On a crisp first day of November, Powers Catholic’s deeply talented cross country squad was about to toe the Division 2 state meet starting line following a season of spectacular performances.
Coach Dave Wolbert sought to ease the pressure of the moment with his final parting words to a group among the heavy favorites to hoist a state championship trophy.
“Throughout summer training and all season, the guys were dedicated to a sport they obviously love and fed off each other,” he said. “Even doing really hard workouts, they were having fun—no whining. I just told them to run with glee.”
At the starting box at Michigan International Speedway in Jackson, top runners Lennox Naswell and Bryce Gross did their part to keep the team composed.
“There wasn’t a whole lot of chatter right before the race, but Bryce and I did tell them to try and pass any stragglers they saw ahead of them during the last mile,” Naswell said.
All those months of painstaking preparation, the momentum of finishing at least tied for first place at every meet this season and that pre-race advice carried the Chargers to their first state championship since 1999.
Powers—also the first Genesee County boys’ team to capture a state title since Linden in 2008—finished with 98 points to East Grand Rapids’ 106.
“It was close, so there was some waiting around after we finished before we knew,” Gross said. “I think I was the first one to realize we won it, and then came an overload of emotion. I ran over to everybody else, and we started jumping around, dancing, and hugging. What a great feeling to celebrate with those guys.”
Naswell was Powers’ top performer, crossing the line fifth among 259 finishers in 15 minutes, 24.70 seconds for the five-kilometer (3.1-mile) distance. The sophomore improved from 32nd place the previous year. Naswell was three seconds and one place behind fellow sophomore Gavin Katic of Fenton. Only two other sophomores finished in the top five across any of the four divisions.
“I still had my hands on my knees after finishing when Bryce came over and we all started looking at the scoreboard,” said Naswell, who won all but two races he entered this season. “Then it was announced, and—wow—that was a cool moment for our team that is so tight-knit. We were always excited to train and race together.”
Gross delivered his finest performance in the final meet of his high school career, finishing 11th in a personal-best 15:38.20. That’s nine places higher than a year ago, when only he and Naswell qualified for the state meet, and 49 better than in 2023, when he helped the Chargers place 13th.
Senior Tommy Beiter also saved his best for last, taking 30th (the final all-state spot) in a personal-best 16:00.30—an astonishing 197 places higher than his last state-meet appearance two years ago.
Senior Caleb Carignan (16:17.50) was 48th, up from 102nd in 2023.
Sophomore Ryan Rathsburg rounded out Powers’ scoring five, finishing 51st in 16:19.60.
Trailing East Grand Rapids by 15 points with 1.1 miles remaining, the Chargers closed strong—especially Rathsburg. Heeding his teammates’ pre-race advice, he spent the final mile picking off straggler after straggler, moving up 30 places, including five in the final 200 meters. Most importantly, Rathsburg passed two East Grand Rapids runners.
Other Powers finishers were junior Ben Bouchey (135th, 16:57) and sophomore Alex Iordanou (185th, 17:17.8).
“I was able to watch them come through the 1.5-mile mark and then with about three-quarters of a mile to go, at which point I followed the live feed on my phone,” Wolbert recalled. “When I saw that our third, fourth, and fifth guys finished before theirs, I was like, ‘Wow, we may have won this.’ Winning by eight points is so close in cross country—it’s like the difference between one runner getting a side stitch at the wrong time or not.”
Head coach Dave Wolbert was an assistant on the last Powers boys team that won a state title in 1999. In that state meet, Powers runners wore singlets sewn by a mother of one of the runners. He has kept them this whole time, only BREAKING THEM OUT FOR special occasions and Saturday was one of them. Shown here are this year’s Powers’ runners who received and are looking over those jerseys.
Connections to the Chargers’ previous title team abound. Now in his 30th season as a member of Powers’ coaching staff, Wolbert was an assistant on the 1999 squad, and current assistant Leo Foley was a member of that team. The Chargers literally wore ties to that legacy during this year’s race, including the same singlets they donned 26 years earlier, which had been hand-sewn by the mother of one of the 1999 runners.
Less than a week before this year’s state meet, an envelope arrived at the school addressed to Gross from Steve Cuttitta, Powers’ second finisher in 1999. Inside were the orange and blue shoelaces he wore during that race. Gross cut them into seven pieces so all of Powers’ 2025 state-meet runners could tie them to their shoes.
Cuttitta texted Gross during the Chargers’ celebratory dinner, congratulating them on matching the 1999 team’s feat. That capped a memorable week for Cuttitta, who had coached the Park City (Utah) High School girls to their first state championship just four days earlier.
“It was so cool getting that text from Steve saying how much he and other runners from 1999 loved watching us win a state title of our own,” Gross said. “It was surprising but really awesome to get that package from Steve with the shoelaces, and then to wear the same jerseys they did was amazing. He’s a great guy who even ran with us a couple of times during the summer.”
Another Powers assistant coach is the legendary Kenn Domerese, Naswell’s grandfather, who joined the staff last season. Domerese coached the Carman-Ainsworth track and cross country programs for nearly 50 years before stepping down in 2022 after winning four state track titles.
Powers’ top finisher at the Division 2 state meet at Michigan Speedway – Lennox Naswell. He was fifth.
Powers’ second finisher at the state meet — Bryce Gross, who was 11th.
One of the runners on the 1999 team, Steve Cuttitta, sent one of the runners on this year’s team, Bryce Gross, an envelope in the mail, containing the orange and blue shoelaces he wore during the 1999 state meet. Gross cut each lace into seven pieces which all seven runners in this year’s state meet wore on their shoes.
“Having really successful coaches like my grandpa and Coach Wolbert, with their knowledge and experience, eases any anxiety we’re feeling,” Naswell said. “If we trust them, we’ll be fine.”
The Chargers’ top five runners set personal bests this season that placed them among the top 20 performers in program history.
Naswell’s best of 15:13.8, set while winning the Shepherd Invitational, is second only to 2003 state champion Luke Walker’s 15:12.95. Gross’ state-meet time ranks fifth, Beiter’s state-meet showing moved him to 16th, Carignan’s (15:56.69) is 15th, and Rathsburg’s (16:11.6) ranks 20th.
