#20 - World Championships!

Inside This Issue:

• Everything you need for Budapest

• What Michiganders will be Competing?

• A History of Michigan at the Worlds

• Let’s Talk Drugs

• Legend: Paul McMullen

• The Little Stuff

Everything You Need For Budapest

• Live Results/Schedule

• TV Schedule

• Entries By Event

• World Athletics Stat Book

What Michiganders Will Be In Budapest?

While it won’t be our biggest World Champs squad ever, our state played a part in sending some quality talent to Budapest. Michigan sent more in 1995, 2003, 2013 and 2022 (our record year, with 8 athletes in 9 events). However, we keep our streak going of a competitor in every Worlds, now at 19 editions.

All told, 35 Michiganders have competed in the World Champs. Some of them have done so multiple times. The recordholder in that department is Alex Rose, who extends his record to 6 meets. Next on that list at 4 each are Brian Diemer, Kouty Mawenh and Tiffany Porter.

What school can claim the most? East Kentwood and Grand Blanc are tied at three each, with Cadillac at 2.

The event we’ve earned the most team berths in? Would you believe the discus, with 15! After that is the 10,000 (10), decathlon/heptathlon (8), 800 & 110/100H (7), steeple (6).

Michigan has won three medals at Worlds. Our best hope to win one this time around is probably Alex Rose.

This year’s Michigander squad:

100H – Cindy Sember (Ann Arbor Huron/Great Britain)
400H – Anna Cockrell (Detroit Country Day MS)
110H – Freddie Crittenden (Utica)
DT – Brian Williams (Fraser)
DT – Alex Rose (Ogemaw Heights/Samoa)

Plus sentimental favorite Jasmine Moore (Motor City TC alum) in the long jump and triple jump. Note that Grant Fisher (Grand Blanc) is listed as an alternate in the 10K; very slim chance of him running. Udodi Onwuzurike had been expected to star for Nigeria, but he was left off the roster because he hadn’t fully recovered from a hamstring injury.

The Michtrack list does not include non-Michiganders who competed collegiately for Michigan schools (Donald Scott, Tori Franklin, Zach Panning) or ran professionally for Michigan teams (Panning, Natosha Rogers).

Michigan’s History at the World Championships

Since the first IAAF World Championships in 1983, we have had at least one alumni of Michigan high schools compete in every single edition, representing four different nations. Here are the receipts:

Results key: h=preliminary heat; qf=quarter-final (if 4 rounds); s=semi; q=field event qualifying.

1983 - Helsinki
m400 - Eliot Tabron (Detroit Murray-Wright) 4h-46.68; 6qf-46.54
mSteeple - Brian Diemer (Grand Rapids South Christian) 6h-8:24.92; 8s-8:23.39
w400H - Judi Brown King (East Lansing) 4h-57.14; 7s-57.98

1987 - Rome
mSteeple - Brian Diemer (Grand Rapids South Christian) 4h-8:21.32; 4-8:14.46
m10,000 - Gerard Donakowski (Dearborn Heights Riverside) did not start
w800 - Delisa (Walton) Floyd (Detroit Mackenzie) 2h-2:02.76; 5s-2:02.45
w400H - Judi Brown King (East Lansing) 1h-55.35; 4s-55.55; 8-56.10

1991 - Tokyo
mSteeple - Brian Diemer (Grand Rapids South Christian) 5h-8:18.29; 5-8:17.76
w800 - Delisa (Walton) Floyd (Detroit Mackenzie) DQ-h (2:00.05)
wDiscus - Penny Neer (North Adams) 23q-54.26/178-0

1993 - Stuttgart
mSteeple - Brian Diemer (Grand Rapids South Christian) 10h-9:01.88
m10,000 - Todd Williams (Monroe) 4h-28:28.62; 7-28:30.49

1995 - Goteborg
m400 - Darnell Hall (Detroit Pershing) 3h-45.34; 1qf-45.09; 3s-45.07; 6-44.83
m1500 - Paul McMullen (Cadillac) 5h-3:48.70; 7s-3:38.54; 10-3:38.23
m1500 - Brian Hyde (East Kentwood) 7h-3:43.29
m10,000 - Todd Williams (Monroe) 8h-28:13.83; 9-27:52.87
m4x400 - Darnell Hall (Detroit Pershing) GOLD MEDAL 1h-2:58.23 (45.22 anchor) (dnc-final)
w5000 - Laura (Matson) Mykytok (Bloomfield Hills Andover) 10h-15:48.95

1997 - Athens
m4x100 - Kouty Mawenh (Pentwater-Liberia) 8h-39.90 (leadoff)
w800 - Kathi (Harris) Rounds (Walled Lake Central) 4h-2:03.33

1999 - Seville
m4x100 - Kouty Mawenh (Pentwater-Liberia) 5h-40.89 (leadoff)

2001 - Edmonton
m1500 – Paul McMullen (Cadillac) 5h-3:38.48; 6s-3:40.57; 10-3:39.35
mSteeplechase - Tom Chorny (Fruitport) 11h-8:51.74
mDecathlon - Phil McMullen (Cadillac) 15-8079
m4x100 - Kouty Mawenh (Pentwater-Liberia) h-dnf (leadoff)

2003 - Paris
mMarathon - Clint Verran (Lake Orion) 39-2:16:42
mMarathon - Ryan Shay (Central Lake) dnf
mDiscus - Carl Brown (Albion) 10q-63.01/206-8; 9-62.66/205-7
mDecathlon - Paul Terek (Livonia Franklin) 12-7503
m4x100 - Kouty Mawenh (Pentwater-Liberia) 5h-40.08 (leg 2)
wHigh Jump - Gwen Wentland (Grand Blanc) did not compete

2005 - Helsinki
mMarathon - Clint Verran (Lake Orion) 22-2:17:42
mDiscus - Carl Brown (Albion) 16q-61.91/203-1
mDecathlon - Paul Terek (Livonia Franklin) 13-7921
mDecathlon - Phil McMullen (Cadillac) 17-6832
wDiscus - Becky Breisch (Edwardsburg) 18q-57.16/187-6

2007 - Osaka
m10,000 - Dathan Ritzenhein (Rockford) 9-28:28.59
mDecathlon - Paul Terek (Livonia Franklin) 10-8120
wDiscus - Becky Breisch (Edwardsburg) 18q-58.42

2009 - Berlin
m10,000 - Dathan Ritzenhein (Rockford) 6-27:22.28
w800 - Geena Gall (Grand Blanc) 2h-2:02.63; 6s-2:01.30
wDiscus - Becky Breisch (Edwardsburg) 22q-58.50/191-11
wHeptathlon - Bettie Wade (Farmington) 24-5134

2011 - Daegu
w100H - Tiffany (Ofili) Porter (Ypsilanti-Great Britain) 1h-12.84; 1s-12.56; 4-12.63

2013 - Moscow
m10,000 - Dathan Ritzenhein (Rockford) 10-27:37.90
mDiscus - Alex Rose (Ogemaw Heights-Samoa) 29q-56.19/184-4
wSteeplechase - Nicole Bush (Wyoming Kelloggsville) 13h-9:58.03
w100H - Tiffany (Ofili) Porter (Ypsilanti-Great Britain) BRONZE MEDAL 1h-12.72; 1s-12.63; 3-12.55
wSP - Tia Brooks (East Kentwood) 11q-17.92/58-9½; 8-18.09/59-4¼
wHept - Bettie Wade (Farmington) 27-5768

2015 – Beijing
mDiscus - Alex Rose (Ogemaw Heights-Samoa) 25q-59.07/193-9
w100H - Tiffany (Ofili) Porter (Ypsilanti-Great Britain) 1h-12.73; 1s-12.62; 5-12.68
w100H – Cindy Ofili (Ann Arbor Huron-Great Britain) 4h-12.97; 6s-12.91
wShot – Tia Brooks (East Kentwood) 13q 17.71/58-1.25

2017 – London
m800 – Donavan Brazier (Kenowa Hills) 1h-1:45.65; 7s-1:46.27
mDiscus – Andrew Evans (Portage Northern) 20q – 61.32/201-2
mDiscus – Alex Rose (Ogemaw Heights-Samoa) 19q – 61.62/202-2
w100H - Tiffany (Ofili) Porter (Ypsilanti-Great Britain) 6h – 13.18

2019 – Doha
m800 – Donavan Brazier (Kenowa Hills) GOLD MEDAL 1h-1:46.04; 1s-1:44.87; 1-1:42.34 AR
mDiscus – Alex Rose (Ogemaw Heights-Samoa) 21q – 61.80/202-9
mDiscus – Brian Williams (Fraser) 27q – 60.48/198-5

2022 - Eugene
m800 – Donavan Brazier (Kenowa Hills) 6h – 1:46.72
m5000 – Grant Fisher (Grand Blanc) 2h-13:24.44; 6-13:11.65
m10,000 – Grant Fisher (Grand Blanc) 4-27:28.14
mDiscus – Alex Rose (Ogemaw Heights-Samoa) 8-65.57/215-1
mDiscus – Andrew Evans (Portage Northern) 18q-62.20/204-1
mDiscus – Brian Williams (Fraser) 28q-58.25/191-1
mDecathlon – Steven Bastien (Saline) 16-7939
w100H – Cindy (Ofili) Sember (Ann Arbor Huron) 1h-12.97; 6s-12.95
wPole Vault – Gabriela Leon (East Kentwood) 12-4.30/14-1.25

Let’s Talk Drugs

This is not a Michigan topic, thank goodness. But I have to admit I was disappointed by the news I got on Friday that Florida high school sensation Issam Asinga (the son of former EMU star Tommy Asinga) had been provisionally suspended by the AIU after a positive drug test. I hope it’s all an innocent mistake, but it doesn’t look good for the 18-year-old. The AIU (Athletics Integrity Unit) doesn’t screw up too often.

But here’s the thought I had as I was driving after hearing the news. I’ve interviewed the kid. I really liked him. It brings to mind Randolph Ross, the former North Carolina A&T star who was banned for 3 years last summer for whereabouts violations. I interviewed him and found it hard not to like him.

This is not a defense of dopers, real or alleged. I’m addressing the idea that a lot of people have that a doper is so evil that before they’re busted, you “just know” that they’re dirty. New flash: the dopers I have known in the sport are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Off the top of my head, I can only think of three convicted American dopers that I personally regard as terrible people. One was a sprinter. One was a distance runner. And one I have kept enshrined in my Twitter private messages, when he was stalking me a few years ago and threatening me, probably unhappy that the magazine I work for no longer lists some of his marks as records. I’m keeping those messages to show the police should the one-time gold medalist ever show up in town wanting to do me harm.

Funny thing: some people have termed this a “confessional” era in American society because so many people are accepted and loved after confessing formerly shameful things. Yet the confessions, at least about drugs, haven’t really hit the sports world. In my decades of covering the sport, and talking thousands of athletes and coaches, I’ve only had one athlete admit to me privately that he had used steroids. He did so by calling a shot put mark his “real PR.” When I asked him about the time he threw 5 feet farther, he said, “That doesn’t count. That was from when dinosaurs walked the Earth and we were all using.”

I’ve also only had one coach tell me he suspected a kid of his was using steroids (obviously without his blessing). That was the late Bob Parks, a man who spoke honesty every time he opened his mouth. “I can’t prove it,” he told me, “but all the red flags are flying with that young man.”

How do I still love this sport when I know that some of the athletes may be dirty? Well, how do you still love football or baseball or golf, where the testing programs are a joke compared with what tracksters submit to? Here’s the thing: I believe that most of our track athletes are clean, and it’s possible to get to the top without cheating.

Yet, since I interview so many athletes, I frequently encounter athletes who insist they are clean, or who insist the bad guys are dirty. Here’s the thing. When an athlete says that, I just think, “OK, whatever,” because some of the loudest people on the subject in my lifetime have turned out to be dirty. Only they know the truth, in the end. Unless they get busted.

What I do—as a fan and a journalist—is presume they are all innocent unless they get busted. I don’t assume someone’s dirty because of their event or because they don’t look like me. And I certainly don’t follow the popular “guilt by association” route, because that can pretty quickly taint so many of your heroes. If I didn’t do this with track, the way so many people do with football and other sports, I wouldn’t enjoy sports anymore. I’d suggest you adopt the same attitude.

Just don’t ever fall for the foolishness of thinking track is the dirty sport because we actually test and punish the dopers, while the sports that look the other way are miraculously clean.

Legend: Paul McMullen,
Cadillac’s World-Class Miler

Paul McMullen wasn’t a superstar while at Cadillac High School. He only won a single state title, in the 1990 Class B 1600 at 4:19.9. To put that in perspective, in the 30+ years since then, the race has never gone that slow. He didn’t run cross country at Cadillac, explaining, “In high school, you want to be separate from the runners, because you think they’re wimpy. I was a football man. I didn’t want to be recognized as a runner.”

Yet the 1600 captured his imagination. He told his coach he wanted to do it as a 9^th -grader, but his knees hurt too much because of growing pains. It wasn’t until his junior year that he started going 4 laps, hitting 4:36. The only recruiter who saw the potential in him was Eastern Michigan’s Bob Parks. After a redshirt first year, the 6-2/175 McMullen started producing for the Hurons, winning the Central Collegiates. As a sophomore he ran 3:40.96 and made All-American. The next year he placed 4^th at NCAAs. His senior year, 1995, he placed 2^nd to Kevin Sullivan in a memorable showdown.

That was the year McMullen broke out on the world stage. Under Parks’ guidance, he won the USATF nationals, edging East Kentwood alum Brian Hyde at the line as both ran 3:43.90. At the World Championships in Sweden, he made the final and placed 10^th in a PR 3:38.23. He slashed that down to 3:35.87 at Zürich, then 3:34.45 in Cologne.

In 1996, we wrote about his first Worlds, and the account tells much about what kind of racer he was:

In McMullen’s first international championship race ever, the heats of the 1500, the young American found himself a well-back 9^th with 200m left. Only the top 5 would advance to the semifinal. McMullen charged around the turn and came up fast behind the one-time World Champion. Bile saw him coming and whacked him across the chest with his arm. “He hit me real, real hard. Hard enough to where if I were 50 pounds lighter, I would have been on my back.”

Instead, the determined 23-year-old didn’t lose a stride. He passed several more runners and got the final qualifying spot. Bile didn’t make it. The semis gave fans another opportunity to watch the rookie, fresh out of Eastern Michigan, show what he was made of. With 500m left, just as he was beginning his charge from the back of the pack, two runners fell in front of him. McMullen got tangled in the knot of legs and went down also. He jumped up and blazed his last lap in 52 seconds-plus. He again earned the last qualifying spot and was the only American to make the final. The two others who fell came home last.

In the World Championships final, McMullen ran aggressively. “My goal going in there was not to just sit and kick at the end. I said, ‘I’m going to the front of the darn thing and I’m going to slow it down.’ I wanted to put the brakes on it. Well, you got 45,000 people cheering for you and it’s pretty damn hard to slow it down.” McMullen led to nearly 800m and was in good position with a lap to go, but he got cut off by eventual bronze winner Vénuste Niyongabo of Burundi, and then spiked on the last lap. He ended up 10^th.

“I learned a lot,” he says of the experience. “I’m glad I had to go through that.”

The next season was his first year as a pro and he won the Olympic Trials in 3:43.86, his winning margin just 0.02 as he showed just how dangerous he could be in a kicker’s race (800 went by in 2:06.42). At the Olympics, he got stuck in his semi and missed the final. Track & Field News ranked him as the top U.S. performer at 1500/mile.

In 1997, after a 3:58.61 mile indoors, he experienced the freak injury that would present his biggest challenge. Mowing the grass on a hillside, he slipped and caught his foot under the blades, severing most of two toes. The comeback proved to be extraordinarily difficult, since he had to adapt to a new footstrike and stride.

The next year, he was again a force, winning the USATF Indoor mile in 3:55.84 and 3^rd in the nationals 1500. He ran the mile distance 8 times, each of them under 4:00. Both 1999 and 2000 did not live up to his expectations, and he didn’t get a chance to make a second Olympic team, finishing 10^th in his Olympic Trials preliminary heat.

In 2001 he came roaring back, again earning honors as the top U.S. 1500 runner of the year. He placed 3^rd at nationals, then ran a lifetime best 3:33.89 in Monaco. At the World Championships he placed 10^th . Along the way he clocked his fastest mile ever, 3:54.94 in London. His 800 PR, 1:45.71, came in his last race of the season, in Berlin.

The 2004 season would be his final one at a high level. He clocked a best of 3:39.52 as well as a 3:58.60 mile, but did not better than 10^th in the Olympic Trials semis.

Afterward, he was a familiar and friendly face on the Michigan running season, finding special joy in coaching youth with his Chariots of Fire club.

In March 2021, McMullen tragically died at age 49 in a skiing accident.

Little Stuff At The End

Thorpe Cup, Marburg, Germany (8/12-13) - Two Michiganders were instrumental in the U.S. victory over Germany in the annual multi-event matchup between the two nations. Pinckney/SVSU alum Sam Black placed 4th, and Kalamazoo Hackett/MSU’s Heath Baldwin 6th. Their breakdowns: 4. Black 7869 (10.95, 24-3/7.39, 48-8/14.83, 6-6¼/1.99, 48.68, 14.65, 135-11/41.43, 14-5½/4.41, 184-1/56.10, 4:46.27);… 6. Baldwin 7802 (11.33, 23-0/7.01, 49-10/15.19, 6-8¾/2.05, 50.10, 14.42, 103-11/31.69, 15-5½/4.71, 224-8/68.49, 4:48.25).

Sir Walter Miler, Raleigh (8/4): This mile race saw Gina McNamara run 4:44.57 for 12th.

Good Reading: A talk with Krissy Gear, who dethroned Emma Coburn as USATF steeplechase champ. (Not a Michigander, but you’d like her.)

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Please pardon the typos: This issue was finished on the road (or rather, on the tarmac), and my lovely proofreader was not available.