Nine area runners earn all-state honors in state finals
BROOKLYN — Run faster than you’ve ever run before. Check.
Improve your place from last year. Check.
Contend for the lead. Check.
There was a lot to like about Abenezer Cerone’s race in the MHSAA cross-country state championships, although there was just one box that the Royal Oak Shrine junior couldn’t check off.
Cerone was unable to catch Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep’s Marek Butkiewicz, and had to settle for a runner-up individual finish. Cerone finished the 5-kilometer course at Michigan International Speedway with a personal-best time of 15:40.6. However, he was off the pace of Butkiewicz, who blistered to a winning mark of 15:09.7 — a new record in the Division 4 class.
“Going into the race I knew he was a really good runner, and he’s had a phenomenal season,” Cerone said. “I just wanted to keep him in sight as best I could. I started losing him right before the two-mile; he really started to break away from me then.”
After finishing third in last year’s race behind two seniors — including champion Tyler Lenn from Marine City Cardinal Mooney — Cerone was the top returning runner and one of the favorites to win last Saturday (Butkiewicz finished sixth in 2023). While Cerone was able to challenge his foe from Kalamazoo in the first mile, Butkiewicz kept his foot on the gas throughout the entire 5,000 meters, and Cerone couldn’t make up the ground.
“There’s definitely a little regret, which really (stinks),” he said. “I wish I was closer than I was, for sure, but I was still satisfied with how it went.”
Cerone was able to take comfort in his teammates’ accomplishments, as the Knights finished fifth in the 27-team field, scoring 246 points.
“Our team worked really hard this season,” he said. “Our team was slightly disappointed because we wanted top three, but we’re still happy, because our team has progressed a whole lot from last year.”
While the second-place finish for Cerone — who was this fall’s Catholic League Cardinal Division champion — was one of the top storylines last Saturday, it wasn’t the only highlight. Nine runners from high schools within the Archdiocese of Detroit attained all-state honors for their top-30 finishes.
Divine Child’s Murray is in fast company
Like Cerone, Dearborn Divine Child senior Colin Murray had his sights on a front-of-the-pack battle, to follow up his ninth-place finish from last year. Murray’s main obstacle was that the fastest runner from 2023, Freeland’s T.J. Hansen, was back to defend his title as the only one of the eight race champions who hadn’t graduated.
That didn’t stop Murray from putting up a challenge, though.
“Oh my gosh, it was insane,” he said. “One thousand (meters) in, there were just two guys in front of me, and I was in no-man’s land. I was just trying to work hard and I think I went out a little too fast, but it’s just so much fun to be in this race.”
Murray — the Catholic League’s two-time Bishop Division champion — finished in a personal-best 15:14.8, yet crossed the finish line fourth. Hansen won in 14:50.5, and — just like last year — ran the fastest time of the day. He also lowered the Division 2 state record.
“All those guys were flying,” Murray said. “I feel I did a pretty OK job, even though they broke away from me. I’m pretty happy with it anyway.”
It was the best state-meet finish and the third time earning All-State for Murray, whose father, Guy, coaches cross-country and track at University of Detroit Mercy.
Dinverno, Swager pace Lumen Christi boys to top-five finish
For Isaiah Dinverno, it was a matter of getting back to the level he was at before. The Jackson Lumen Christi senior had been all-state in 2022 as a sophomore when he finished 28th, but missed the cut-off last year despite improving his time on the same course.
Saturday, Dinverno hit the mark in his final race as a Titan. He finished fourth out of 265 runners in 15:41.3 — a career best.
“I just wanted to be confident,” he said. “I knew I had to be positive. I came into the meet with a better level of fitness. I wasn’t 100 percent last year. So my goal was to stay positive, have a great day, and then we move on.”
Dinverno was equally upbeat about his Titans teammates finishing in fourth place, with 246 points. That was a marked improvement from Lumen Christi’s 12th-place ranking in 2023, and the best showing since they won the 2012 state championship.
Lumen Christi was helped by having a second all-stater, senior Leo Swager, who transferred to the school after spending 2023 at Traverse City St. Francis. Saturday was somewhat bittersweet for Swager, who saw his former teammates win the Division 3 state title. But don’t feel too bad for Swager — he was a key component of the Gladiators’ 2023 state champion squad.
Lumen Christi’s Schroeder knows motivation is at hand
Samantha Schroeder knows how to navigate big races like the back of her hand. And that’s precisely what motivated the Lumen Christi sophomore toward a top-10 individual finish on Saturday.
Schroeder, who was the Catholic League’s Bishop Division champion this fall, took a black Sharpie and marked up the back of her left hand, occasionally glancing at it during the race.
“I’ve got my teammates, and my family members on there, and they’re really important to me,” she said. “I don’t look at my hand that often because most of the time I’m focused on my race, but that’s really why I’m running. It motivated me to do well, and they’re kind of with me in the race.”
Schroeder says she doesn’t do that for every competition — just the most important ones. And it worked well for her at Michigan International Speedway, where she finished eighth with a career-best time of 18:06.4. It was her second straight year earning All-State honors after finishing 13th in 2023 with 18:56.5.
“I remembered things about running this race last year, and I’ve been working really hard to get a better time,” she said. “A few of us on the team got PRs, so it was a good day.”
D’Agostino is first all-state girl from St. Mary’s Prep
Mea D’Agostino had not been an All-State runner in past seasons, but when the Orchard Lake St. Mary’s senior realized that the accolade was within reach, it was hard not to go for it.
“I noticed coming into this race that I was ranked 35th, so it was a possibility,” said D’Agostino, who was the Catholic League’s Bishop Division runner-up last month.
Instead, she ended up at a much higher level. D’Agostino placed 13th of 261 runners in the Division 2 race. Her time of 18:24.4 was her career best, reflecting a sizable drop of 21 seconds.
“I was hoping to get a (personal record). It’s usually pretty windy here, but we ran in such great conditions today,” she said. “I thought about all the work I put in, going back to the summer, and I was trusting my senior season was going to play out the way I wanted it to. I just had to trust everything, including my coaching and my training.”
This was D’Agostino’s third time racing at Michigan International Speedway, so she said it was easier to formulate a game plan.
“I wanted to get out with the pack up front and hold on,” she said. “I was able to be more patient, knowing the course, coming back into the track and using the people around me to push me.”
Her achievements Saturday made D’Agostino the first girl from St. Mary’s Prep to become All-State in cross-country.
Other all-state, team results
There were three other runners of interest who earned All-State honors Saturday. In the Division 4 boys race, Riverview Gabriel Richard sophomore Jacob Ferdubinski placed 15th in 16:30.3, helping the Pioneers place 19th as a team.
Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central had two All-State runners. Freshman Christian Craanen, competing individually, finished 14th in the Division 3 boys race at 15:56.0. In the girls competition, Bella LaFountain was 19th in 18:52.6.
Team-wise, Detroit Catholic Central was 26th among Division 1 boys. For Division 2, Macomb Lutheran North finished 22nd (505 points) and Divine Child was right behind in 23rd (515). In Division 3, Ann Arbor Greenhills was 27th (613).
Among girls, four area Catholic schools competed in Division 2. Ann Arbor Fr. Gabriel Richard finished 16th (474), Divine Child placed 19th (494), Pontiac Notre Dame Prep was 20th (494) and Lutheran North was 27th (591).
Lumen Christi was ninth in Division 3 (272) while St. Mary Catholic Central was 24th (549). Among Division 4 girls teams, Shrine was 12th (356) and Clarkston Everest Collegiate was 18th (453).
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