Grandville Student Wins Michigan State Title in Cross Country

Abe Visser of Calvin Christian High School in Grandville, Mich., won the Michigan state high school Division 3 championship.

It was Visser’s fourth straight year competing in the state finals. After winning the 3,200-meter run at last spring’s state Division 3 track and field finals, he made a commitment to match that victory in cross country this fall. “I realized that if I wanted to win in cross, I was going to have to put in some work,” Visser said.

Calvin Christian coach Laurens TenKate said that Visser stepped up his training over the course of the summer, with emphasis on cross training and body strength exercises. “He worked very hard during the off season to get better.

Visser posted a time of 15 minutes, 34.8 seconds over the 5,000-meter course, finishing about 14 seconds ahead of his nearest rival. He was thrilled to be able to share his victory with his teammates. “It’s a great group of guys and we had a really fun season,” he said. “It was kind of sad to see it end.”

After winning the state meet, Visser narrowly missed qualifying for the national high school championships. He is expected to continue his running career in college next year.