VanderKooi Joins Elite Champions Club, Leads WMC to 1st Team Title
November 6, 2021
BROOKLYN — Abby VanderKooi made it look easy for three years, dominating the small-school divisions at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Cross Country Finals as one of the top runners in the nation.
But the 2021 season has been anything but easy for VanderKooi, and neither was the race in which the Muskegon Western Michigan Christian senior won her fourth MHSAA championship.
VanderKooi joined a select group of four-time champions by running a time of 18:06.58 Saturday at the Division 4 race at Michigan International Speedway.
As she crossed the finish line, completing her four-year mission, VanderKooi staggered a bit before gathering herself, even though the time wasn’t anywhere near her fastest.
“That hurt,” she said. “I was happy to be done. I saw the flag and I was like, ‘Oh, the gates of heaven!’”
VanderKooi finished third in the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships as a freshman and sophomore before the 2020 race was canceled because of COVID. Along the way, she won the MHSAA LP Division 4 title in 2018 and 2019 and the Division 3 crown when her school moved up a division for one year in 2020.
VanderKooi became only the fourth girl to win four outright MHSAA Lower Peninsula individual championships.
The others are Carrie Gould of Burton Bendle and Flint Powers Catholic (1992-95), Katie Boyles of Rochester Adams (1997-2000) and Kirsten Olling of Breckenridge (2010-13). Amber Smith of Ishpeming Westwood (2000-03) and Tara Kiilunen of Calumet won four MHSAA Upper Peninsula titles.
Valari Ambrose of Riverview Gabriel Richard (1981-84) won the individual race four times, but only twice had the fastest time in Class C back when there were two races at the MHSAA Finals. Theresa Padilla of Camden-Frontier won four individual races from 1984-87, but had the fastest time in Class D only once.
“It’s really special,” VanderKooi said. “Not many people get to do that. I’m so thankful I have the ability to do that.”
VanderKooi said she had trouble breathing in the cold air in the first race of the day at MIS. It was just one of several challenges she’s faced this year.
“I wonder if I have cold-induced asthma,” she said. “My sister does. I don’t have it as bad as her. I haven’t been having a good season; I don’t know why. I haven’t been able to click into it. Ever since I broke my toe in track season, I haven’t been able to get back into running fast times, so that’s been really frustrating.”
Unlike her past three MHSAA Finals, VanderKooi had company after the initial burst from the start line.
VanderKooi reached the mile mark in 5:47.9, with Buckley sophomore Aiden Harrand close behind at 5:49.5. The gap increased to nine seconds at the two-mile mark.
“I could hear her the whole time,” VanderKooi said. “When you hear people cheering for other people behind you, it’s kind of scary.”
With VanderKooi graduating, Harrand could be the heir apparent to the Division 4 throne. Harrand was fifth as a freshman.
Harrand’s plan Saturday was “just pretty much stay as close as I can and try to gap the move, move when she does and try my best. About the mile-and-a-half marker, she just had more in the tank than I did.”
For VanderKooi, her performance wasn’t all about individual glory. Her first-place stick helped Western Michigan Christian win its first MHSAA team championship by an 81-108 margin over Kalamazoo Christian.
Her freshman sister, Grace, took eighth in 19:28.28. Completing the team score were Ava Rotman (33rd, 20:41.09), Brianna Zuidema (36th, 20:43.09) and Eleanor Kingshott (59th, 21:12.33).
“Having my team along, especially my sister, it means the world to me,” Abby VanderKooi said. “I’ve never had so much fun with such a wonderful team.”
PHOTOS Muskegon Western Michigan Christian’s Abby VanderKooi travels the final stretch on the way to clinching her fourth MHSAA Finals individual title Friday. (Middle) The WMC runners prepare to begin Saturday’s Division 4 race; they’d go on to claim their first team title. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)
Rams' Star, Clarkston Finish Fall as D1 Elite
November 3, 2018
Second Half reports
BROOKLYN — When Ericka VanderLende came out for cross country as a freshman in 2015, there was nothing that indicated Rockford was getting another one of Michigan’s all-time great runners.
She had never run cross country before, and it showed. In her first high school race, she placed 68th in the Portage Central Early Bird with a time of 22:32.0.
“I liked running before high school, but I never ran over a mile before high school,” she said. “When I started, I didn’t really like it. I was the slowest on the team. I just gradually worked my way up my freshman year.”
VanderLende was a quality runner by the end of ninth grade and through her sophomore year, making Rockford’s top seven and placing 99th and 81st, respectively, at her first two MHSAA Finals.
Everything changed once she hit her junior year.
VanderLende came out of nowhere to win the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 championship and place 25th in the Foot Locker national meet in 2017. On Saturday, she joined Nikki Bohnsack (2001-02) as the only two-time champions in the rich history of the Rockford girls program, completely dominating a field of the state’s best runners to win in 17:08.4 in muddy conditions at Michigan International Speedway.
She showed what she’s capable of on a dry course one week earlier, winning the Regional meet in 16:43.3.
“It’s a little unexpected,” VanderLende said. “My parents just thought I’d be good at running, I guess. I gave it a shot.”
Despite the conditions, VanderLende’s was the sixth-fastest girls time since MIS began hosting the MHSAA Finals in 1996. She is one of only two girls who have two times in the top eight, the other being former Foot Locker national champion Megan Goethals of Rochester. VanderLende won last year in 17:16.8.
She already had begun to separate herself from the pack 700 meters into the race, a point at which at least one or two other runners will go out harder than is prudent and try sticking with the pre-race favorite.
“I was a little nervous that I took it out too hard, that I’d kind of fall back,” VanderLende said. “I felt good most of the time, so it was good.”
The race for second was much more intriguing, with a large group racing together well behind VanderLende at the two-mile mark. Kyla Christopher-Moody of West Bloomfield emerged from that group to place second in 17:58.6, just 1.2 seconds ahead of Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Zofia Dudek. Just 3.3 seconds separated second through fifth place.
Clarkston didn’t have a runner in that group, but the Wolves had the tightest pack of runners in a meet that was up for grabs when No. 1-ranked Northville had a rough day, placing eighth. Clarkston scored 134 points, beating Pioneer by 18.
Clarkston’s five scoring runners finished within 59 seconds of each other. Junior Mia Patria was 15th in 18:13.3, senior Grace Nolan was 16th in 18:15.8, senior Elizabeth Dalrymple was 40th in 18:58.1, senior Mallory Ferguson was 59th in 19:11.9 and sophomore Mattie Drennan was 60th in 19:12.3.
It was Clarkston’s first MHSAA championship in girls cross country since winning three in a row from 2003-05.
PHOTOS: (Top) Rockford’s Ericka VanderLende approaches the finish line on the way to repeating as Division 1 champion Saturday. (Middle) Clarkston’s Mia Patria (1148) pushes through the final stretch just ahead of teammate Grace Nolan as they took the top two places for the team champion. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)