#16 - The Readers Respond

In This Issue

• Team State Reactions

• Junior Olympic Regional Highlights

• USATF Championships - Michigander Entries

• USATF U20 - Michiganders

The Readers Respond on Team States

Last week we published our take on MITCA’s team state meet and whether it should ever be given the official nod by the MHSAA. We weren’t surprised that it generated a strong reaction.

A sampling of some of the reaction, both from emails and a thread on the Michtrack Facebook page.

Name Withheld: “I love love love your thoughts on 'team states' The potential of deciding a state title based on which mediocre athlete's parents decide that their child might or might not go on vacation instead running a track meet make me half crazy anytime someone brings it up. I've elected not to take my team to MITCA states the past several times we have qualified. It seems like I'd be bringing 60% of my roster between family vacations, travel sports and other nonsense.”

Dave Lustig: “Always enjoy reading your articles Jeff! Why do we bother scoring the mhsaa meet to begin with? What sports keep a score where only their best competitors are factored in? TEAM sports must rely on both their strongest and weakest links to be successful and I do believe this why a meet with a format similar to the Team State event more closely resembles a TEAM result. It's not the most perfect format. Can you imagine if the mhsaa baseball championship teams were allowed to skip over their 9th batter or could only hit to left field because the right fielder didn't have a great arm? I know you don't the like the sport comparisons but I think this is where wrestling gets it right in order to determine the best TEAM.”

Ian Bedford: “I agree with Jeff. Also, do the kids really need another ‘high’ end meet to compete at? Why not leave it as it is and focus on getting a two day state meet?”

John Goodridge: “The definition of TEAM is at the heart of the discussion. Here are two examples from my collegiate experience: I recall one year that Kansas placed 2nd in the Indoor NCAA National Championships based on two Pole Vaulters placing 1-2. I don't think that means that Kansas was the #2 Track and Field Team in the nation. While Head Coach at Wake Forest we placed 8th in the NCAA National Championship Team Score based on one athlete winning the Shot Put and Discus. I know we were not the #8 strongest team in the NCAA. Yet I bet the general public would assume those conclusions.”

Gene Lebron: “Completely agree with you.”

Tom Micallef: “For the most part I agree with what you say about "Team States.” And I'm OK with your "renaming". But I still struggle with MHSAA STATE CHAMPION TEAMS when they win it with ONE athlete scoring all the points (and we know this has happened occasionally). ONE ATHLETE = INDIVIDUAL. One athlete is not a TEAM. Once again, in my mind, I wish there was an extra week in the track season so that both events could "have their day in the sun". The Team meet going on Memorial Day weekend doesn't always deliver especially since Oakland County is the night before. BUT JUST LIKE ALL THE "ALL STAR" / "SUPER STAR" NATIONAL MEETS.... There is more than one way to skin a cat (hope you are not a cat lover!).”

Jacob Kuyvenhoven: “More than dual meet scoring it has always felt like XC coaches trying to apply XC scoring to track.”

Dan Wytko: “St Joseph, this year’s D1 MHSAA boys champion, did not win their dual meet portion of the season, or conference championship meet. They did not with their regional either. Three different teams were better on those days, Portage Central, BC Lakeview and East Kentwood. But they were the best team/school at the MHSAA finals. Congrats to the Bears.”

Doug Grezeszak: “I was an early advocate of the team state meet. Our girls team tied for first once and our boys team was second twice or maybe even three times. It was an awesome meet but it was much too trying to do it over Memorial Day weekend, and it taxed your athletes heavily, especially the ones who were going to make it to the meet of champions and the state meet… When I was retired and back from my teaching in China, I did volunteer work, coaching, at Whittemore Prescott high school for four years. It was my way of giving back to that high school that gave me a good education and a start to life. While there we won the MITCA State meet once, and won the MHSAA state meet in the same year. Both were awesome but the MITCA meet did take away from our point total at the MHSAA state meet I felt. It just creates a situation where there are too many really big meets in that last two weeks of the year; we were lucky and scored enough points at the MHSAA meet to still win it. “

Anthony Wirth: “I have to admit I very much disagree with you on the True Team format, though. Is the MITCA format the best format moving forward? Maybe, maybe not. But anything is better than what we have now. Full disclosure, I do come from and coach at a school that is blessed to have a very dedicated head coach, community, and group of assistant coaches that spend a lot of time coaching up "mid-tier" kids to establish depth. A true team meet would inherently be in our favor… Maybe the middle ground is to allow a coach to enter x amount of athletes per group of events (sprint, distance, throws, jumps, vault) to avoid overwhelming smaller teams with pure numbers. But a sport where a team title can be won with 1 athlete is not a team sport. Maybe that's what the people around the sport want, but the current format is not a team event in any sense. We should try to grow interest in the sport rather than hamstring it with a format that does not reward development of a number of athletes.”

Jon Brendan Marcum: “Absolutely spot on opinion. I’m very grateful for what MITCA does for the sport. Very grateful. The Dual Meet Championship is not it though.”

More Tom Micallef: “As one of a couple of handfuls of coaches that have won both MHSAA titles and MITCA titles... I understand both sides. For me, winning an MHSAA was the ULTIMATE goal and the best feeling a coach can ever imagine… Winning MITCA titles was fun but it always took a back seat to the MHSAA titles. The meet has merit and a purpose and at the very least gives opportunity. Opportunity has value… I really think that the whole issue could be resolved if the scoring of the MHSAA final was revamped. Score 12 places or 16 places like they do in swimming. I believe if you did that the cream would truly rise to the top.”

The Last Word

While the debate on whether MITCA’s team state meet should ever get MHSAA approval will surely go on for years, we’re going to put the item to bed in our newsletter, at least for this season. However, I get to have the last word, one of the benefits of writing the newsletter. Bottom line: while I have empathy with many of the points raised, nothing has changed my original conclusion, which is that the MHSAA should not change the way our team champions have been selected for 127 years in favor of a scheme that favors the “have” programs over the “have-nots”.

Indeed, adopting a scoring system that no other state uses to decide its team champions—one that is not used at the collegiate level either—is an extreme measure to change a situation that is only a problem in the eyes of some. The rules of our game have been clear for more than a century: to be a championship team, a team must produce champions. It’s time for our coaches association to accept that and move on.

Junior Olympic Regional Highlights

The meet, held in Ypsilanti July 1-2, produced some stunning results. We can’t recap everything here, but have taken note of exceptional performances that reflect what our elite high schoolers (and in some cases, middle schoolers) are doing. The first 2 days were cancelled because of bad air quality, so no multis or steeplechases were held. For full results, click here.

• 100: G13 (0.7)—Cayla Hawkins (TL) 12.44.

• 100: G15-16 (3.6)—Kamryn Tatum (MM) 12.07w.

• 100: G17-18 (1.1)—Jayla Graham (TL) 12.15; 2. Ke’Vina Finch (CTC) 12.32; 3. Nona Waldron (MR) 12.46.

• 100: B15-16 (1.3)—Jeremy Dixon (Blazers) 10.92.

• 100: B17-18 (2.2)—Drew Novak (TUE) 10.90w; 2. Tayvian Smith (Blazers) 10.93w.

• 200: G13 (-2.1)—Cayla Hawkins 25.38; 2. Janae Coleman (MC) 25.53.

• 200: G14 (-2.2)—Nevaeh Burns (MC) 25.54.

• 200: G15-16 (-1.9)—Kamryn Tatum 24.63; 2. Taryn Henderson (MR) 25.10; 3. Keyanna Otey (Blazers) 25.52.

• 200: G17-18 (4.1)—Ke’Vina Finch 25.34w.

• 200: B15-16 (-2.9)—Jaiden Smith (Blazers) 22.32; 2. Ahmad Ameen (Blazers) 22.44.

• 200: B17-18(-0.4)—Braxton Brann (AAH) 21.33; 2. Shamar Heard (16W) 21.74; 3. Noah Morris (16W) 22.17; 4. Jonas Morris (16W) 22.17.

• 400: G13—Cayla Hawkins 55.76; Janae Coleman 56.60.

• 400: G14—Nevaeh Burns 58.28; 2. Leah Thomas (MC) 59.42.

• 400: G15-16—Kamryn Tatum 54.96 (state leader); 2. Kai Allen (MC) 57.87; 3. Rhian Jeffries 58.49.

• 400: G17-18—Lindsay Johnson (CTC) 57.48; 2. Kelis Hunter-Young (MC) 57.84; 3. Kylee King (MC) 57.96; 4. Emma Thomas (TL) 59.21.

• 400: B14—Brandon Kuhn (Str8) 51.29.

• 400: B15-16—Rondre Austion (MC) 49.25; 2. Ty Oaks (MC) 50.07; 3. Aydan Myers (Str8) 50.12; 4. Ahmad Ameen 50.28.

• 400: B17-18—Shamar Heard 48.53; 2. Jonas Morris 48.84; 3. Evan Watson (MM) 49.27; 4. Noah Morris 49.59; 5. Drew Graves (MM) 49.64; 6. Chris Estell (16W) 49.68.

• 800: G13—Janae Coleman 2:16.47.

• 800: G14—Leah Thomas 2:19.20.

• 800: G15-16—Layla Jordan (AAS) 2:16.39; 2. Lauren Bickerdt (TL) 2:18.30.

• 800: G17-18—Kylee King 2:15.68.

• 800: B17-18—Drew Graves 1:56.71.

• 1500: G15-16—Layla Jordan 4:50.91.

• 1500: B13—Lennox Naswell (GS) 4:26.81.

• 3000: G15-16—Nina Jones (TL) 10:45.26.

• 3000: G17-18—Lillian Deskins (16W) 10:45.26

• 3000: B15-16—Jacob Staniislawski (AA) 9:17.48.

• 100H: G15-16 (0.0)—Carrie VanNoy (MC) 14.28; 2. Aliyah Ferguson (AA) 15.19; 3. Lauren Bickerdt 15.31.

• 100H: G17-18 (-0.7), Nonah Waldron 13.75; 2. Maya Rollins (AAH) 14.14; 3. Morgan Roundtree (MC) 14.30; 4. Jada Wilson (AAY) 14.92.

• 110H: B15-16 (0.0)—Schmar Gamble (AAY) 14.61.

• 110H: B17-18 (0.4)—Braxton Brann (AA) 14.07; 2. Kayenn Mabin (Blazers) 14.31; 3. Nakia Willis (GR) 14.81.

• 200H: G13—Payton Gee (MC) 29.22; 2. Kahlia Hart (MC) 29.25.

• 200H: G14—Amaya Brown (TUE) 29.87.

• 200H: B14—Sterling Diop (MC) 27.88.

• G400H: G15-16—Lauren Bickerdt 63.26; 2. Carrie VanNoy 65.90; 3. Alana Bracey (GR) 67.60.

• 400H: G17-18—Nonah Waldron 59.12; 2. Morgan Roundtree 61.81; 3. Jada Wilson 63.56.

• 400H: B15-16—Angelo Finnie *(MC) 57.48; 2. Ashton Brann (AA) 59.16.

• 400H: B17-18: Michael Davis Hawkins (CTC) 54.26; 2. Nakia Willis 56.74; 3. Kayenn Mabin 57.20; 4. Trevor Watts (Blazers) 57.48.

• 4×1: G15-16—GRTC/Fire 49.46.

• 4×1: B15-16—Blazers 43.42.

• 4×1: G17-18—16Ways 42.31.

• 4×4: G15-16—Motor City 4:01.12.

• 4×4: G17-18—Motor City 3:51.27.

• 4×4: B15-16—Motor City 3:23.58.

• 4×4: B17-18—Michigan Mustangs 3:17.42; 2. 16Ways 3:19.07.

• HJ: G17-18—Milena Chevallier (MR) 5-6; 2. Reign Richmond (GTC) 5-4.

• HJ: B17-18—Nathan Levine (MR) 6-6; 2. tie, Deepak Laungani (MM) & Christian Purchase-Ofoeme (16W) 6-4.

• PV: G17-18—Allison Shelton (EP) 12-0; 2. Genna Golab (EP) 11-6.

• PV: B17-18—Noah Thames (EP) 13-0.

• LJ: G15-16—Mia Barnett (16s) 17-6.

• LJ: G17-18—Kaitlyn Molnar 17-10; 2. Ashley Richburg 17-7; 3. Breanna Hyde (GR) 17-1.

• LJ: B15-16—Charles White (OCT) 21-1.25.

• TJ: G17-18—Kaitlyn Molnar 32-5.5.

• TJ: B17-18—Brock Ferguson (Blazers) 40-0.5; 2. Deepak Laungani 39-0.

• SP: G14(6lb)—Lorelai Zielinski 53-8 STATE RECORD (possibly national?)

• SP: B15-16—Teegan Simmons (Waza) 50-8.

• DT: G15-16—Jada Ewell (Str8) 121-5.

• DT: B15-16—Teegan Simmons 157-5.

• JT: G15-16—Makayla Evanson (Core) 107-6; 2. Jynelle Lewis (Blazers) 103-4.

This Weekend: USATF Nationals

Starting Thursday, the senior meet will select Team USA for the World Championships in Budapest in August. Here are the Michigan alumni that as of Tuesday declared. Start lists aren’t up yet. We’ve listed them with the high schools they ran for (and middle school, in one case). Kudos to East Kentwood for having three alumni competing! Live Results

• M400—Matthew Moorer (Ypsilanti Lincoln)

• M1500—Hobbs Kessler (Ann Arbor Skyline)

• M1500—Nick Foster (Ann Arbor Pioneer)

• M-Steeple—Nathan Mylenek (Pontiac Notre Dame)

• M5000—Grant Fisher (Grand Blanc)

• M5000—Morgan Beadlescomb (Algonac)

• M10,000—Grant Fisher (Grand Blanc)

• M110H—Freddie Crittenden (Utica)

• M-PV—Trevor Stephenson (East Kentwood)

• M-TJ—Isaiah Griffith (Detroit East English)

• M-DT—Andrew Evans (Portage Northern)

• M-DT—Brian Williams (Fraser)

• M-JT—Chandler Ault (Midland-homeschool)

• M-Decathlon—Steven Bastien (Saline)

• M-Decathlon—Ryan Talbot (Forest Hills Central)

• M-Decathlon—Samuel Black (Pinckney)

• M-Decathlon—Mason Mahacek (Grand Haven)

• W200—Anavia Battle (Wayne Memorial)

• W200—Kyra Jefferson (Detroit Cass Tech)

• W400—Taylor Manson (East Lansing)

• W1500—Natalie Cizmas (Clinton Twp Chippewa Valley)

• W100H—Grace Stark (White Lake Lakeland)

• W400H—Anna Cockrell (Country Day MS)

• W400H—Mariel Bruxvoort (GR South Christian)

• W-PV—Kristen Leland (Remus Chippewa Hills)

• W-PV—Gabriela Leon (East Kentwood)

• W-DT—Corinne Jemison (East Kentwood)

• W-DT—Malin Smith (Lansing Waverly)

• W-Heptathlon—Cheyenne Williamson (Essexville-Garber)

Michiganders at USATF U20 Championships

Friday-Sunday, also in Eugene. This will select the team for the Pan-Am U20 Championships in Puerto Rico in August. Again, athletes are listed with the high school they attend(ed). Live Results

• M-Steeple—Caleb Jarema (Pinckney)

• M400H—Tamaal Myers II (Detroit Cass Tech)

• M400H—Jaylin Holmes (East Kentwood)

• W100—Kaila Jackson (Detroit Renaissance)

• W200—Kaila Jackson (Detroit Renaissance)

• W3000—Rylee Tolson (Stockbridge)

• W5000—Rylee Tolson (Stockbridge)

• W100H—Nonah Waldron (Oak Park)

• W400H—Nonah Waldron (Oak Park)

• W400H—Mya Georgiadis (Ann Arbor Huron)

• W-HJ—Milena Chevallier (Farmington Hills Mercy)

• W-PV—Sophia Mettes (Dexter)

Feedback: always welcome. Just hit reply to this email. Or write me at [email protected] (that’s where the “replies” go anyway).

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Also: Sorry this issue was late. Real life intervened.

Another apology: This issue was put together without the assistance of our amazing proofreader. I own all mistakes—Jeff

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