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- #107 - Outdoor Begins!
Inside This Issue
World Silver For Heath Baldwin!
The Kalamazoo Hackett/MSU alum continues to raise his standing in the world of combined events competition. At the World Indoor Championships in Poland, he produced a clutch set of performances to grab silver in a PR of 6337, a mark that makes him the No. 8 American ever. He finished 2nd to Switzerland’s Simon Ehammer, who brought down Ashton Eaton’s World Record with a score of 6670.
Baldwin started Day One with a PR of 6.97 in the 60. He long jumped 24-1, threw the shot 52-½, and high jumped 6-9¾. That gave him 3510 points, good for 3rd place as Day Two began. He caught fire after a night’s rest, hurdling a lifetime best 7.80, vaulting a PR 16-4¾, then closing it with another PR, this one at 1000m, 2:39.06.
Baldwin now owns the five best performances ever in the heptathlon by a Michigander. Next on the all-time list is Saline Olympian Steven Bastien at 6074.
The Outdoor Season is Finally Here
And some solid performances have happened already, as coaches navigate their teams past the two biggest hurdles of the early season, bad weather and spring break. It’s also a tough time for stat nerds to get a handle on the true outdoor list, one that excludes indoor marks and weeds out the big wind-aided marks. We’re starting on that late this year, thanks to some big work deadlines and a horribly-timed nasty cold. There’s a real chance We won’t be able to get a newsletter out in the next couple weeks (certainly not a full-sized one).
Here are a few of the early season highlights we’ve spotted:
Grand Haven’s speed program continues to shine. Keiavion Korenstra won a double against Hudsonville (3/31) in 10.86 and 22.16. Maybe not earth-shattering times, but the use of a wind gauge confirmed that Korenstra is in splendid shape. He ran the 100 into a 1.8 mps breeze and the 200 into a 0.8. Reverse the direction of that wind using the handy-dandy Big Gold Book chart, and those times could have been 10.66 and 22.06!
The Buccaneer girls are also rolling, with relays of 49.71 and 1:44.18.
At Reeths-Puffer (4/1), Indiana State signee Mason Darke flew to hurdle wins of 14.37 and 38.86. No gauge on the 110s, but it looks like winds were blowing as a crosswind.
At the Divine Child All-Comers (3/28), Janae Coleman won the 400 in 57.83. Notable is that she ran for a club, House of Champions, and not Oak Park. Looks likely we will not see her in regional/state competition this season. Last year she was D1 400 runner-up and ran on the winning 4×4 and 3rd-place 4×8.
Also at Divine Child, Cass Tech’s Layla Hawkins cruised the 300 hurdles in 45.42.
Rochester’s Ellie Mendoza took the outdoor discus lead with her 133-4 at Lake Orion (3/25).
Otsego’s Alex Robbins threw the disc 169-3 at Niles (3/24).
adidas: Bracey Breaks 9!
Virginia Beach, March 20-22—Before we forget, we need to cover the last of the major indoor meets of 2026. We’ll start the highlights with the second day, as there was nothing “big” on day 1. This is the most neglected of the three big national shoe meets. Some amazing performances here and there, while various other events were not close to being worthy of national championship status. Yet a nice mix of Michiganders traveled down and generated some fine performances.
Day 2 Highlights:
Frosh 60H - Girls: Isyss Stanford of Motor City placed 2nd in 9.19.
Championship 60 semis - Girls: Daelyn Jones ran 7.66 for 7th overall.
Frosh 400 - Girls: Addison Freeburn of Spirit of Pre ran 3rd in 60.26.
National Elite HJ - Boys: Declan Cornish jumped 6-2 for =8th.
Championship PV - Boys: Ben Goran got 4th with his 15-7.75.
Championship HJ - Boys: Declan Doroh jumped 6-8 for 4th.
Day 3 Highlights
National Elite 60H - Boys: Saline’s Chanon Palmer placed 4th in a big PR 8.12, just 0.08 off the state 10th grade record.
National Elite 60H - Girls: East Kentwood star Alana Bracey joined the sub-9 club, placing 5th in 8.95.
Championship 60 - Girls: Daelyn Jones placed 6th in a PR 7.64.
National Elite 200 - Girls: Jones made it an even bigger day by tying for 2nd in a PR 24.56.
Pro/College Highlights
Raleigh Relays (3/26-28): Michigan’s milers keep rolling: Trent McFarland (Utica/UM) ran an NCAA-leading 3:35.80, with Brendan Herger (Northville/UM) finished 2nd in a PR 3:36.03. Henry Dixon (Forest Hills Eastern/UM) ran 4th in a PR 3:38.70. (Note: since Dixon’s birthdate is 3/14/2007, he is a solid contender for a Team USA spot at the World U20 Championships in Eugene August 5-9.) Later in the meet Miles Brown (Novi/UM) took 2nd in the 800 at 1:47.16, with McFarland 3rd at 1:47.25. In the 10K, Koby Fraaza (Gull Lk/GVSU) busted a 28:52.63 for a D2 leader. Owen Westerkamp (Big Rapids/GVSU) steepled a nice 8:46.22. Sebastian Tesch flung the hammer 216-5.
Raleigh women: In the 800, Emmry Ross (Onsted/UM) ran 2nd in 2:04.51. Sophie Novak (Lake Orion/Notre Dame) PRed at 1500, placing 3rd in 4:08.90. Sam Hastie (AAHuron/UM) hit 4:12.59. Lauren Kiley (Plymouth/GVSU) ran 16:30.14 for 5000. At 10,000, Abby VanderKooi (WM Christian/GVSU) ran 34:08.50 and Anastasia Tucker (Dow/GVSU) 34:27.84.
Beistle, right, with champion Valarie Sion and 3rd-placer Cierra Jackson.
USATF Long Throws Championship (3/28): Erika Beistle made a big splash, taking 2nd to Olympic champion Valarie Sion in the discus with her 206-3, a performance that netted the Grand Valley alum from Big Rapids some prize money as well.
Washington University Distance Carnival (3/26): Jacob Walker (Columbia Central/SVSU) ran 29:09.04 for 10,000.
Polar Bear Classic (3/20): Blake Vier (Royal Oak/Northwood) ran a wind-aided (2.3) 13.73 in the hurdles. Andrew Berryhill (BC Lakeview/GVSU) threw the shot 58-10.75.
Haering Classic (3/27): Hillsdale’s Ben Haas (Clarkston) threw the hammer 214-7.
Knight Open (3/27): Nice discus for Alex Pranger (NorthPointe Chr/Cornerstone) at 177-7.
GVSU Early Bird (4/3-4): Erika Beistle threw the disc a stunning 217-8 to move to the top of the 2026 world list! Her series had two other throws beyond 210-0. PR hammers to Sebastian Tesch (219-6) and Michael Griffey (Plainwell/GVSU) (218-10).
Florida Relays (4/3-4): Anavia Battle (Wayne) ran second leg on the winning mixed 4×1 that the national team ran, a group that clocked 40.84. Mason Phillips (Salem) led off the “Blue” team that finished 2nd in 41.45.
Stanford Invitational (4/3-4): Julia Flynn (Traverse City C), running unattached, placed 3rd in her 1500 section in a PR 4:14.85. Evan Bishop (EGR/Oregon) placed 7th in the 10,000 in 27:57.98. He becomes the seventh Michigander to break the 28min barrier. [Trivia: can you name the other six? The answer is below.]
Apologies! We are definitely missing some other obvious highlights, but time is up and I have to hit send!
Thanks to our Hall of Fame Sponsors!
One of the most important parts of the Michtrack.org website is the Michigan Track & Field Hall of Fame. We consider researching and passing on the history of the sport in our state to be our most vital mission. When young athletes can see the greats that went before them and how they found success no matter what their background, no matter how big their team was, it can have a truly inspirational effect.
Only time constraints have kept us from introducing the latest class of inductees. There are athletes from as far back as 90 years ago, and some whose names are still fresh in our minds. We are looking forward to getting caught up as soon as we can. We feel it’s important to present the athlete’s full story, rather than just a list of names.
We have a special Gold sponsorship to boost the Hall of Fame, and this month we have two notable additions. Both were donations in the memory of coaches that were not only personally important to the donors, but had a huge effect on the sport in the state.
Gene Balawajder, at right, with one of his many champion Milford squads.
Gene Balawajder coached at Milford for over a quarter century, and built the program into a powerhouse that is still going strong today.
Mike Smith of Saline, shown here with Noelle Adriaens, who won the Mike Smith 3200 at the Golden Triangle meet in 2019.
Mike Smith taught at Saline for 28 years and in that time also made the Hornets’ girls program into one of the strongest traditions in the state.
To make a Hall of Fame donation in memory of a special person, or in honor of a track/XC program, information here.
Other Things
Rachel Forsyth: Has announced that she will no longer be running for MSU. We’ll report on her future plans once we know them.
Charitable Giving: Keep in mind that Michtrack is a federally approved 501c3 and that donations to keep our historical work going, as well as this newsletter, are tax deductible. For how to give, visit here.
Trivia Answer: The other 6 Michiganders to break 28:00: Grant Fisher, Dathan Ritzenhein, Todd Williams, Greg Meyer, Doug Brown, Gerard Donakowski.
Comments, suggestions, and all that stuff? Email [email protected].
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