Churchill Cross Country, Season So Far

Livonia Churchill's girls cross country team won the Livonia City Meet Friday, Oct. 16, and junior Madelene “Maddie” Vargo and sophomore Troy Verhelle won the girls and boys races. At the Lakes Valley Conference championship Tuesday, Oct. 20, at Willow Metropark, Churchill's boys placed fourth of 12 teams and its girls sixth of 11. The MHSAA regional is at the same park Saturday, Oct. 31.

City champions

At the Livonia City Meet at Cass Benton Park on Friday, Oct. 16, Churchill's girls scored 23 points to Stevenson's 42 and Franklin's 67. Vargo won the 5,000-meter race in 20:21.6, and four teammates finished in the top 10: senior Julie Schuessler third (21:11.9), freshman Quinn Schoch fifth (21:54.4), senior Rachel Chapman sixth (21:57.2) and junior Natalie Oraa eighth (22:12.2).

In the boys race, Stevenson won the team title with 30 points to Churchill's 35 and Franklin's 71. Verhelle won in 16:26.6, ahead of Stevenson's Lucas Brumo (16:33.4). Senior Tyler Bjorklund was fourth (16:57.4) and senior Will Fust seventh (17:07.8).

The meet names its top 10 finishers in each race All-City, so eight Churchill runners, five girls and three boys, earned the honor. Coach Sara Kroll said the girls “crushed the Livonia City Championship,” with Vargo the individual champion and five scoring runners in the top eight.

Source: official results and meet information on athletic.net; coach Sara Kroll, Oct. 19

Conference championship

Four days later, at the Lakes Valley Conference Championship at Willow Metropark on Tuesday, Oct. 20, a meet Churchill hosted, Kroll said, the boys placed fourth of 12 teams with 118 points, behind Highland-Milford (41), Stevenson (84) and White Lake Lakeland (87). Verhelle was Churchill's first finisher, 10th in 16:36.6; Farmington's Devin Lau won in 15:47.6.

The girls placed sixth of 11 with 155 points. White Lake Lakeland won with 24, and its Morgan Scally won the race in 18:51.6. Vargo was Churchill's first finisher, 11th in 20:11.6.

Source: official results on athletic.net; coach Sara Kroll, Oct. 19

The girls' season

• Saturday, Sept. 12: 10th of 15 teams in the varsity race at the Rambling Rock Invitational, Willow Metropark
• Saturday, Sept. 19: 3rd of 18 at the Autumn Classic, Stony Creek Metropark, behind Macomb Lutheran North and Clarkston
• Saturday, Sept. 26: 30th of 36 in the division for schools of 1,000 or more students at the Jackson Invitational, Ella Sharp Park
• Tuesday, Sept. 29: 2nd of 5 at the LVC Lakes Division Championship, Nankin Mills Park, behind Farmington (26-50)
• Saturday, Oct. 10: 3rd of 22 at the Wayne County Championships, Willow Metropark, behind Northville and Salem
• Friday, Oct. 16: 1st of 3 at the Livonia City Meet
• Tuesday, Oct. 20: 6th of 11 at the Lakes Valley Conference Championship, Willow Metropark

Vargo has been Churchill's first finisher at all seven meets. She was second at Wayne County in 20:05.4, behind Salem's Madeline MacLellan (19:32.5), and fourth at both the Autumn Classic and the LVC Lakes Division meet. Her fastest 5,000 meters of the season, 19:59.7, came at Jackson. Schuessler was sixth at the Lakes Division meet and Churchill's second finisher in five of the six meets she ran. Chapman, Schoch and Oraa have been among Churchill's top five at all seven.

Source: official results on athletic.net

The boys' season

• Saturday, Sept. 12: 3rd of 22 in the varsity race at the Rambling Rock Invitational, 113 points to Plymouth's 109 and Detroit U-D Jesuit's 111
• Saturday, Sept. 19: 1st of 24 at the Autumn Classic, 45 points to Troy Athens' 75
• Saturday, Sept. 26: 19th of 35 in the 1,000-plus enrollment division at the Jackson Invitational
• Tuesday, Sept. 29: 2nd of 6 at the LVC Lakes Division Championship, 42 points to Stevenson's 37
• Saturday, Oct. 10: 4th of 25 at the Wayne County Championships, behind Plymouth, Stevenson and Dearborn Divine Child
• Friday, Oct. 16: 2nd of 3 at the Livonia City Meet
• Tuesday, Oct. 20: 4th of 12 at the Lakes Valley Conference Championship

Verhelle and Bjorklund were Churchill's top two finishers in each of the first six meets. At the Autumn Classic, Verhelle was third (16:34.2) and Bjorklund fourth (16:39.1). At the Lakes Division meet, Bjorklund (16:58.4), Verhelle (17:00.4) and Fust (17:13.4) finished third, fourth and fifth. Verhelle was third at Wayne County in 16:19.4, and both ran their fastest times of the season at Jackson: Verhelle 16:07.7, Bjorklund 16:16.9. At the conference championship, Fust (19th) and junior Victor Mullins (24th) finished ahead of Bjorklund (25th). Mullins and sophomore Colin Pierce have rounded out Churchill's top five in most meets.

Source: official results on athletic.net

A year ago

Churchill's girls won the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Region 06-1 meet at Willow Metropark on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, scoring 38 points to Ann Arbor Huron's 53. The boys placed third of 14 teams, behind Plymouth and Salem. Both teams ran at the Division 1 Finals at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, where the boys placed 22nd and the girls 24th of 27 teams.

Six of the 14 runners who ran for Churchill at those finals are on this fall's roster: Schuessler and Vargo for the girls, and Bjorklund, Verhelle, Elliot Condevaux and Matthew Keefer for the boys. Churchill's top girl at last year's regional, Rianna Radulescu (third), and Rachael Halkey (sixth) were seniors.

Last fall Churchill ran its league meets in the KLAA; this season it competes in the Lakes Valley Conference's Lakes Division. Athletic.net lists Patrick Daugherty as the boys head coach and Kroll as the girls head coach.

Source: official results, 2025 and 2026 team calendars and coaching staff on athletic.net

What's next

• Saturday, Oct. 31: MHSAA Lower Peninsula Region 06-1, hosted by Ann Arbor Huron at Willow Metropark
• Saturday, Nov. 14: MITCA Meet of Champions, Shepherd High School, on Churchill's calendar

Source: Churchill's 2026 calendar and meet pages on athletic.net