Central Montcalm's Hoffman Pulls Away, Lansing Catholic Claims Close Race
November 2, 2024
BROOKLYN — Kyah Hoffman was winning cross country races for the first four weeks of the season, but wasn’t satisfied with her performances.
As much as coaches stress that it’s place, not time, that matters in cross country, kids are still motivated by lowering their personal records.
Through six meets, Hoffman won five times — taking sixth in the Spartan Elite race against mostly Division 1 runners — but her times were nowhere near where she finished her junior year at Central Montcalm.
Her breakthrough moment came Sept. 28 in Shepherd where she took third against another loaded field in 17 minutes, 40.4 seconds, shaving 0.4 seconds off her fastest time from last season.
Hoffman’s confidence was restored.
She would break 18 minutes four more times this season, the last being a 17:31.6 performance which was good for first place in the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 Final on Saturday at Michigan International Speedway.
Hoffman won 11 of 13 races this season, her fastest time being 17:25.3 on Oct. 19 in the Northern Michigan Meet of Champions.
“It’s been ups and downs,” Hoffman said. “At first, I was super scared because I was like, ‘I haven’t PR’d. I’ve barely reached the 17s. I don’t know if I’m going to PR this year.’ I was so nervous until I ran at Shepherd and broke my record by .4, which is better than nothing, for sure.
“At Cadillac, I bumped that all the way down to 17:25. I was like, ‘Oh, wow, I am improving. It’s not just a fluke. I’m doing well.’ I knew I could do it. I just had to tell myself I could do it and it was going to happen.”
Hoffman made it happen by putting in a surge in the second mile after her and Emmry Ross of Onsted reached the mile mark in 5:38.8. At the two-mile mark, Hoffman’s lead increased to 9.1 seconds over Ross.
From there, it was just a matter of holding it together over the final 1.1 miles. Hoffman wouldn’t let herself feel comfortable, even if spectators near the finish could see she had a large lead.
“To be honest, I thought there was someone behind me the whole time,” said Hoffman, a four-time all-stater who was third in Division 3 last year. “I was like, ‘I didn’t go this far just to get second.’ I wanted it really badly, so after I passed her at the mile I had to get a gap.
“I can always hear someone being like, ‘Woo, woo! Go so-and-so!’ But they could be a couple ways away from me or they could be screaming early because they see them coming. It’s just a mystery. Somebody at the very end said, ‘You have 60 meters.’ I knew I’ve got this. I might as well just keep dying.”
The team race was about as close as it gets, with four teams in the hunt heading into the final mile.
Only 23 points separated the top four, with Lansing Catholic emerging from the fray with its second Finals championship by a 136-147 margin over Pewamo-Westphalia. The Cougars were Division 2 champions in 2017.
Central Montcalm was third with 157 points, and Traverse City St. Francis was fourth with 159.
Lansing Catholic became champion after a seventh-place finish last year, despite graduating sixth-place individual Tessa Roe. The Cougars returned four runners from that team and benefited from an infusion of three freshmen who made the varsity lineup.
One of those ninth-graders, Josie Bishop, led the Cougars by placing 20th in 19:01.8. She was the team’s only all-state finisher, but Lansing Catholic got its five scoring runners across the line among the first 38 places in the team race and first 60 overall.
Sophomore Grace Wonch was 32nd in 19:21.0, missing all-state by two places. Junior Frances Melinn was 42nd in 19:43.6, freshman Isabelle Currie 58th in 20:05.3 and sophomore Avery Miller 60th in 20:10.5.
Pewamo-Westphalia had an 11th-place finisher in senior Whitney Werner (18:17.3) and 14th-place finisher in sophomore Alyssa Kramer (18:39.3), but Lansing Catholic had five runners across before the Pirates had four.
PHOTOS (Top) Central Montcalm’s Kyah Hoffman finishes her Division 3 championship run Saturday at Michigan International Speedway. (Middle) Lansing Catholic holds up its team title trophy. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com; top photo by Dave McCauley and team photo by Carter Sherline.)
Dudek Obliterates 'Unbreakable' Record to lead Pioneer to Division 1 Sweep
November 1, 2025
BROOKLYN, Mich. — When Rachel Forsyth of Ann Arbor Pioneer scorched the Michigan International Speedway cross country course in 16 minutes, 28.5 seconds in 2023, it looked like a record that would stand the test of time.
After all, it eclipsed the previous record by a whopping 23.6 seconds.
As it turns out, Forsyth’s seemingly unbreakable record stood for only two years.
Another Pioneer running prodigy, Natasza Dudek, gave spectators Saturday at MIS an awe-inspiring display of greatness by lowering the record to 16:09.5 to win the MHSAA Division 1 Finals championship.
That record might not last long either because Dudek is only a sophomore with two more chances to break the elusive 16-minute barrier.
“It really is an honor,” Dudek said. “I’m blessed to be out here healthy and able to run this fast. (Forsyth is) a former athlete here at Pioneer High School. I’m really proud of her record, as well. I’m really happy I could run this fast time out here.”
Forsyth is someone Dudek looks to for advice, but she isn’t the only mentor in her life. Dudek’s sister, Zofia, was the 2019 Division 1 champion.
“Rachel’s very sweet, very fast,” Dudek said. “I look up to her a lot. She sometimes comes out to our practices, gives us some tips. She’s a great person.
“Zofia is always out there for me. She’s always supporting me, always calling me, texting me, telling me no matter what happens, everything’s OK and she’s proud of me.”
Dudek’s time was not only an MIS record, but the fastest time in the country this season. Junior Sophia Rodriguez of Mercer Island in Washington has run 16:10.0.
By the mile mark, Dudek held a 16.5-second lead with her split of 5:09.6. She hit the two-mile mark in 10:28.8, extending her lead to 31.6 seconds. She wound up well ahead of Okemos sophomore Rachel Smith, who ran an outstanding time of 17:04.7 that would’ve been the 10th-fastest in MIS history coming into the meet.
Dudek has gotten used to producing eye-popping times while running solo up front. She had only one close race all season, winning by 8.2 seconds over Saturday’s Division 2 champion Emma Hoffman of Otsego in the Spartan Invitational Elite race.
“Everybody out here, the atmosphere, they push me so much,” Dudek said. “In my head, I’m always just motivating myself to really step it up, every mile, every 100 meters in the race. I always think of my teammates, how they’re doing, how they’re giving it their all, so I really want to keep up with that.”
Her teammates are pretty fast in their own right, fast enough to win the Pioneers’ seventh MHSAA Finals championship and first since 2021.
The battle for the team championship was much closer, with Pioneer scoring 96 points to beat two-time defending champion Romeo by seven.
The Pioneers had four runners break 18 minutes. Following Dudek across the line were Sienna Klemmer (eighth, 17:38.8), Hana Boggess (13th, 17:56.9) and Keira Von Blon (14th, 17:57.2). Lizzie Wernimont took 90th overall in 19:04.2 to complete the Pioneers’ score.
Romeo put three runners in the top 10, with Annie Hrabovsky taking third in 17:22.1, Ella Goodsell sixth in 17:29.3 and Natalia Guaresimo 10th in 17:47.6.
PHOTOS (Top) Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Natasza Dudek approaches the finish line Saturday as she completes the fastest race in MHSAA Finals history. (Middle) The Pioneers’ Hana Boggess (9) and Keira Von Blon (14) run with a one of the fastest packs during the Division 1 race. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)