Jack MacGregor doing Riley Hough things early in Howell cross country career
HOWELL — Jack MacGregor is new to high school cross country, but he knows the name Riley Hough well enough to know he’s doing something right when he’s mentioned in the same sentence with the former Hartland great.
MacGregor joined Hough as the only Livingston County freshmen to break 16 minutes for 5-kilometer cross country when he posted a time of 15:57.1 to finish second in a double-dual meet against Canton and Novi Tuesday on his home course.
Hough went under 16 minutes three times as a freshman in 2018, but took until his seventh meet to break into the 15s. MacGregor did it in his third meet.
Hough went on to set the county freshman record of 15:39.9 at regionals before becoming a two-time state Division 1 champion and the 2021 Eastbay national champion.
“It makes me a little nervous, gets me a little excited,” MacGregor said of the comparisons with Hough. “I expect some greater things to come in the future.”
MacGregor already has one record to his name, running the fastest high school debut by a county runner with his time of 16:12.6 Sept. 9 at the Rambling Rock Invitational. He lowered that time to 16:05.6 Saturday at the Holly/Duane Raffin Festival of Races before becoming the first Howell runner since senior David Mitter in 2016 to break 16 minutes.
“My coach was telling me prior to the season I would be in the mid-16s,” MacGregor said. “He really pushed me. I tried to push myself as much as I could and exceeded my expectations.”
MacGregor went out in 4:54 for the first time, sticking right behind Canton senior Mitchell Clark. Clark eventually opened up a gap and won in 15:39.8.
While MacGregor has quickly become the face of the Howell cross country program, his goals coming into high school had more to do with team success than earning individual accolades.
“I just wanted to make it a better experience for my teammates, push myself,” he said. “I get to train with some faster guys than I did in middle school. I definitely get pushed more. I’m excited for the season.”
MacGregor never envisioned making this big of an impact this soon.
“I was just like, ‘I’m entering ninth grade, I’m going to be at the bottom, I’m going to have to work my way up through my high school career,’” he said. “But my first race I did pretty well, so I’m like, ‘OK, I can hang with these guys.’”
Howell lost 25-32 to Novi and 19-42 to Canton.
CAAC Red jamboree
Fowlerville junior Lucas Moore finished seventh in a personal-best 17:16.6, taking 21.5 seconds off his previous fastest time. Nathan Szilagyi was 14th in 17:59.3 for the Gladiators, who were fourth out of six teams.
Brighton 15, Salem 50
Brighton had the top 12 finishers, led by first-place Tyler Brock’s time of 16:42.0. The Bulldogs’ next five finishers were within 0.5 seconds of one another.
MIAC jamboree
Charyl Stockwell senior Anthony Urbaniak lowered his own school record he set last week by 3.2 seconds with a second-place time of 16:54.7. Brody Urbaniak was 11th in 18:50.5 for the Sentinels, who were fourth out of seven teams.
Girls cross country
CAAC Red jamboree
Delaney Richardson was 11th in 21:14.0 to lead Fowlerville, which was fifth out of six teams.
Brighton 15, Salem 50
Brighton took the first 13 places, with its top four runners finishing with 1.3 seconds of one another. Megan Kowalski was first in 20:31.7, Lydia LaMarra second in 20:32.5, Elle Bissett third in 20:32.6 and Carrigan Eberly fourth in 20:33.0.
Canton 19, Howell 41
Novi 21, Howell 39
Howell’s Maura Lichiello placed fifth in 20:51.1.
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Golf
The Derby
Pinckney won a seven-team tournament at the tough Polo Fields Golf and Country Club course in Ann Arbor with a 431, winning a fifth-player tie-breaker over Ann Arbor Skyline’s White team.
Cassidy Farmer’s 127 as Pinckney’s No. 5 player was 10 strokes lower than the fifth score for Skyline.
Pinckney senior Alivia Ligrow tied for second with an 88, one shot behind medalist Alex Ellender of Ann Arbor Pioneer.
Katelyn Sanchez tied for 10th with a 111, Maisie Angerman tied for 14th with a 115 and Gabriella Collen tied for 18th with a 117 for the Pirates. Only five of 39 players broke 100.
Brighton 162, Salem 290
Lauren Forcier shot 38, Maddy Martens 39, Abbie Pietila 41 and Sydney Rauh 44 for Brighton.
Williamston Invitational
Fowlerville junior Keira Mahon tied for seventh out of 36 golfers with a 90. Raya Goulding tied for 11th with a 95 for the Gladiators, who shot 418 to place fourth out of six teams.
Soccer
Brighton 4, Howell 0
Devlin McGinnis, Liam Hasson, Cade Arnold and Santiago Contreras scored for Brighton (7-3-1), which hosts Hartland at 7 p.m. Thursday. Colin Robertson had two assists.
Charyl Stockwell 4, Hope Christian 0
David Wilson and Nic Nicaj each scored twice for the Sentinels.
Jackson 9, Pinckney 2
Foreign exchange student Witse Swevers scored both goals for Pinckney, which had been shut out in eight straight games after winning 2-0 over Charyl Stockwell in its opener.
Tennis
Williamston 6, Fowlerville 2
Fowlerville’s No. 1 doubles team of Oliver Farmer and Ben Durbin remained unbeaten, improving to 17-0 with a 7-5, 6-7 (10-12), 6-4 victory. Ethan Way won a three-set match at No. 4 singles for the Gladiators (14-2-2).
Swimming and diving
Plymouth 106, Howell 69
Annabelle Respondek took first place in the 200-yard freestyle in 2:10.28 and Madyson Papiez won the 100 breaststroke in 1:29.60 for Howell.
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Howell freshman Jack MacGregor breaks 16 minutes for cross country
