsdale Academy won the team race with 117 points, well ahead of Onekama and three-time defending champion Whitmore Lake who each scored 169. (Onekama finished second based on the sixth-runner tie-breaker.)
The Colts clinched despite having just one runner, Evelyn Meyer, finish among the top 30 individuals and earn all-state.
“The mile and a half, I was confident – I felt good about where we were at,” Hillsdale Academy coach Michael Nikkila said. “I felt good about where we were, the girls all looked good and they were moving forward. At the 2-mile, everything had just gotten better. At that point, it was just, if we finish we’re going to get in. At that point, it was just can we get anyone else in the top 30. We’re not that team, we’re between 38 and 50. We weren’t a bunch of all-staters today, but we were a state championship team.”
Meyer finished eighth overall (sixth among competitors in the team race) with a time of 19:25. The next four Colts all finished within six places of one another.
Eliza Roberts was 38th (25th among team racers) at 20:33.2, Moira Beier was 40th (27th) at 20:35.2, Norah Tracy was 42nd (29th) at 20:34.4 and Heather Morris rounded out the scoring in 44th (30th) at 20:58.7.
Runners six and seven didn’t score but weren’t far behind, as Maren Gehrke was 51st in 20:58.7, and Lorelei Stemme was 78th in 21:20.6.
PHOTOS (Top) Gobles Libby Smith pushes toward the finish of the Division 4 girls race Saturday at MIS. (Middle) Hillsdale Academy’s Evelyn Meyer (1420) races through the final stretch. (Click for more from Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)
White Pigeon's West Finds Multi-Success
By
Wes Morgan
Special for MHSAA.com
September 5, 2017
Before most high school students have blistered their fingertips on a hot Pop-Tart in a rush to get out the door and to school on time, White Pigeon sophomore Claycee West has already completed a rigorous cross country workout.
It’s not for love of the sport that West logs miles at 5:10 a.m. with longtime Chiefs coach Pete Mestelle. She doesn’t even like the sport. But with volleyball also demanding her precious time, the two-sport fall athlete gets in her workouts whenever she can. And in this case, it’s before the sun comes up.
When that doesn’t work with her packed schedule, she’ll squeeze in a run when the nets and the sun start to come down.
West, who had a phenomenal freshman year, which included a scholar-athlete award on top of three varsity letters and a trio of Berrien-Cass-St. Joseph Conference all-league team nods in volleyball, basketball and track & field, made the mature decision to tack on another athletic endeavor in order to see improvement in all the others.
“It’s just keeping me in shape,” said West, who also participates in club volleyball and basketball during the offseasons. “(Mestelle) really got me in shape for track season and he has put a lot of work into me. I couldn’t do anything without him. He’s helping me tremendously.”
It works both ways. Mestelle’s girls cross country teams in recent years have struggled to put enough runners on the course to register team scores. This year, though, the Division 4 Chiefs have more than 10 girls on the roster. West, with no long distance running experience, is already vying for the top spot.
She may not reap the same rewards right away as she did in her other sports, but West’s competitive nature won’t allow her to be just a participant.
“She is probably going to be our No. 1 or No. 2 runner,” Mestelle said. “It’s going to help her with her mind. It’s not just running; you have to think about what you’re doing. Her form has really come a long ways.”
West is grateful to Mestelle for making himself available so early in the morning and the commitment required to make playing two sports at once possible.
Mestelle made light of his pre-dawn pledge.
“It helps keep me young,” he said.
West is a middle and outside hitter for the volleyball team, she’s the returning point guard and leading scorer for the basketball team and she qualified for the 2017 Lower Peninsula Division 4 MHSAA Track & Field Finals in both the 200 and 400 meters last spring. Her time of 1 minute, 00.89 seconds in the 400 was good for seventh place and all-state status.
In hoops, West scored 236 points as a rookie with 43 assists, 58 steals, 14 blocks and 89 rebounds.
But cross country is an entirely new challenge.
“I love to win, and I’m very competitive,” West said. “Honestly, at first (in cross country) I wasn’t trying to win. We had our first meet last week and I did OK. It killed me to see how I did compared to how I perform in other sports. I think that will change because I want to win. It’s hard for me because I dislike running, so it’s a mental challenge more than anything.”
It may sound contradictory, but West claims the demanding schedule keeps her fresh mentally and physically.
“I think the biggest thing is that I don’t wear myself out,” she said. “I love what I do, but if I do one thing for way too long, I’m going to get tired of it. I love so many different things that it’s easy for me to change it up. It works out my body differently. I don’t overwork myself just in one area.”
In a time when the topic of sports specialization in high school is heavily debated, West is a case study in how a multi-sport experience has far more benefits than that of a one-track approach. And for a small school such as White Pigeon, that attitude is vital to fielding competitive squads.
“So driven,” White Pigeon girls basketball coach Brooke McClure said of West. “She works really hard. Anything you want in a kid, a student-athlete, she’s it. She’s been like this since she was a little girl. We’re really fortunate to have her. She inspires other girls to do better in school and in sports.”
Wes Morgan has reported for the Kalamazoo Gazette, ESPN and ESPNChicago.com, 247Sports and Blue & Gold Illustrated over the last 12 years and is the publisher of JoeInsider.com. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Berrien, Cass, St. Joseph and Branch counties.
PHOTOS: White Pigeon's Claycee West awaits a serve during a volleyball match. (Middle) West works to get around a defender during last basketball season. (Photos courtesy of Wes Morgan.)