News

9/30/2008 Here is an interesting post from the Mlive cross country forum. The discussion is about the upcoming Portage Middle School race as a window on the future high school stars in Michigan.

Look for the future of Michigan’s elite runners to very possibly rise to the surface at this weekend’s Boys Portage Middle School race.

Many of the past top runners at the Portage Middle School race went on to good running careers in college, after achieving admirable running accomplishments in high school.

The most successful middle school runner in the history of the Portage Meet has to be Dan Roberts. He placed 2nd in the 2001 middle school race behind Loren Ahonen – Bedford MS. Dan went on to qualify twice for the Footlocker National CC Meet, finishing in 12th place as a Sr. with a time of 15:27, holds the 2nd fastest time (15:05.3) among all high school participants in Portage Meet history, behind our own Dathan Ritzenhein. Dan was the 2004 D2 State CC champion with a time of 15:19.05, 2004 D2 1600m champion 4:13.83, 2004 D2 3200m track champion 9:18.48. He is now a college junior running at Florida State University.

Jay Bilsborrow placed 3rd behind Dan Roberts in the 2001 middle school race and in 2006 went on to set a D2 State Meet record in the 800m 1:53.63 and was the D2 State 1600m champion 4:14. Jay is currently a sophomore running for William & Mary.

So if Loren Ahonen beat both Dan Roberts and Jay Bilsborrow in the 2001 middle school race, what ever became of Loren’s running accomplishments? Well Loren went on to run 15:57 as a Bedford H.S. Sr.at the 2005 Regional Cross Country Meet, has the 5th fastest 1600m time (4:23) in Bedford H.S. history and ran a 9:39.63 - 3200m the following spring at the 2006 State Track Meet finals earning D1 All State honors. Loren is now running for Western Colorado University.

In the 2004 middle school race, Tommy Brinn placed 3rd and went on to set a D2 State Track Meet 800m record last spring as an Otsego H.S. Jr. running a 1:51.76 only to top that two weeks later winning the Midwest Distance Gala at Benedictine University in a time of 1:51.07; competing against talented runners from 15 other states. This year as a senior, he ran 16:05 last weekend at the Otsego Bulldog Invitational. Too bad Otesgo H.S. will not be participating at this year’s Portage Meet!!

Here is a list of recent Middle School race winners and their accomplishments thus far in their early high school careers:

2005 Middle School Champion – Andrew Harper is now a Saline H.S. junior. He a ran 10:06.9 -3200m as a Sophmore at last year’s regional track meet and ran to a 9th place finish recently at the Jackson Invitational; finishing in a time of 16:20.

Tommy Valade finished over 23 seconds behind Andrew Harper in 2005’s middle school race. Last year he set PR’s of 4:36 – 1600mm and 2:01 – 800m as a sophomore on the track. He also qualified for the State Track Meet last spring with a time of 9:41.1 – 3200m. This year as a Bedford H.S. Jr. he ran a 16:11 at the Spartan Invitational a few weeks ago.

2006 Middle School Champion – Nick Kaiser followed up his victory the following Spring 2007 as a Bedford H.S. Freshman running an incredible 51.8 sec - 400m and went on to earn All State honors last Spring 2007 finishing 6th at D1 State Track Meet with an 800m time of 1:56.73.

So you might want to watch the Portage Middle School race a little more closely this weekend. It might reveal an emerging talent for which we can all keep a watchful eye and hope for the best!!

9/27/2008 Bedford competed in the Clay Eagle Invitational today. The Boys Varsity finished 2nd by only 6 points. The JV team also finished second. The Girls Varsity finished in 3rd place led by a third place finish from freshman Kelsey Calhoun. The Junior high school girls finished second and the boys finished 5th.

Next up is the SEC Jamboree #2 on Tuesday September 30th. Click on the link for details. Next Saturday is the trip to Portage. This is one of the premier CC meets in the state of Michigan.

9/16/2008 Bedford has the next two weeks off before the next race. The boys will be training hard during this time to prepare for the next stretch of the season: Clay, SEC Jamboree #2, and Portage. Last Friday, the team participated in the MSU Spartan Invitational. The varsity placed 11th out of 25 teams in the NIKE Elite Division. The Bedford Junior High Girls were champions and the Boys were 3rd.

This Thursday is the first Community Education cross country meet for the elementary school aged kids. Head out to Indian Creek to cheer on the future stars of the BHS CC Team. (Community Education schedule)

The state rankings for this week are out. AA Pioneer (#2) and Saline (#3) represent the SEC Red Division in the current rankings.

9/10/2008 Three teams from our division of the SEC are ranked in the top 10 for Division 1 in Michigan. Pioneer (tied#1), Saline (tied #1) and Huron (#10) are all ranked. Bedford has beaten Huron twice already this year. Right now, Pioneer appears to be the strongest team in Michigan. In Division 2, SEC foe Chelsea is ranked #3, and Dexter is honorable mention. Once again, the SEC is one of the strongest leagues in the state and competition at the Jamborees is intense. (Full rankings)

9/9/2008 Today, Bedford competed in the SEC Jamboree #1. The meet was held at Mill Pond Park in Saline. Michigan #1 Ann Arbor Pioneer dominated the race and won easily. The Mules finished 4th. Click the link above to see full results. Next up is the MSU Spartan Invitational on Friday.

9/7/2008 The Mules competed at the Tiffin Carnival yesterday. Click on the link for details. Results for the Bedford Junior High have been added also [Boys:Girls]. Next up is SEC Jamboree #1 at Saline on Tuesday and the MSU Spartan Invitational on Friday. This will be a long and exciting week as we see how well our boys can compete against the best teams in Michigan.