Performance of the Week: Holland West Ottawa's Arianne Olson

November 4, 2021

Holland West Ottawa cross countryArianne Olson ♦ Junior
Holland West Ottawa ♦ Cross Country

Olson enters Saturday’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Cross Country Final coming off her second Regional championship in three seasons, after running a 17:12.32 at Portage Central to best the field by 1 minute, 26 seconds, and help Holland West Ottawa to a dominating team championship with 39 points. She is undefeated this fall and will return to Michigan International Speedway having finished eighth in LPD1 last season and second in 2019 as a freshman.

Her 16:45 at the Oct. 2 Otsego Invitational not only was a personal record but is the fastest time in the state this season by 8.4 seconds. Her top five times this season all would put her among the top 10 all-time finishers in LP Finals history since the distance went to 5K in 1980. That 16:45 also is more than a minute faster than her 2020 personal-record run and 41 seconds faster than her fastest as a freshman. Among her victories this fall, she finished first at two of the most prestigious races in the state – the Spartan Invitational Elite race at Michigan State University on Sept. 17 and the Portage Invitational on Oct. 9.

@mhsaasports 🏃‍♀️POW: Arianne Olson#performanceoftheweek #mhsaa #xc #running #highschoolsports #tiktalk #westottawa #interview #TikTok #mistudentaid #fyp ♬ original sound - MHSAA

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2021-22 Honorees

Oct. 28: Jack Guggemos, Okemos soccer - Report
Oct. 21:
Sachiv Kumar, Northville tennis - Report
Oct. 14:
Kate Brody, Grand Blanc golf - Report
Oct. 7:
Lilly Nelson, Negaunee tennis - Report
Sept. 30:
Stella Chapman, Ann Arbor Pioneer swimming - Report
Sept. 23:
Riley Hough, Hartland cross country - Report
Sept. 16:
Josie Bloom, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep volleyball - Report

PHOTOS courtesy of Laura Veldhof Photography.

Forsyth Closes Career as Legendary, Romeo Caps Memorable 1st Title Run

November 4, 2023

BROOKLYN — Dathan Ritzenhein’s time of 14:10.4 at the 2000 MHSAA Cross Country Finals has become the stuff of legend.

During the 23 years that have followed, no other runners has come remotely close to breaking the record set by the three-time Olympian from Rockford.

Years from now, perhaps Rachel Forsyth’s performance Saturday at Michigan International Speedway will be just as revered.

She not only set the girls course record, she obliterated it.

Running solo from the gun, Forsyth ran a scorching 16:28.5 to shatter the course mark of Lansing Catholic’s Olivia Theis in the 2017 Division 2 race.

It’s worth noting that some of the greatest high school cross country runners in the country have graced MIS since the MHSAA moved its Finals there in 1996.

Megan Goethals of Rochester (2009) and Zofia Dudek of Ann Arbor Pioneer (2019) won Foot Locker national championships. Others have gone on to become college All-Americans.

It wasn’t even Forsyth’s fastest time this season. She ran 16:07.5 to win her Regional meet. Forsyth was more fixated on beating that time than taking down the course record.

Midland Dow's Victoria Garces (200) and Romeo's Annie Hrabovsky run side-by-side down the closing stretch. “I just handled it like a normal race,” Forsyth said. “Me and my friends goofed off. We got ready as we normally did. No one put too much pressure on it.”

It was the second MHSAA championship for Forsyth, the other coming two years ago when she ran 17:09.32.

After that, she began to struggle with an eating disorder which put her life in jeopardy.  She was hospitalized at the University of Michigan’s Mott Children’s Hospital and was then admitted to the Eating Recovery Center in Illinois.

She was finally healthy enough to rejoin her team on the race course in late September last year, but had lost much of her spectacular fitness. She finished 62nd in last year’s state meet.

“It’s very surreal, because I missed so much,” Forsyth said. “So, to be able to be at my best …”

At this point, Forsyth began choking up before she finished the sentence … “is very special.”

Forsyth said the process of making healthy decisions is still difficult, “but the benefits of doing what I have to pays off 100 percent.”

Forsyth reached the finish line before anyone else hit the three-mile mark in the 3.1-mile race. Finishing a distant second was Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills senior Selma Anderson, whose time of 17:13.6 would have ranked 11th in MIS history coming into a record-setting day across the board.

“It was pretty cool to watch, but I know I couldn’t run with her,” Anderson said. “So, I was just going to focus on my race.”

Forsyth hoped to cap her record-breaking day with a team championship celebration, but Romeo had something to say about that, putting up a winning total of 65 points to claim its first Finals championship and after finishing runner-up a year ago. Pioneer was second this time with 126 points.

Freshman Annie Hrabovsky of Romeo established herself as a future championship contender, placing fourth in 17:28.7. Sophomore Natalia Guaresimo was seventh, sophomore Emmerson Clor 13th, junior Lillian Deskins 22nd and junior Olivia Purdy 41st for Romeo.

The Bulldogs had four runners cross before Pioneer had two.

Click for full results

PHOTOS (Top) Ann Arbor Pioneer's Rachel Forsyth takes the final paces of her record-setting run Saturday at MIS. (Middle) Midland Dow's Victoria Garces (200) and Romeo's Annie Hrabovsky run side-by-side down the closing stretch. (Photos by Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)