#27 - State XC Finals Coming

Inside This Issue

• State XC Finals On Tap

• How A Fence Ended One of the Greatest Track Seasons Ever

• Michigan At The Pan-Am Games

• Brooke Bowers Soars

• Little Things

Surprise Newsletter

Don’t know about you, but this one was a surprise to me, as I wasn’t even planning on having a newsletter this week. However, we made our monthly deadline at the magazine, and I got to spend some much-enjoyed time digging into PSL track results from the 1950s and ‘60s, and boom! I’m inspired.

State Meet (Not Quite a) Preview

I’m not into prognosticating what’s going to happen at MIS this weekend. But as I do my research for my announcing gig, here are a few of the many things I’ll be looking at.

How fast? Past years have taught us that a big rain or snowfall even early in the week can leave the MIS infield a soft, slow surface when race day rolls around. However, we had a token amount of precipitation in the area over the weekend, and nothing is projected until after the meet is over. With temperatures predicted from the low-40s to the mid-50s, we could be looking at a fast one on Saturday.

Is anyone going to challenge Dathan Ritzenhein’s legendary course record of 14:11 (14:10.4 for those allergic to rounding)? I don’t see it happening. But the girls course record of 16:53 (16:52.1) by Lansing Catholic’s Olivia Theis is very much in danger, thanks to Rachel Forsyth. The Pioneer senior zipped a 16:08 (16:07.5) on Lake Erie Metropark’s flat and very fast course (short-mowed and well-rolled).

(Regular readers I’m sure can imagine the fun I’ve had this week with people who know better insisting this is a state record. Funny that none of them can point to an NCAA record for XC, let alone a world record.)

What can Forsyth do at MIS, which is a more challenging course? A 16:30 wouldn’t surprise me. Another record that could fall is the biggest D1 margin ever. In 2009 Megan Goethals of Rochester won by 1:15.5. (The biggest all-class/divisions margin was the 2:04 notched by Gina Van Laar of Allendale forty years ago.)

In D2 girls, I see a much more crowded lead pack. Will any of the big names make the classic MIS move of bolting on the downhill that starts at the mile mark. It can backfire, but I’ve seen it succeed many, many times. In D3, the course record is 17:13, a time I can see defending champ Jessica Jazwinski approaching if she can stay relaxed over the first mile. D4 should bring us a very intense two-athlete battle up front between defender Aiden Harrand of Buckley and Whitmore Lake frosh Kaylie Livingston. It should go quite a bit faster than last year’s 19:05.9.

On the guys side, I’m looking forward to an intensively competitive race in D1, with perhaps 5 or more breaking 15. D2 should give us a rousing battle among TJ Hansen, Evan Loughridge and Connell Alford. In D3, I have to confess that I’ll be watching Bobby Jazwinski of Hart, who ran into problems at his regional but hopefully is feeling good enough to make a run for the top at MIS. Could he join Hunter Jones as the only frosh to ever win in D3? D4 will be interesting, with what I think could be a well-matched lead pack sticking together for the first 2M.

Note that I haven’t focused on teams much here. I’ll leave that to the experts. My perspective in the golf cart narrows my focus during the race to the lead pack, which means during the action, unless some team is crushing a seriously low score, I have little idea how the scores are playing out. The last couple years, with interim scores at the mile marks, have been a godsend.

As has been the case for more years than I care to count right now, I’ll be riding in the lead cart with Rudy Godefroidt, who is the head referee. Spotting as she has since she was a kid is my daughter Katy. In the booth providing the glue that makes the presentation come together nicely will be longtime pro George Tilt. The awards ceremony will be handled, as usual, by Scott Hubbard.

PS—Another thing I’d love to see is the MHSAA allow UP state meet winners and top teams to compete at MIS so that we can finally call this a “State Meet” officially. After all these years, it seems ridiculous that the 3% of the state’s programs who refuse to come across the bridge keep the LP kids from being hailed as “state champs”. We’re the only state out of 50 that doesn’t have an official state meet and it’s time for that to change.

Time Machine Meet:
The 1961 Detroit City Track Championships

Once again, I have been digging into 1961 and find that year (which I’ve written about before) absolutely fascinating. Henry Carr of Northwestern surely would have been lauded as the nation’s top sprinter that year, but for unfortunate circumstances. He still made himself a prep legend despite a season with no invitationals, no state meet (Detroit kids didn’t go to the MHSAA finals back then) and no post-season.

Carr had run 9.4 for 100 yards and 20.0 for 220 earlier that season, times that were both accepted as wind-aided, even by his coach. (Context for young’uns, 100 yards is 91.44m, so about 0.8 or so shorter than a modern 100-meters. 220 yards is actually longer than 200m by 1.17m.) The Northwestern coach, Tom Hendricks eagerly wanted Carr’s marks to count after that, so he made sure officials had a wind gauge at every meet. Why so intense? Because the official World Record for 220 was 20.0, and the high school senior was knocking on the door.

Back then, the Detroit championships involved multiple qualifying steps. For Carr, first was the West Side qualifying meet on May 29 at Mackenzie. After jogging through his heats wearing sweats, he showed up for the semis ready for business. He hit the 100 in 9.7. In the 220, his wind-legal 20.6 tied the national high school record. He long jumped too (then it was called the “broad” jump, and was City champ in 1960 and had a 23-4 PR. Observers felt he could be a 25-footer if he only focused on the event, but he just did it for points. At the qualifying meet he ended up behind Redford’s Dennis Holland (who would go one to be a 26-footer at WMU).

Two days later he returned to Mackenzie to defend his West Side titles from the previous year. He hit 9.8 in the 100, then a 20.7 in the furlong. He also flew to 22-9.75 in the long jump to pass Holland (the marks from the qualifying round carried over to the finals).

Next came the City semis, June 6 at Pershing. Carr jumped 21-9.5, three inches behind Holland. He blistered the 100 in 9.6, tying his State Record from the previous year. He and Hendricks figured he had a chance at a very fast 220—they were thinking World Record. The wind had been still for the 5 previous races, and they hoped that would hold. Another detail that might surprise young readers—back then, most 220s run in the United States were on the straightaway. Sometimes that took the track surface right up to the edge of the school property, a fact that would become crucial here.

The gun went off. Carr moved into overdrive, leaving his competitors far behind. Then, halfway through the race, a gust came up, sending the gauge into wind-aided territory. Still, Carr was flying so fast that he saw the finish line ahead— and the fence too close beyond it. He realized that he was going too fast to stop in that space and he panicked, putting on the breaks before he hit the finish line. He still clocked 20.1 (all three watches agreed), but the damage was done—he had injured his left hamstring. His coach didn’t realize how bad the injury was, and told the papers the next day, “I hope Henry gets a break tomorrow. He would have broken 20 seconds but slowed up to avoid crashing into the fence.”

In the finals on June 8, Carr suddenly was mortal, his hamstring taped. Still, he produced a 22-9.25 to again defeat Holland. He won the 100 in 10.1. He insisted on running the 220 for team points. he stayed in about 5th place until the final 50, when he put on a a burst so he could tie for 2nd and be part of Northwestern’s 1-2-3 sweep. He said, “I don’t care if my teammates beat me, but I couldn’t stand to see a boy from another school finishing in front.”

Carr and Hendricks originally had big plans for the post-season. There were no HS national championships back then, but he was entered in the Golden West Invitational, the most prestigious post-season prep meet (seniors only). Then he was going to compete against the big boys at AAU Nationals in New York, with an eye toward making Team USA and competing against the Russians. The hamstring injury cancelled all of that.

Not one to fade away after a setback, Carr moved on to Arizona State. He would compete for three more years, breaking World Records and winning two Olympic gold medals.

(Note: a lot of other great events happened at that 1961 Detroit meet. I’ll save the rest for another day. I know some of my readers were there that day—I’d love to hear their memories of it all.)

Michigan at the Pan-Am Games

For track athletes, late October/early November is hardly prime-time. Most of the best sprinters and jumpers are either still on break from a long summer season or already into fall training mode. That made filling out a full Team USA for the meet in Santiago, Chile, a challenge for USATF. The basic process was to take the results of the national championships in July and offer the team berths to the highest-finishing athletes, and keep going down the list and offering the spots until the team was full., That meant in some events, like the hammer, we sent America’s best. In others, the team selectors had to go pretty far down the list, offering team spots to athletes who finished near the back of their first-round heats. In most events, it was somewhere in between.

That worked to the benefit of two of our favorite sons from Michigan. Decathletes Ryan Talbot (10th at Nationals) and Sam Black (8th) took advantage of the opportunity to gain some valuable international experience. Talbot attended Forest Hills Central and then MSU. Black attended Pinckney and then Saginaw Valley. (I have to admit to considerable bias when it came to rooting for them the last few days, as Black was one of my students in my HS teaching days!)

Sam led the first day with 4160 points, and Ryan was in 7th at that point (3879). As usual in the multis, the second day can change everything. By the time the 1500 was done, Ryan had scored 7742 to win the bronze medal, just 6 points away from silver and 92 from gold. Sam ended up with 7585 points for 5th place.

Well done, guys!

Big Heights At the Vault Barn

I admit I’ve not yet made a pilgrimage to Vermontville to see its fabled Vault Barn, but I remain steadfastly impressed at all Jerry Sessions is doing to promote pole vaulting in the state. It’s an event where dedication to learning the technique is a year-round necessity, and the opportunities he has created mean a great deal in our sport.

The latest competition at the Barn was the Halloween Vault on Saturday. Forest Hills Central senior Brooke Bowers, the current D1 champion, made history by becoming the 11th girl in state history to clear 13-feet. MSU alum (and former Big 10 champ) Sophia Franklin was 2nd at 12-6 and Wayland Union soph Evie Mathis 3rd at 11-6.

Kenowa Hills junior Brady Lewis won the boys event at a PR 14-0, ahead of Trevor Boyer (13-6) and Mason Joseph and Adam Cahoon (both at 13-0).

Little Things

Alan Peterson ran a 2:14:31 to qualify for the Olympic Trials Marathon by placing 5th at the McKirdy-On The Cusp-Micro Marathon in Valley Cottage, New York.

Ryan Jara, an alum of Walled Lake Northern, also made the cut for the Olympic Trials by running 2:17:19 for 30th in that same race.

Reading List: It only took 36 years from the day I first walked in the door at the old Track & Field News headquarters in Los Altos, California, but I finally got my first opinion piece in the magazine! Read it here.

Back Issues of the Michtrack Newsletter: Find them at this link.