Next Stop on Lake City's Unanticipated Run? Trojans Set to Contend for Finals Title
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
November 6, 2026
Starting the season with just two runners returning would not make many cross country teams think about finishing the season at Michigan International Speedway.
But it didn’t take many race results for the Lake City girls team to start thinking about the possibility.
Despite starting the fall with just the two returnees, the Trojans find themselves headed to MIS for Saturday’s Lower Peninsula Division 3 Final. And not only did they qualify, but they have thoughts of finishing among the top five this weekend – if not as champions.
“To be honest, I'm still processing it,” admitted fifth-year Lake City girls coach Zach Jones. “It's a little bit, I don't know, surreal or something.”
Juniors Harlow Hughes and Faith Helsel were the only Lake City returnees this fall. Both qualified as individuals for last year’s Final.
“They were already talented runners who had worked hard and made it to states on their own last year,” Jones said. “And they would've this year, too, probably, but knowing that those freshmen were coming up really got them excited.”
Lake City has regularly featured four freshmen and two of them, Isadora Shaw and Aubrey Doan, have been the Trojans’ top performers all season. The other two, Milah Eising and Bailey Griessel, round out the seven-runner lineup most meets. The team also features experienced track distance runner Elise Renkiewicz, a junior, in the number three spot.
Lake City’s roster also includes freshman Elizabeth Dulzo, sophomore Rhaelyn Davis, and seniors Emma Grady and Payton Durga.
“It's just been a really solid team effort on the part of all the girls,” Jones said. “I think they all set the primary team goal above all their individual goals. And I think that's part of why they got it done.”
Lake City qualified for the Final by winning its first Regional title, finishing first at Mancelona ahead of Traverse City St. Francis, which had won 11 straight Regional championships. The Gladiators also qualified for the Final along with third-place finisher Harbor Springs.
Lake City took three of the top four Regional individual places. Shaw led the way, capturing first place with an 18:30.6 performance. Dolan was second, finishing with a time of 18:50.7. Renkiewicz ran a 19:13.8 en route to the fourth spot. Helsel finished ninth and Hughes 12th to round out the scoring.
Thoughts of becoming Regional champs were few and far between when the season started. But as the individual times improved throughout the season, that became the Trojans’ goal.
They also won the Highland Conference championship along the way.
“Because St. Francis has such a strong program, they were a good target for the girls and we could see our chances getting a little bit better each week,” Jones acknowledged. “Quite frankly, it was a lofty goal. I was skeptical because they were setting a big goal for themselves, but I was happy that they were trying.”
And now Jones, who also coaches the Lake City boys team, and the entire Trojans girls squad are ready to make a bid for a Finals championship, something not even on their radar when the season commenced in August.
“It really wasn't on the radar partly because we were taking one step at a time,” Jones said. “Now I think winning is their goal. They know it's there, and they know it's possible. They’re super optimistic and excited.”
Shaw concurs with her coach’s thoughts on the Final.
“I think everybody's really excited to see how we'll do and everything,” Shaw said. “I think it's just going to take a lot of self-belief and just doing what we have been doing, like winning Regionals, the conference and everything. Honestly, it hasn't really quite kicked in yet that we're actually going to states as a team, and you never know what can happen.”
Shaw, who began running just four years ago on the Lake City Middle School team coached by Kelsey Jones, is looking for all seven runners Saturday to make the difference.
“I'm really proud of our top seven because Milah and Bailey are really giving it their all as well,” Shaw pointed out. “And honestly, they have not been running as long. They're really showing up, too, backing us. I'm really proud of our entire team.”
Shaw also pointed to having such a strong training partner and personal friend in Doan as one of the keys to the Trojans’ success. That connection led to both of them recording personal bests at the Regional.
“We are so close to each other in age and in time,” Shaw said. “It's really cool to have somebody who's so close to me because I'm able to train with her and understand our different ways of processing and just doing the whole race overall.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Lake City’s Isadora Shaw and Elise Renkiewicz take off with their teammates at the start of the Highland Conference championship race this season. (Middle) The Trojans pose for a photo with their Regional trophy. (Below) Shaw has been among the team’s pacesetters and won the individual Regional title. (Starting line photo by Zach Jones. Team photo by Courtney Helsel. Shaw individual photo by Hayden Fowler.)
Eagles Senior Shows She's the Bos
September 27, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
At first, Julia Bos competed against herself.
She started in sixth grade, running the mile in gym class, and she finished in seven minutes. Bos wanted to go faster, so she started running a half-mile, on her own, every day.
Then the competition became her sister, Anna, two years older, who was having success in eighth grade cross country. Julia wanted to win too. So the sisters started running together, Julia struggling to keep Anna within sight -- until one day when Julia was a freshman, decided their pace was too slow, and took off on her own.
Julia's still running away from the pack. Bos finished 18th at the Division 2 Cross Country Final as a freshman, in 19:15. She cut her time to 17:48 a year later, finishing fourth. Last fall, she beat out two previous MHSAA champions to claim her first title in 17:24.
Now what? She's back to competing against herself, but now as arguably the top runner in the state this fall.
"My freshman year, I never dreamed I’d be into the 17s,” Bos said. “Every season I have the thought that this is it. I can't get faster.
"Then I prove myself wrong."
She gets a Second Half High 5 this week after proving herself as perhaps the runner to catch statewide on Sept. 14, when she finished first in the elite race at the Spartan Invitational at Michigan State. She crossed the line in 17:20 – 15 seconds ahead of a field that included West Bloomfield’s Erin Finn, the reigning MHSAA Division 1 champion and a national meet record setter during the offseason, and one of the nation’s top middle distance track runners in Grosse Pointe South’s Hannah Meier.
Last season's MHSAA Final win was huge, but Grand Rapids Christian coach Doug Jager said he’d never seen Bos as happy as when she stood on the medal stand at MSU.
Bos said it took a mix of factors for her to finish first that day. She said Finn remains ahead of her, and respects her greatly because of how she’s handled stardom and the expectation that she’ll always win.
But Bos is in that class now too. She hasn’t finished lower than first in a race since the 2011 Spartan Invite, when she took third behind Finn and Meier.
She just gets faster
"She's very gifted as a runner. She also works harder than anyone I've ever had," said Jager, who coached the Eagles to Division 2 team championships in 2005, 2006 and 2010. "In fact, I usually have to tell her to do less."
Late last season, that meant training only four days a week. This fall it has been five, and Bos spends many of those running with the Eagles boys team, especially on longer runs. She and Anna don't really run together anymore, although Anna did finish for Rockford's third-place team at the 2010 Division 1 Final.
Julia has another theory for the jump she took between sophomore and junior year. She grew three inches, to 5-foot-5, and longer legs turned into faster ones.
Indeed, Jager said, Bos has improved her leg speed. But also her strategy.
At the Spartan Invite her freshman year, Bos was about 80th after a mile, and despite working hard to get back among the front packs, finished 10th.
At last season’s Final at Michigan International Speedway, Bos at first planned to go out behind the other favorites, drafting off them before coming on late. But figuring they expect that strategy, she charged out hard – and just kept going.
Jager said Bos’ best trait might be that she does keep going. Often, her third mile is faster than her first, which “grinds people down.” Bos isn’t so sure her third mile is her fastest. But it’s at least faster than the final third of her opponents.
Flying like an eagle
At MSU this month, Jager and Bos accidentally got separated from the rest of the Eagles before the start of the elite race. That did allow for some final one-on-one coaching, or, rather, convincing.
“Everyone was looking at Finn and Hannah Meier, and she goes, ‘What do you think? Can I get second?’” Jager said. “I said, 'Are you conceding first already?'
“She said, ‘No, but Erin is so good.’ I said, 'Look, just put yourself in position. Don’t put expectations on yourself. Just put yourself in position where you never know. … Just keep your head up and watch.”
"I'm going into it thinking to myself, there's only a 10 percent chance I can win this," Bos recalled.
Teams generally run similar schedules every season, and the Spartan was only event the Eagles run that Bos hadn’t won during her career.
Cross that off the list. Bring on the higher expectations.
"I had a really good day. I did all the right things with eating and drinking and resting, and I was ready to peak for that day," Bos said.
"(God's) the one who gave me the talent. ... I've just gotta take each race one at a time, with His help, and deal with all the pressure."
PHOTO: Grand Rapids Christian's Julia Bos broke away from the pack during last season's Division 2 Final at Michigan International Speedway. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com).