Maples Win First Title, Finn Wins Second
November 3, 2012
By Bill Khan
Special for Second Half
BROOKLYN — The level of competition made its first MHSAA cross country championship even sweeter for Birmingham Seaholm.
Seaholm, Grosse Pointe South and Saline took turns beating each other this season, setting up a three-way showdown for the Lower Peninsula Division 1 girls cross country title Saturday at Michigan International Speedway.
In the end, it wasn’t as close as expected. Even with a sub-par day by its No. 1 runner, top-ranked Seaholm won by a 69-88 margin over third-ranked Grosse Pointe South, the defending champion. No. 2-ranked Saline was third with 101.
Seaholm was fourth in Division 1 last year, its best finish before Saturday. The Maples had been in the top 10 only twice before posting top-nine finishes three of the last four years.
“It’s indescribable,” Seaholm coach Jeff Devantier said. “It’s fantastic. It’s just a lot of hard work that’s finally paid off.
“That’s what makes it even better, knowing the competition around you is as tough as it is. But that was our focus all year. We knew this team and this team — Saline and Grosse Pointe South — were the teams we had to compare ourselves to and had to continually improve to beat. It came together today.”
Seniors Aubrey and Tess Wilberding — two of three triplets — led Seaholm. Aubrey was fourth overall in 17:55.9, while Tess took 12th in 18:16.4.
Rounding out Seaholm’s scoring were freshman Marissa Dobry (15th, 18:23.9), sophomore Rachel Dadamio (20th, 18:27.9) and sophomore Audrey Belf (33rd, 18:32.8).
“The scary thing about this lineup is that we haven’t had the same girls finish in the same order all year,” Devantier said. “My top girl actually did not have the kind of day she wanted to. We wanted to have as many girls in the top 30 to 35 as we could.”
Individually, West Bloomfield senior Erin Finn repeated as champion with the fastest time in all four divisions, a personal-best 17:07.9. Grosse Pointe South senior Hannah Meier set a fast early pace before taking second in 17:34.5.
Finn’s time was the fourth-best ever in an MHSAA meet. She has three of the top 15 times ever run at MIS, more than any other runner.
“I’m definitely getting back there,” Finn said. “God has blessed me. I don’t think I ever prayed so much before a race.”
Less than a month ago, Finn wasn’t sure if she would be able to defend her championship, let alone run that fast.
She trained harder than ever over the summer, had a good race in the season opener, but then saw her times get slower and slower. Finn was eventually diagnosed with an iron deficiency, which she’s been able to correct primarily with supplements.
Once the problem was identified, Finn set her sights on being strong at the end of the season.
“I told myself the Spartan Invitational doesn’t matter, the Regional doesn’t matter as long as I qualify,” Finn said. “All that matters is state, regionals and nationals. Hey, I think I’m back for those. That’s all that counts.”
Meier, the MHSAA Finals record holder in the 800 and 1,600, held the lead until about one kilometer into the five-kilometer race.
“She just really bolted the first two miles,” Meier said of Finn. “I saw her slowing down the last mile. I wasn’t thinking about individually; I was thinking about team. I just wasn’t feeling it today. I think I could’ve done better but, oh, well.”
PHOTO: Birmingham Seaholm senior Aubrey Wilberding crosses the finish line first for her team, in 17:55.9, as the Maples went on to win the Division 1 team championship at MIS. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com).
Livingston Repeats, Whitmore Lake 3-Peats to Kickoff LP Cross Country Finals
November 1, 2025
BROOKLYN, Mich. — When asked about her own performance, Whitmore Lake junior Kaylie Livingston kept returning the subject to her team.
Livingston repeated as the Division 4 champion at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Cross Country Finals on Saturday with a time of 18 minutes, 30.7 seconds at Michigan International Speedway.
Of even more importance to Livingston was being part of a championship team at the Finals for the third year in a row.
The Trojans achieved the three-peat by scoring 140 points to finish ahead of runner-up Hillsdale Academy by 18. It was the sixth Finals championship for Whitmore Lake.
“My season’s gone really well,” Livingston said. “The girls as a whole have done really good. We had big wins at big invitationals.”
Livingston has been the front-runner leading the Trojans to all three titles. She took second as a freshman behind Buckley senior Aiden Harrand, who won with a Division 4 record of 17:38.9. Livingston won the individual championship last season before repeating this year.
“I really wanted to defend the title to show I’m on the same level as I was last season and just that I keep improving,” Livingston said.
Asked about the pressure of repeating individually, Livingston’s thoughts went to the team as a whole.
“Definitely the pressure is very high,” she said. “The girls felt it. With some of the senior girls this year, I felt really confident we could do really well. We’ve definitely learned how to handle the pressure.”
In addition to Livingston, Carina Burchi, Sofia Robertson and Elodie Weaver have been members of all three championship teams at Whitmore Lake. Malynda Lambros and Caroline Darrah ran for the last two championship teams.
Burchi was 17th on Saturday in 19:50.6, Lambros 30th in 20:20.3, Robertson 46th in 20:56.7 and Weaver 107th in 21:59.8 for the Trojans.
In the individual race, Gobles junior Libby Smith stayed close enough to Livingston to keep things interesting heading into the long final stretch at MIS. Livingston hit the mile mark in 5:42.5, followed by Smith in 5:44.9. Livingston opened up a 10.3-second lead after hitting two miles in 11:43.6.
Smith took nearly four seconds off Livingston’s lead in the final tenth of a mile, but couldn’t close the gap, finishing in 18:36.1.
“I could see her the whole time,” said Smith, who was third last year and seventh as a freshman. “I was hoping. It was a tough race. I’m happy with how I did.”
Emma Riker of Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep was third in 18:44.9.
PHOTOS (Top) Whitmore Lake’s Kaylie Livingston charges toward the finish line on the way to repeating as Division 4 champion Saturday morning. (Middle) Gobles’ Libby Smith travels the closing stretch. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)