BROOKLYN — In case anyone didn’t learn last year: never, ever count out Samantha Schroeder.
For the second year in a row, the veteran distance runner from Jackson Lumen Christi became a state champion, winning the MHSAA Division 3 cross-country championship race in exciting come-from-behind fashion.
When she reached the two-mile point of the 5-kilometer (3.1 mile) course at Michigan International Speedway, Schroeder trailed leader Caelyn Torry of McBain by 12 seconds. But from that point on, Schroeder was able to erase the deficit, passing her top competitor by the 3-mile mark and going on to win by 6 seconds. Schroeder’s time of 17:50.2 was her fastest in four years of racing.
“It’s exhilarating. There’s so much adrenaline going through my body, and it’s sometimes very difficult to believe that I just did that,” she said from the finish chute, minutes after her race.
Schroeder was able to draw upon past experience to accomplish the feat, as her 2025 state meet unfolded in a similar way. In that race, Schroeder was in fourth place at the two-mile mark, 9.2 seconds off the pace of the leader, Hailey Creisher of Leslie, before going on to win. Although Schroeder only had one runner to catch this time, her deficit was significantly bigger.
“It was kind of ‘déjà vu’ going into that last mile,” she said. “Yes, I had an idea of how it would go. It is mentally difficult. You need to be mentally strong in order to do it. You have everything in your body telling you to stop — it hurts, it’s too cold — but then you’ve just got to mentally tell yourself to stop talking and just go for it.”
Although Torry was in the midst of a fine race, Schroeder sensed she had an opportunity to gain some ground.
“I got to the two-mile and I could see her stride faltering a little bit, and I had a feeling that I could most likely catch her,” Schroeder said. “It really helped seeing how the distance (between us) kept shortening and shortening every step.”
Schroeder admitted she felt rather sick before the race (“It may have been just nerves,” she said) but she kept a positive attitude throughout, and that helped her focus.
“It helped just being able to believe in myself, telling myself that I can do it, and knowing that anything I can set my mind to, I can do,” she said. “(I was) just trying to push through any sort of pain. My legs were burning so much but I knew I had to speed up and catch her. Sometimes I whisper under my breath; I say, ‘You can do this, you can do this, you can do this, keep running, you can do this.’”
With the low stick in hand, Schroeder helped her Titan team to a sixth-place finish, the best all day from any Catholic League member school. Schroeder, Mila Scheele, Lilly Kimble, Ella Worthing and Sophia Trachsel combined for a team score of 215 points.
“I’m very proud of this team,” said Schroeder, who has made an early commitment to run for Michigan Tech University. “We’ve come a long way. We’ve gone through lots of highs and lows, and I’m so proud of these girls, because we push ourselves to our limits.”
Seven runners fast enough to be all-state
More than 2,000 runners were competing in eight races Nov. 7 at Michigan International Speedway, but since only eight could be crowned state champions, many finals qualifiers set other goals. One of the most-prized accomplishments was to earn All-State honors — reserved for those competitors who finished within the top 30.
Royal Oak Shrine junior Will Bernacki and Clarkston Everest Collegiate freshman Amy Walker both made it with no cushion to spare, as they each crossed the line 30th in their races. But both went away happy.
“The whole season I’ve been trying to work toward this. It was one of the goals I had in mind at the start of the season, and today I knew I had the chance to get all-state,” Bernacki said. “It really came down to the last second, and I’m happy I was able to pull it off.”
Bernacki covered the 5-kilometer course around the MIS grounds in 16:58.6 — his personal-best time by a razor-thin margin. He said he was pulled along by the fast competition.
“At the start of the race, I thought I was out of my mind. Everyone went out really, really fast and I was probably in 100th place at the start of the race, but I didn’t panic, I just started picking off people one-by-one and I had the determination to keep going,” he said. “Right at the two-mile was pretty tough; everybody started to pick it up there. It was either go with them or fall behind and probably not make all-state.”
In the three times Bernacki has competed in the state finals, he’s improved his place from 123rd to 71st to now 30th. But as a first-time participant, Walker didn’t have any expectations whatsoever.
“My goal was top 30, obviously, and I was clearly able to make that, so I’m satisfied,” Walker said. “I knew I was pretty close (to the cut-off) throughout the race, but I wasn’t exactly sure.”
As it turned out, Walker was more than 5 seconds in front of the 31st runner to finish.
“I wasn’t really given any advice about the race, but my teammates were super-supportive and I’m grateful for that,” she said. “I was really dead so I just wanted to finish, but the all-state medal was nice, too.”
Here’s how other local runners, teams fared
In addition to Schroeder, Bernacki and Walker, four other runners from area Catholic high schools achieved all-state honors. They were Jacob Ferdubinski, Riverview Gabriel Richard senior, 13th in the Division 4 boys race (16:37.0); Christian Craanen, Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central junior, 27th in the Division 3 boys’ race (16:14.0); Cassidy Bowers, Chesterfield Austin Catholic junior, 18th in the Division 4 girls’ race (19:59.2); and Ella Lamb, Royal Oak Shrine junior, 28th in the Division 4 girls’ race (20:12.1).
“I wanted to PR, but it was a slower day today, and I just ended up running for place and I got my best state finish,” Ferdubinski said. “I was 15th sophomore year, 21st last year, so with 13th this year, I’m happy.”
Ferdubinski, who was a regional champion the prior week, attained all-state honors for the third time. Craanen matched that accomplishment and has a chance to chase the rare four-time achievement next year.
Bowers said was happy to finish one place higher than she did in 2025, and it was a satisfying way to finish the season for Lamb, who had battled an ankle injury for much of the fall.
Here’s how area Catholic League teams finished in state competition:
BOYS DIVISION 2
10th place) Dearborn Divine Child, 290 points. Top runner: Landon Bermudez, junior, 43rd, 16:11.1
20) Detroit Country Day, 428. Top runner: Jack Hincks, junior, 56th, 16:20.4
BOYS DIVISION 3
19th place) Ann Arbor Greenhills, 449. Top runner: Naveen Kulkarni, senior, 32nd, 16:17.1
BOYS DIVISION 4
13) Royal Oak Shrine, 407. Top runner: Bernacki.
19) Marine City Cardinal Mooney, 481. Top runner: Liam Knuth, junior, 39th, 17:10.3
23rd) Riverview Gabriel Richard, 556. Top runner: Ferdubinski.
GIRLS DIVISION 2
16) Ann Arbor Fr. Gabriel Richard. 419. Top runner: Bridget Fidkowski, senior, 50th, 19:14.3
20) Farmington Hills Mercy, 491. Top runner: Elizabeth Gerzema, junior, 34th, 18:56.7
24) Bloomfield Hills Marian, 533. Top runner: Marian Byrd, freshman, 78th, 19:37.1
25) Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook, 589. Top runner: Zahiya Khan, junior, 89th, 19:45.8
GIRLS DIVISION 3
6) Lumen Christi, 215. Top runner: Schroeder
GIRLS DIVISION 4
7) Shrine, 264. Top runner: Lamb
Lansing Catholic was the girls’ team champion in Division 3 for the third consecutive season.
