MILFORD TOWNSHIP — Brennan Higgins and Emerie Schmidlin know that racing in the Catholic League Championship at Kensington Metropark is probably not going to produce their best times. But the duo realized success in other ways, leading their teams to Bishop Division league titles Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 14.
“It’s definitely a course that will test you mentally,” said Higgins, a junior at Toledo St. Francis de Sales. “I mean, being strong, trusting your training and having the guys with you throughout the season, everything through the season just really builds up to it. I’m just really happy with our execution and being able to be in the right place, both physically and mentally.”
“We’ve faced many tough courses,” said Schmidlin, a sophomore and the top runner for Toledo St. Ursula Academy. “The races we’ve done this season have been more challenging than last season, and that’s really proven how talented our team is. It’s taught us to be more tough in the face of hard courses. Our team really is capable of doing great things and we really work for it, so I’m really proud of us.”
Behind Higgins’ first-place individual finish, St. Francis scored 66 points to nip Detroit Catholic Central (68) by two in the boys competition. University of Detroit Jesuit (87), Detroit Country Day (92) and Dearborn Divine Child (116) were also among the top five of the 13-team field.
St. Francis won its fourth consecutive team title with Higgins (16:31.0, 1st place), Will Dwyer (17:14.2, 7th), Lucas Martin, (17:26.8, 14th), Tyson Walker (17:42.6, 19th) and Chase Little (17:54.9, 25th) comprising its top five.
“It was definitely a little stressful sitting in that finish line (watching the other runners finish) because you know you just have to trust your guys and trust they were able to execute what we had talked about before the race, and luckily they did,” Higgins said. “(Finding out we won) was a sigh of relief. Definitely props to Detroit Catholic Central and all of the other teams that were out here today — they gave us a good run.”
Higgins wasn’t out in front of the pack until the race was about halfway done. He made a move to claim the lead during the middle mile, and that influenced the overall team scoring.
“I think in every race you’ve got to do a little bit of adjusting,” he said. “Things aren’t always going to go according to plan. Obviously we have the things that we set out to do, but I think the best athletes are the ones that are able to adjust according to how the race is going maybe after the first mile, or when things start to get a little shaky.”
Catholic Central’s Luke Kramer and Brady Glon occupied the first two spots at the one-mile mark, before Higgins made his move.
“I was just kind of feeling out the race,” Higgins said. “After the first mile, me and the kid from Country Day (Jack Hincks, who finished third) just kind of felt the pace was a little more honest. Right in that second mile I was able to move with the pack and feel out how it was going, and I kind of just went on from there.”
Higgins’ finishing time was about a minute slower than his personal-record 15:27, which he achieved about 10 days prior in an invitational near Columbus, but that didn’t throw him out of sorts.
“It’s definitely a tough course up here,” he said, “but really just being able to frame this race all about (finishing) position and just moving throughout the race, keeping the place at the end (of the race) a top priority, is what really led to the success today for both our varsity and JV teams.”
In the girls race, St. Ursula claimed the Catholic League title for the third consecutive year. Schmidlin was the Arrows’ top runner, finishing fourth at 20:14.3, and was followed by teammates Claire Harrison (20:55.8, 12th), Reagan Savage (21:18.8, 18th), Kylee Diller (21:30.8, 20th) and Audrey Geletka (21:48.8, 27th).
The girls’ team competition was just as much of a nail-biter as the boys’ race produced. St. Ursula had the low winning score of 81 points, just ahead of Bloomfield Hills Marian (84), Jackson Lumen Christi (85), Toledo Notre Dame Academy (113) and Farmington Hills Mercy (119) among the 12-school field.
“We told ourselves that we had to stay with the runners that we were nearby, and we had to not let them pass us and stay with them the whole race. If we did this, we knew that it would really work out for us,” Schmidlin said. “Obviously, it ended up working.”
For the second straight season, Lumen Christi’s Samantha Schroeder won the race in 19:28.4. Although she led for the entire 5 kilometers Wednesday, spectators had trouble picking out which team was contending for the crown until the scores were totaled up in the Arrows’ favor.
“There are so many talented girls out here and they helped every one of our athletes along,” Schmidlin said. “There were many different people that we could have stayed with; I feel that’s what kept us motivated.”
Schmidlin felt she and her crew were well-prepared to tackle the tough course, which featured several challenging hills at key points.
“We just really stay motivated and we push each other. And we know that it will be a hard course, but we know that with a good strategy we’ll be able to get through it strong with each other,” she said. “It’s a really good course and it doesn’t really push us to PRs, but I think that’s for the better, because it brings out the really good talent that our team has.”
The Catholic League’s Cardinal Division championship will take place Oct. 23 at Willow Metropark near New Boston. Ann Arbor Greenhills won both the boys and girls titles last year, but should face challenges by the Marine City Cardinal Mooney boys and the Royal Oak Shrine girls in their efforts to defend.
