JY Journalism - The 20 Greatest Runners in OLS, St. Fabian, And OLV Cross Country and Track

Jake Yono

JY Journalism

8/8/23

The 20 Greatest Runners in OLS, St. Fabian, And OLV Cross Country and Track History

(In No Particular Order)

If you know or not, in middle school I was a cross-country runner at St. Fabian and a track and field runner at my school Our Lady Of Sorrows. My middle school career was decorated with many top finishes, championships, and medals. The reason why I put 3 schools in the title is because I came from a catholic school (Our Lady Of Sorrows) which did not have enough kids to run a cross country and track team. So for Cross Country, Sorrows and St. Fabian Teamed up while Our Lady Of Victory had their own XC team. For Track though, all 3 schools combine to form 1 Our Lady Of Sorrows Track Team. To get things clear here there is no Our Lady Of Sorrows Cross Country team, and no St. Fabian or Our Lady Of Victory track team as they are all combined. In this article, I will be talking about the 20 greatest runners of All-Time in this distance-based dynasty. I will also discuss their accomplishments during and after their middle school running careers.

Out of the 20 runners I listed, 8 are currently still running in their middle school careers, and 12 are done with their middle school careers and are in high school now and I listed 12 boys and 8 girls. Let's begin with our 8 active runners. Let's begin with Libby Grezerma, she is one of 4 runners in the Grezerma family. She is entering her 8th grade XC season and she’s a very talented runner. Last track season she contributed to an Oakland County Middle School Championship first-place finish in the 4x800m relay and a first-place finish for the 4x800 at the CYO Championships. Also in the 1500m run, she took first at the Embrace Sports Relays with a time of 5:15 as a seventh grader. She also contributes to the 4x400m relay. For Cross Country her 2 Mile PR is currently 12:54 and last season in 6 out of 7 races she finished in the top 10 she is the 2nd fastest 2-mile runner in St. Fabian Cross Country History and the 3rd fastest miler in OLS track history and needs 13 seconds to get her hands on the record-breaking crown. Let's now get to another speedster Amelia Price, she is currently going into her 8th grade XC season at St. Fabian. Her 2 Mile Cross-Country PR is currently 12:34 which is currently the school record. Last season she finished all her races in the top 7 and earned a win at the Larry Sateb Invite. In track she is a long jumper and a 800m runner, her PR is 2:25 and she took home the CYO Championship in the 800 open and the long jump where she set her PR at 15 '2, and she also contributed to the 4x800 Oakland Country championship win. Let's move on now to J.J Lukas, she was also on that legendary 4x8 championship team, she has been running cross country since 1st grade as both of her parents help out as coaches, last year she was only in 6th grade and had a 2-mile pr of 13:58 with 5 finishes in the top 20. J.J. with only being in 6th grade has a lot of potential and she will claim more medals in her career. Our last active girl runner and the last member of the Legendary 4x8 Oakland County Middle School Championship team, Ainslee Carter from OLV. Although Libby and Amelia are better runners, that doesn’t make Ainslee Carter a bad runner though, she is currently the 6th fastest XC runner in OLV girl's history with a time of 13:31 and she needs 16 den ones to reach the 2nd place title going into her 8th grade year. In track her main event is the mile, with a time of 6:11. Going into her 8th grade year Ainslee has a lot to improve. A HM for the actively running girls is Regan Faut, I choose not to include her because I’ve only seen and practiced with her a couple of times as she mostly contributes to cross country at OLV. She currently holds the 100,200, and 400-meter titles for OLS track and the 2-mile cross country record for OLV with a time of 12:32. Regan was not on my list because I really did not get a chance to converse with her but she is a very talented runner and she would be on my list if I was closer with her.

Let’s get into the Actively running boys in the program, first, let’s turn our heads to Brady Glon, he ran XC for OLV, last year as a 7th grader his 2 mile PR was a scorching hot 12:04, at CYO finals he finished in 7th place. In track, he did not run this year but last year I got the opportunity to run a 4x800 relay with him at a loaded invitational race and we took 3rd place. Even if Brady is only a XC runner all I know is that he’s a determined kid who always wants to get better and that has shown as he is currently 3rd all-time at OLV XC. Now let’s get into the future where we have 3 athletes who are the future and they all will be championship athletes. It’s time to begin with Jack Grezerma, the brother of Libby from early on, is currently only going into fourth grade and has already been running 2-mile races since first grade and his time was 16 minutes. He only runs XC for St. Fabian because of the age limits for the track. He is mostly in the 1.2 JV races now. His PR is 7:50 currently. He is second on the all-time 1.2 mile chart for St. Fabian and he finished 11th at the 2022 JV CYO Cross Country Championship. Next let’s talk about the incoming fifth grader from OLV Declan Carter, the younger brother of Ainslee. he was declared eligible for track in 3rd grade. In third grade, he ran the 800 with me at the Whitmore Lake invite. His main event is the mile in which his PR is currently 5:52 which puts him fourth all-time in OLS history. In cross country, he has never run the 2 mile but he dominates in the 1.2 mile J.V race. His worst career finish was 18th at a loaded invitational. His 1.2 PR is currently 7:21 which puts him fourth in OLV history. Declan should be on varsity soon and be contending for CYP championships in both XC and Track. Our last actively running boy is Jamie Pickel who was mostly on the St. Fabian cross country team. He has been running for 2 seasons and is going into 6th grade now. His 1.2 J.V PR is 7:22 which means he’s the record holder of the 1.2 mile race at St. Fabian. In his career, he ran the 2-mile varsity race 3 times and his current PR is 12:33 which puts him at 10th all-time in St. Fabian history. He also ran track for one season when he was in 3rd grade in 2021 where he ran the mile in six minutes and 12 seconds. If Jamie wants to run track again he will become an absolute stud. And he had already run varsity cross country and track. Jamie, Declan, and Jack Grezerma are all the future of middle school cross country and track. Now let’s get into our athletes who have moved on from the program and moved on to high school.

Since This article is mostly about distance runners, let's get to the only two sprinters in my top 20. Austin Doyle ran for OLS track in his 8th-grade year but he did not disappoint, he finished 3rd in the 100m dash, and 5th in the 200m dash at CYO finals. That puts him 3rd all-time in the 100 and 200 in OLS track history. Now Austin is a varsity swimmer at Catholic Central and he will be a junior this year. Our 2nd and final sprinter on this list is Onimisi Sadiq, he only runs the 100 and 400, in 2021 he won the 400 open CYO Championship and got 6th in the 100-meter final after taking 2nd in the prelims. He holds the 100m record for OLS and is third in the 400m currently. Now Onimisi plays basketball at Catholic Central and that’s his main sport, he also runs track but his times are slower but he is still 5th in the 400m at CC going into his junior year. Since we’ve kicked the sprinters out of the way let’s get to the distance runners whose careers are already over. Paddy Grezerma was the 1st athlete in the Grezerma family dynasty, he only ran St. Fabian Cross Country but he is a legend, he is ranked 3rd all-time in the 2 mile with a time of 12:04 with a 13th place finish at CYO Finals. I personally believe without Paddy Grezermas's success there would be no Nora, Libby, or Jack. Since his parents got him into running first they got the other siblings into it and they have gone down as the best family of runners on my list. Now Paddy attends CC high-school where he swims with Austin Doyle he is a captain going into senior year. Now I’m going to talk about a runner I never came in contact with but I do know about him and that’s Nate Riddering. His middle school 2 mile PR was 11:52 at the Huron Invitational in 2018 where he finished 11th. After middle school, he attended Novi High School where he ran track and cross country for 4 years. In XC he was a 4-year varsity starter with 2 state finals appearances and a PR of 16:01. In Track his 9th grade got canceled due to Covid but that didn’t stop him. He ran the mile and 2-mile races. His mike time was 4:20 and his 2 mile time was 9:21. He had 4 Oakland County Championship Appearances and 1 state finals appearance. Nate has graduated and it’s safe to say that Nate is the most accomplished boy to ever run for our program right now. I do not know if Nate is running in college or not but I wish him the best of luck in whatever he chooses to do.

Now this is my favorite part of the whole article because I talk about the athletes I ran with my entire middle school career. We have 7 runners left (I’m one of them) 5 are in my grade and 1 is younger than me but I run with him every day and his name is Thomas Leemer. He was in 8th grade last year and in track, he ran the mile and helped with the 4x8 and 4x4. His mile time was 5:30. His 4x4 team got 2nd at the CYO Championships and first at the Whitmore Lake invite and his 4x8 team got 2nd at Whitmore Lake and 4th at the CYO Championship. My biggest track memory with Thomas is when he was in seventh grade and we won the 4x800 CYO championship relay. In XC for St. Fabian, his 2 mile PR was 12:14 which puts him 5th in the record books, he ran it for the first time in 4th grade with a time of 15:51. Last season he finished 4th at the Larry Sateb Invite and 17th at the CYO Finals. Now he is an incoming freshman at Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, he’s on my cross country team and he will be a varsity runner as he trains hard and he’s determined. I run with him every day now and he should be a great high school cross-country and track athlete. Now let’s get to the runners I graduated with and ended my Career with as we have 6 runners remaining including myself.

Our first runner is Matthew Wright, he ran for OLV XC and sorrows track. For middle school XC his 2-mile PR was 12:59. In track he was on my 4x800 championship team and he also ran the mile. But in middle school, he also did High Jump where in the CYO finals he finished 3rd. Now he attends Gabriel Ricard. His 5K PR is currently 18:13 as a freshman. I’m a track and he does distance and leads his team in long and high jump as a freshman. Overall Matthew Wright is a great athlete and he will do whatever you ask of him. Let’s now talk about the dynasty that is being built at Mercy High School. First Abby Bores, does not run cross country but is a varsity basketball player in her freshman year. On the OLS track team, she currently holds the high jump record with a jump of 4’8 in a CYO first-place performance. She is also second all-time in the 200 meters with a time of 29:76. She performed well with a second-place finish in the high jump at the CHSL Bishop Championship. She also does the 200 and long jump. Our next Mercy Marlin is Jenna Buchan from OLV, She runs XC and tracks for them, and her middle school PR in the 2 miles was 13:38 which puts her at seventh all-time in OLV history. In the Middle School track, she helped out with the 4x400 and the open 400 with a PR of 1:03 In the CYO championship and she played a key role in the 4x400 girls' win in the CYO finals. Her Freshman 400 PR was 1:00 flat. And her 4x400 team was fifth in the MHSAA Division One State Championship and she helped her team finish 4th in the entire state. Her 5K PR this year was 20:36. Jenna is a hard-working athlete and she will be one of the best to ever do it in Mercy HS history. The next Marlin is Grace Kim, She has been running St. Fabian XC since 2nd grade, and that paid off as she has a 20:34 5K PR for freshman year. In the OLS track, she helped take home a 4x8 CYO title. Also in the 4x8 at Mercy, her team qualified for the state championship. I run ParkRun with Grace a lot and she is a good and inspiring runner. Our 4th and final Mercy Marlin is Nora Grezerma. As a freshman, she already broke the 800m record at Mercy with a time of 2:15 and the Mile record with a time of 5:04 and she was on the all-state 4x4 team with Jenna Buchan. She also is in the Grezerma family with Jack, Paddy, and Libby, the greatest family in this series. Nora and her young relay team should be winning state championships in the future and I would not be surprised if Mercy took home a track state championship in the coming years.

Nora was also the best 800, and mile freshman girl in the state of Michigan. Nora Grezerma is now the best girl to ever run for OLS. Let’s move on to one of my beloved teammates Cole Wisniewski, Cole is the greatest miler in OLS history (5:05) and the most excellent XC runner in St. Fabian history (11:27). He was on my 4x4, and 4x8 CYO championship teams in 2022. He’s running in the Junior Olympics and the 2023 New Balance Indoor Nationals. He was all-region in high school XC and qualified for states and his PR in the 5K is 16:44. His track mike PR is 4:44. In My opinion Cole Will Break the 5K XC OLSM record and the mile record at OLSM which will cement him as one of the best runners in history. Now I am going to be assessing myself. I was on the 4x4 and 4x8 championship team. I ran track for 3 years and XC for 2. My 800 PR was 2:30 (2nd all-time) when I got 3rd at the Whitmore Lake invite. My 2 Mile PR was 12:11 which puts me at 6th all time. In my freshman year, my 800 PR was 2:12 (relay split) and 19:00 flat for the 5K. I got all-league and all-region in 2 events. I have a great future in track and XC. I want to break 2 minutes for the 800 and run at MIS one time for Cross Country.

Obviously, there are more than 20 good runners but these are the most with the most championships in history and there is a lot more to say about each and every athlete but I can only put so much into this. My honorable mentions are Benny Siddall and Regan Faut. It's going to be very exciting what all of these athletes end up accomplishing. In the end, I would like to thank all the coaches because none of us historic, championship-level athletes would go anywhere without our amazing coaches. Thank you, Coaches!!!