Girls Cross Country

Kirsten Olling's greatest competition wasn't on the course at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday. The names she was chasing were names from the past, some of the greatest runners in the history of Michigan cross country. 

Breckenridge High School has a mere 244 students. But one could finish this weekend's MHSAA Finals among an elite few in state girls cross country history. Three-time champion Kirsten Olling already is one of the all-time greats. But if she can win one more title, she&...

The Marquette girls and Menominee senior Kameron Burmeister concluded their cross country seasons in impressive fashion in Saturday’s Upper Peninsula Division 1 Final.

The first MHSAA Finals of cross country season will be run Saturday at Gentz Homestead Golf Course in Munising, and there will be more than a few familiar faces in the field.

Success comes so easily for some great athletes that they take it for granted.   West Bloomfield senior Erin Finn has experienced enough adversity in her running career that she appreciates each and every accomplishment.

Julia Bos of Grand Rapids Christian seems to answer more questions about the style of her running, rather than the substance. It's impossible to argue with the results. On Saturday, she won her second straight MHSAA Division 2 individual championship.

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 c...

Gina Patterson of Macomb Lutheran North was one of the favorites to win the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 cross country championship, based on her performance last season. She may have been the only person who didn’t view herself as one of the runners to be...

Kirsten Olling couldn’t understand why the fast times she was running all summer weren’t translating to the cross country course in the fall. The Breckenridge junior, whose personal best of 17:17.54 was set in last year’s Regionals, failed to break ...

Three of last season's girls cross country team champions are again ranked among the top three in their respective divisions heading into Saturday's MHSAA Finals at Michigan International Speedway. Three of last season's four individual winners also are back for another...

Tara Kiilunen was nearly overcome with emotion shortly after the conclusion of the Division 1 race at Saturday’s Upper Peninsula Cross Country Finals at Pictured Rocks Golf & Country Club. The Calumet High School senior became the first girl to be crowned U.P...

Give Mariah Fuqua credit for trying something many others would not. Throwers – who toss the shot and discus during the spring track and field season – are not the ones who usually cross over into cross country during the fall. But she took that challenge. ...

At first, Julia Bos competed against herself. She was driven to cut her mile time in sixth grade gym class. These days, she's back to competing against herself, but now as arguably the top runner in the state this fall.

Adrian senior Zach Sarrault had never seen, face-to-face, the damage caused by a tornado. Living only 40 miles from where a storm had torn through Dexter on March 15, he was close enough to get an idea of what had ripped through the home of one of the Maples’ So...

The MHSAA Lower Peninsula Cross Country Finals were run Saturday at Michigan International Speedway. We followed Breckenridge sophomore Kirsten Olling as she won her second straight Division 4 championship. She won in 18:02.7, giving her four MHSAA championship...

West Bloomfield junior Erin Finn said she dreamed of winning an MHSAA cross country championship since she first learned to walk. But it took a few more seconds Saturday to realize she’d actually done it.

Nervousness is part of Spencer Nousain's pre-race preparation. “I’m scared I’m going to lose,” he said earlier this week, just days before his final high school cross country race -- Saturday's MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 Final at Michigan Interna...