UP Girls Finals Stacked with Champions
October 23, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
All three individual champions from 2014 will run at Saturday’s MHSAA Upper Peninsula Cross Country Finals, sponsored by Michigan National Guard, and two team champions from last season are favored to repeat.
Marquette in Division 1 and Chassell in Division 3 are ranked No. 1 in the final coaches association Upper Peninsula polls after also winning last season. But this time, Marquette will have to compete as well with Ishpeming Westwood, which moved up from Division 2 and features the reigning individual champion from that race. And Chassell won’t get the push from last season’s runner-up St. Ignace, which moved up into Division 2.
Here's a look at some of the teams and individuals expected to contend in all three races at Beauchamp Grove in Gladstone. Click for Saturday's race schedule and a list of all qualifiers.
DIVISION 1
Reigning champion: Marquette
2014 runner-up: Sault Ste. Marie
2015 top three: 1. Marquette, 2. Sault Ste. Marie, 3. Negaunee.
The Redettes are running for their third straight championship and fourth in five seasons with a lineup led by Michigan State University recruit Lindsey Rudden. She’s seeking her first cross country championship to go with five MHSAA Finals records in track and field, and finished runner-up as a sophomore. Even with Rudden missing a flag and finishing well back in 2014, Marquette still placed five among the top 10 – including runner-up Amber Huebner and eighth-place Becci McNamee, both juniors – while senior Holly Blowers has the second-fastest time in UPD1 this season. Three of Sault Ste. Marie’s top six from last season’s runner-up finish also are back, led by fourth-place junior Courtney Arbic and fifth-place sophomore Mackenzie Kalchik. Negaunee sophomore Clara Johnson finished sixth last season as her team came in ninth; the Miners are expected to follow her up the standings.
Individuals: Eight of the top 15 from last season will run again Saturday, led by reigning champion Leigha Woelfer of Gladstone, a junior. She finished fifth at the Great Northern Conference meet behind four Marquette runners. Calumet seniors Alexa Anderson and Leah Kiilunen also should be in the hunt again after finishing 13th and 12th, respectively, in 2014. There will be another reigning champion in the field as well – Ishpeming Westwood senior Kathryn Etelamaki finished first in Division 2 last year but her team is in Division 1 this weekend. She’ll be joined by teammate Amber Gransinger, also a senior, who was 15th in Division 2 in 2014.
DIVISION 2
Reigning champion: Ishpeming
2014 runner-up: Hancock
2015 top three: 1. Gogebic, 2. Ishpeming, 3. Hancock.
Only four full teams ran in the Division 2 Final last season, and one of them wasn’t the Bessemer/Wakefield-Marenisco co-op commonly known in the U.P. as Gogebic – those schools ran solo in Division 3. However, the top finishers from both schools are back for the new team this fall, 10th-place junior Lily Wieringa and 30th-place sophomore Melissa Wanink. They hope to finish ahead of an Ishpeming team that brings back its top five from last season – third-place junior Khora Swanson, fourth-place sophomore Kayla Kaukola, sixth-place sophomore Desirae Fernandes, eighth-place sophomore Chloe Sjoholm and 11th-place sophomore Mariah Bertucci. Hancock senior Madisyn Wright finished fifth last season, and senior Ashley Aho was 12th as the team attempted to defend its 2013 title.
Individuals: In addition to the numerous Ishpeming and Hancock runners back from last season’s top 15, senior Kyra Johnson finished fourth for Norway and is the highest returning finisher to this division. Junior Callie Kammers and sophomore Mia Singleton were 12th and 15th last season in Division 3 for St. Ignace, which was team runner-up in that race.
DIVISION 3
Reigning champion: Chassell
2014 runner-up: St. Ignace
2015 top three: 1. Chassell, 2. Dollar Bay, 3. Munising.
Reigning champion Chassell is the favorite with all six runners from last season’s team back in the lineup, including three who finished back-to-back-to-back among the top 10 – fifth-place freshman Lela Rautiola, sixth-place senior Shitaye Sam and seventh-place senior Shumete Sam. Junior Cami and senior Carli Daavettila are back for Dollar Bay after finishing eighth and 14th, respectively, last season as the team placed third behind St. Ignace, now in Division 2. Munising was seventh in 2014, but sophomore Alyssa Webber was individual runner-up and leads a team made up almost entirely of underclassmen.
Individuals: Three of the top five from last season are back, led by champion Natalie Beaulieu of Newberry, now a senior, and third-place junior Emma Bohn of Cedarville. Rounding out the total of 10 top-15 finishers returning are ninth-place senior Bridget Stoetzer, also of Newberry, and 13th-place Caitlyn Havelka, a senior at Stephenson.
PHOTO: A pack of Ishpeming runners, plus Norway’s Kyra Johnson (white long-sleeve shirt) emerge from the start during last season’s U.P. Division 2 Final.
Schroeder Surges To Front Near Finish, Lansing Catholic Pulls Away in Repeat
November 1, 2025
BROOKLYN, Mich. — Jackson Lumen Christi junior Samantha Schroeder never lost confidence, even as the gap began to seem insurmountable between her and the fastest girl in Division 3 cross country this season.
Schroeder was in fourth place at the mile and two-mile marks during the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 Final, trailing leader Hailey Creisher of Leslie by 8.8 seconds at the first split and 9.2 at the second at Michigan International Speedway.
She would not only have to make up a sizeable amount of distance to win the championship, but she would have to pass three runners in the process.
“I visualize a lot of things,” Schroeder said. “At the beginning, before the gun went off, I visualized her being a good amount in front of me and being able to catch her.”
With time nearly running out, Schroeder unleashed a furious kick to win the race with a time of 18 minutes, 7.0 seconds. Creisher finished second in 18:11.2.
Schroeder ran the third mile in 5:46.7 and the final tenth in 30.7 seconds. Creisher was 5:54.9 for the third mile and 35.9 for the last tenth.
“It was really exciting, because I really like having competition,” Schroeder said. “It pushes me to do things I never thought I could do. I don’t think I would be able to get that much of a kick if I was by myself.
“I had no clue if I was going to catch her or not, because she was still a good distance in front. My confidence was pretty good, though.”
Creisher came into the meet with the fastest time in Division 3, having run 17:51.9 on Oct. 11 at the Greater Lansing Cross Country Championships. She won 14 of 16 races coming into the Finals, including a showdown with Schroeder at the Jackson Invitational on Sept. 20.
Creisher won handily that day with a time of 18:10.0. Schroeder was second in 18:42.2.
Schroeder learned something about how to approach a race against Creisher from that meeting.
“She goes out in the beginning really fast and goes back into even pace,” Schroeder said.
The team competition wasn’t nearly as close. Lansing Catholic repeated as champion by 69 points to win by 110 over Pewamo-Westphalia.
The Cougars put four runners on the all-state (top 30) podium. Josie Bishop was sixth in 18:38.4, Grace Wonch seventh in 18:38.7, Anna Drauer 11th in 18:51.1 and Isabelle Currie 17th in 19:06.0. Frances Melinn was 42nd in 19:49.1 to complete Lansing Catholic’s score.
It was the third Finals championship for the Cougars, who also won in 2017.
Pewamo-Westphalia, which was second to Lansing Catholic by only 11 points last season, finished runner-up for the third time over the last four seasons and fourth time in 10 seasons.
The Pirates were led by fourth-place Alyssa Kramer, who finished in 18:27.5. The Cougars had all five scoring runners across the line before Pewamo-Westphalia had four finishers.
PHOTOS (Top) Jackson Lumen Christi’s Samantha Schroeder (866) pulls past Leslie’s Hailey Creisher during the closing stretch of Saturday’s Division 3 Final at Michigan International Speedway. (Middle) Lansing Catholic's Josie Bishop (874) and Grace Wonch (880) and Roscommon's Alaina Civinskas (1194) surge toward the finish line. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)