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- #38 - State Indoor Action & Athletes of the Meet!
#38 - State Indoor Action & Athletes of the Meet!
Jeff Hollobaugh
February 28, 2024
Inside This Issue
Sponsored by the Ann Arbor Running Company.
Michtrack Athletes Of The Meet!
Long a feature of the indoor state finals, for various reasons the Athlete of the Meet awards did not happen this year. For the last 25 years-plus, I have been part of the committee that did the awards, so I’m very aware of the criteria that has been historically used. In short, quality (ie., how an athlete performed against history/records/all-time lists) matters more than quantity (how many races they won and how many points that would have been worth in a team scoring set-up.)
With pleasure, we introduce your Michtrack Athletes of the Meet!
Girls Track - Kamryn Tatum
Girls Track - Kamryn Tatum (Michigan Mustangs): The sophomore moved to =4 all-time in the 60 with her 7.46 win. She also won the 200 in 24.78 and ran on 4×2 (10th) and sprint medley (6th) teams.
Boys Track - Brendan Herger
Boys Track - Brendan Herger (Six Mile): The senior won the 800 in a meet record 1:51.05, becoming the No. 2 performer in state history with the No. 5 performance ever. He also ran 1:56.0 to anchor Six Mile to a repeat 4×8 win in a meet record 7:48.80.
Girls Field - Lena Cleveland
Girls Field - Lena Cleveland (Breen): The senior long jumped 19-1.5, becoming the No. 4 jumper in the state’s long history in the event. Only 3 Michigan girls have surpassed 19-feet indoors in the last 25 years.
Boys Field - Mason Mayne
Boys Field - Mason Mayne (unattached): The Lawton junior popped a big 61-10.25 on his final shot, reinforcing his position at No. 7 all-time. He also managed a 4th-place finish in the weight throw with a PR 61-6.5.
Indoor States Recap With Long-Winded Angry Intro That Has Nothing To Do With Track
Fabulous state finals! Great action on the track and field! Great kids! But oddly, the thing I will most remember the 54th annual indoor state meet for is that on Saturday, while in the midst of announcing 36 (!!) straight heats of the 200, my wife calls to tell me she was in an accident. She was aiting to make a red turn, and some guy in a Lexus slams into her from behind. And I—between announcing races—had to hurry to get her an electronic copy of the proof of insurance (that she couldn’t find in the car) before the police arrived.
Now here’s the anger management aspect of this week’s newsletter: I have a $1000 deductible on my collision policy. If the other guy’s at fault, his insurance company should pay that $1000 according to Michigan law. He was at fault—he was juggling fast food and talking to his kids when his foot slipped off the brake. He admitted as much to the police and got a ticket. Case closed? No! His insurance company (Geico) says they won’t cover my $1000 deductible because he didn’t have that in his policy! (My agent: "WTF? I’ve never heard of that.”) I looked up the Lexus dude. He lives in a million dollar house. And we (not millionaires—our newest car is 10 years old) might have to pay this $1000 because this entitled millionaire soccer dad somehow went cheap on his insurance and decided his fast food issues were more important than stopping his car. (Next day update: body shop and insurance company decided that our car is totaled, as the repair cost of $6800 exceeds its Blue Book value. So we lost a perfectly good car and may have to go buy one somewhere with what we expect to be a pitiful insurance payout.)
So I am unbelievably angry, as you might expect. It was either turn to violence, or write a newsletter and try to cool off. Luckily for you, I went with the latter. What follows is my recap of the meet. The challenge is that while announcing a million races in two days and spewing out all kinds of fun stuff at the time, I remember abysmally little of what I said. For instance, I’d like to have a clear memory of the four final sections of the 200 for boys and girls, but somehow all 40 races at 200m (counting those finals) blend together, and much of what I can remember boils down to “the fast people won.”
Luckily, Free Track Live came through. The good folks from Shepherd videotaped everything for the live stream, which they provided free. Their videos were essential to me “remembering” what happened for my write-ups below. Thanks to all their people: Carey Hammel, Wyatt LeClear, Mason Cross, Paige Walters, Lilly Bailey, BJ Tomanek and Morgan Ashcroft.
Click on event names to get official results. And after each track event is a link to video of the final or the fastest section.
60 Meters Girls - Kamryn Tatum is the real thing. The world needs to watch out, because she’s coming fast. The West Bloomfield sophomore, running for the Michigan Mustangs, blasted through rounds of 7.62, 7.56 and 7.46. That final time puts her behind only legends Shayla Mahan, Kaila Jackson and Grace Stark (and ties Kendall Baisden & Breanna Bates). Video
60 Meters Boys - With only one loss all season, Evan Watson has dominated the event. The Troy Athens senior, running for the Michigan Mustangs, is much improved from his junior version. He led the qualifying rounds in 6.89 and 6.85. The next day’s final didn’t go as fast as many had anticipated after a semi in which all the finalists but Watson PRed. Watson’s 6.88 was more than enough to stay ahead of Deon Taylor and Drew Novak, both at 6.98. Video
200 Meters Girls - More Kamryn Tatum. She ran “only” 24.78 in the final (after a 24.83 heat). Not close to the 24.51 that she ran on UM’s 200 track. Still, that was more than enough to win—and with relay duties, she was probably justified in saving some energy. She won by 0.43 over an inspired race from Track Life’s Robin Davis—a Renaissance senior who might just be having a surprisingly good senior season. Video
200 Meters Boys - Noah Morris, the Chippewa Valley senior running for 16 Ways, had the time advantage coming in and drew lane 5. He showed why in the final, overcoming Cameron Cheetam’s early lead to run him down in the stretch, 21.70-21.80. Video
400 Meters Girls - What a matchup! Nevaeh Burns won last year as an 8th grader in 54.21. Her timing in ‘24 is different, and she had a best of 56.23 coming in. Cayla Hawkins, the Track Life 7th grader from East Lansing (younger sister of Comari, who made quite a dent on the lists in her time at Renaissance), has been burning the track up this season. Her 55.99 at UM is a 7th-grade state record. The race was fierce, and both girls rose to the occasion. At the finish, Hawkins won in 54.68 to Burns’ 55.07. Hawkins moves to No. 6 all-time, all tracks. Her mark is also faster than her state class record, but oversized track marks do not count for records (state, U.S. or world). However, it will be listed on the record page at Michtrack as a notable performance. Hopefully she will go faster at Nationals on a 200 banked track. Video
400 Meters Boys - Watson made it 2, with the meet’s first-ever 60/400 double (doubling in individual running events has only been possible the last few years). The list leader at 47.65, here he was all power, not looking back en route to a win in 47.62. The mark makes him =4 all-time, all tracks. It will be interesting to see what he does on the banks at nationals. He ran 48.85 at the UM meet in January. The state record (must be on a 200 track) is the 47.62 that Shamar Heard ran last year in Boston. Video
800 Meters Girls - Kylee King came on hard off the final turn to beat defending champion Madison Osterberg. The Oak Park senior probably felt more than a little motivated—she was 9th last year in a sub-par (for her) race. She triumphed in 2:13.21, the fastest time in the state this season. Osterberg ran 2:14.45, and Layla Jordan, the Goodrich/All About Speed junior, continued to emerge as a force with her 2:15.48. Note that Janae Coleman won the middle school race in 2:14.88, in case anyone was thinking that Motor City wouldn’t be a problem when King goes off to Hampton University. Video
800 Meters Boys - Brendan Herger is our top returning 800 guy and he ran like it, taking the lead at the start and burning up the field. The only one who could stay close was Noah Selveraj of Degeneration X/Bay City Western. In the end, Herger’s 1:51.05 took 0.51 off his own meet record. He becomes No. 2 in state history (all track sizes). Selveraj was rewarded with a 1:53.62 in 2nd. Video
1600 Meters Girls - Livonia Churchill senior Morgan Brown, running for the school club Mr. Meowgi (there’s a story about that team name that I need to ask coach Kroll about someday), ran and won from the front, her 4:58.15 holding off a strong challenge from Elena Figueroa of St. Joe and the Red Arrow TC (4:58.47). Video
1600 Meters Boys - Thomas Westphal wanted to win, and he wasn’t interested in having to deal with a slow, tactical race. The Anchor Bay senior set out an on ambitious pace and dared the field to follow. Nobody did. It wasn’t until the final 400 that Evan Loughridge went after him. Despite an impressive finish for the Jackalope, Westphal’s go-it-alone plan prevailed. He took the win, 4:15.16-4:16.39. Video
3200 Meters Girls - Jessie Jazwinski had a plan. Unfortunately, in track, plans often don’t survive the race. After her loss in the Gazelle Elite 3200 to 9th-grader Kaylie Livingston, I had seen a note that the Hart junior was hoping for a much better time there. In their state finals rematch, Jazwinski stayed behind as Livingston led through the first half in 5:08.7. Then she made her move, hoping to leave the yearling behind. It worked for a while, but at near the end the pace started to lag, and Livingston narrowed the gap, coming from behind with 200 to go to take the win, 10:29.00 to 10:34.53. Video
3200 Meters Boys - I’ll just say it. This was a weird one. Aiden Moore, stuck in the first, slower heat, went out bravely and raced the clock, churning through a 9:21.81 that would have won 19 of the championships in the 30 years since the distance went from 2M to 3200. Naturally, you’d think that the guys in the second section would have some plan to go after that pace. Instead, they ran far slower than expected and as late as the last two laps, it appeared that Aiden Moore’s time might hold up for the win. Finally, Paul Moore (no relation) and Logan Begeman separated from the back and kicked to times of 9:15.85 and 9:18.36. Video
Rollins center, with Roundtree left and VanNoy right.
60 Meter Hurdles Girls - This promised to be one of the meet’s great match-ups and it didn’t disappoint. Maya Rollins has come on strong this season, and led the state lists at 8.60. Motor City/Oak Park, which had won 6 straight with legends Aasia Laurencin and Nonah Waldron, has three sub-9 hurdlers this year in Morgan Roundtree, Carrie VanNoy and Jayda Watson. And Lindsay Johnson (Courageous/Cass Tech) has been getting comfortable in sub-9 territory. The semis showed the final could be a dogfight, as Rollins ran 8.68 and Roundtree and VanNoy both hit 8.69. In the final, Rollins got out best and was never headed. Roundtree chased hard. The result: Rollins 8.49—moving to No. 9 in history, Roundtree 8.61 (=13), Watson 9.02. Both Johnson and VanNoy ran into hurdle problems and took the last 2 spots. Video
60-Meter Hurdles Boys - Zacchaeus Brocks and Elijah Dotson both led the heats at 8.05. In the semis, Brocks broke 8-seconds for the first time with a 7.97, while Dotson ran 8.06. The final was a burner, and at the finish the two were literally inseparable. Initially the results were show as a Brocks win, but they were revised to give the two a tie in 7.91, the fastest time of the season. It promises good things for the event, as Brocks, a Michigan Racers athlete from Detroit Catholic Central, is just a sophomore, and Dotson is a junior. Video
High Jump Girls - Honestly, the event looked a bit grim; at one point it seemed quite likely it would end up tied for the lowest winning height of the past 40+ years. Seven cleared 5-2. At 5-4, fans watched 20 misses in a row. On the 21st and final attempt, defending champion Milena Chevallier slid over the bar. She then cleared 5-6 on her first and went out with three tries at 5-8.
High Jump Boys - Three cleared 6-4, Andrew Harding, Charlie Garner and Quentin Lange. At the next bar (6-6), all three failed to clear. It went back to misses, and Garner, with only one miss prior to 6-6, got the win.
Pole Vault Girls - Brooke Bowers owned the day, as expected. First-attempt clearances at 11-3 and 11-9, then she needed 2 to get over 12-3. A first attempt clearance came at 12-9, then a second-attempt cleared 13-0. She then asked that the bar move up to a meet record 13-8, where she had some good shots before bowing out. PRs at 12-3 went to Evie Mathis, Taylor Diemond and Aubree Bowers.
Pole Vault Boys -Like the boys high jump, this one also came down to misses. Clark Sheldon of LAB TC (and Dexter) had a perfect record through 14-3, while state leader Chase Battani had two misses at that height. Neither could make 15-0, and Sheldon took home the win.
Long Jump Girls - Lena Cleveland dominated. The Breen/Rochester senior, Oakland County champ and 4th in D1 last season, produced 5 fair jumps and any one of them was good enough for the win. Her series: 18-6.75, 18-8.25, 19-1.25, 17-10, f, 18-3.75. Her best mark, 19-1.5, makes her No. 4 in state history. Kaitlyn Molnar (17-8) edged Nyla Reed (17-7) for the second spot.
Long Jump Boys - The list leader and D1 champion last year as a sophomore, Canton’s Quincy Isaac, jumping for the Dearborn TC, put on an impressive show. Altogether, 5 of his 6 jumps equaled or bettered the 22-1.25 from runner-up Anthony Buford. His series: 22-7.5, 22-11.5, 21-7.25, 22-1.25, 22-4.25, 22-10.5.
Triple Jump Girls - Nyla Reed, the No. 10 TJer in state history, almost didn’t make the final, after opening with 2 straight fouls. A third-round 33-1 saved her, and on her next she went to a winning 33-10. She closed at 33-9.75. Jocelyn Appel had four jumps past 32-0, including a 33-3 PR.
Triple Jump Boys - Quincy Isaac tried to win the triple jump in addition to the long jump, but list leader Preston Kelsey of the MM TC (and Saginaw Valley Lutheran) won with a series of 41-8.25, f, 40-2, 40-4, 41-0.25, f. Isaac took 2nd with a PR of 41-5.25.
Shot Girls - Defending champ Abigail Russell of Michigan Elite Throwers/Allen Park was another who ran into foul trouble, starting out with 2 and then making the final as the last qualifier with her 35-9. She improved to a 43-3, but that would not be enough. Senior Rylan Finstrom of Up North Elite/Grayling had the best day, with a 44-5.75. Second went to the state 9th-grade record holder, Addyson Stiverson of Iron Athletics/Montrose (43-4.25).
Shot Boys - Lawton junior Mason Mayne took his time hitting the big throws. He started out going 58-3, 57-10, 57-7.75, 57-1.5 in the first four rounds. Then in the last two, he caught fire: 60-11.25, 61-10.75. The winning mark misses Mayne’s PR by just 2.25—he already is No. 7 in state history. Gavin Nurenberg of Pewamo-Westphalia joined the 60-foot club with his 60-7.5 final toss.
Discus Girls - Rylee Finstrom became the first girl to win the shot/discus double, a feat only possible since 2020. She also came close to breaking the state record with her second-round 142-9, a mark that makes her No. 2 in history. Jordyn Harris came through with a last-ditch 134-8 for 2nd.
Discus Boys - Adam Huff dominated. The Wayland Union junior threw 153-7 on his first try to take the lead, then improved to 164-7 and 169-5. With the latter mark he moves to No. 7 in state history. Brycen Anderson got runner-up with his 150-1 (that might not match your recollection or the official results—more on that below).
Weight Girls - Abigail Russell owned this one. She opened at 48-9, a mark good enough to win. She then hit 49-8 and 51-2, as well as three fouls while trying to get out to record territory. Her early season 56-4 came close to taking down the state record; hopefully she gets another chance at nationals.
Weight Boys - Noah Shaw almost snuck up on everybody here. Throwing in flight one, he hit a 62-6.5 that held up for the lead until the very last round. That’s when Midland senior Merrick Hocking whirled a 63-10.25 to move from 4th to the top of the podium.
4 × 200 Girls - Motor City’s A team scratched, making it even more likely that Track Life would be able to win No. 6 in a row. But Michigan Racers’ Taryn Henderson got out so well on the first leg it wasn’t until the final handoff that Track Life’s all-Renaissance squad moved to the front. Shelby Sanders, Jayla Dace, Lundon Johnson and Jayla Graham triumphed in 1:41.70. A Cayla Hawkins-anchored Track Life B team came up for 2nd in 1:42.96, with the Racers finishing in 1:43.72. Video
4 × 200 Boys - Motor City led most of the race, looking quite impressive. Elite Performance XL stayed close, and on the last leg it was EP runner Zachary Mylenek (a senior at Pontiac Notre Dame and younger brother to Very Nice TC steeplechase Nathan) who passed Gavin Rawls to bring his teammates a 1:28.23-1:28.32 victory. Video
4 × 400 Girls - Motor City made it two in a row, and 13 in the last 17 years, running an impressive 3:48.15. The foursome of Morgan Roundtree (57.0), Dayshana Kellogg (57.0), Nevaeh Burns (56.5), and Kylee King (57.7) held off a determined 3:49.97 from Track Life/Renaissance. Video
4 × 400 Boys - Motor City wanted to get back to the top here after several years away, but it was Elite Performance XL who for the second race in two days denied the Oak Park club. The team of Blake Johnson, Zachary Mylenek, Cameron Cheetam and David Prakah-Asante got the victory, with Mylenek once again making the key pass, this one an inside pass on leg three. The winning time was 3:20.97, with Motor City at 3:23.33. Video
4 × 800 Girls - Up North Elite, the top seed, got out well with Payton Scheffler’s 2:19.0 (Woodhaven’s not exactly “Up North”, but oh well). Mylie Kelly followed with a 2:25.7, but the Shore TC/Holland West Ottawa was primed for a fast finish. After Addie Birkholz and Emma Gunnett, Natalie VanOtteren hit 2:20.1 and Ava Porras closed with a 2:15.9 for the win in 9:24.89, as UPE finished in 9:33.38. Video
4 × 800 Boys - Last year, Six Mile TC was an all Northville affair on this relay, winning in 7:55.75 in what was a preview of the Northville squad’s D1 win and state record outdoors. This year, the team brought on some other local talent, namely Adam Dicken of Canton and Logan Mullan of UD Jesuit. Their splits en route to a meet record 7:48.80: Adam Dicken (1:57.0), Ethan Powell (1:57.7), Logan Mullan (1:58.1), Brendan Herger (1:56.0). A2 TC (Pioneer) finished 2nd in 7:55.46. Video
Sprint Medley Girls - Motor City made it 6 in a row. Nevaeh Burns led off in 56.6, but had company at the handoff. Then Morgan Roundtree (24.6) built a very nice lead. Carrie VanNoy followed in 25.4. Kylee King crushed any remaining hopes of her competitors with a clutch 2:11.0 anchor. 810 TC finished 2nd in 4:06.62, with Courageous at 4:09.00. Video
Sprint Medley Boys - The Michigan Mustangs ran away with this one, after a brilliant start from Evan Watson (48.5, I figured), then Jason Hamilton 23.0, Curtis Sharif 22.7, and Drew Graves 1:58.9. Winning time 3:33.12, with Elite Performance XL at 3:37.72. Video
Distance Medley Girls - Shore (Holland West Ottawa) dominated, with Natalie VanOtteren (3:37.3), Emma Gunnett (62.2), Addie Birkholz (2:24.7) and Ava Porras (5:05.3) combining for a 12:09.48 win that was nearly 30 seconds ahead of the GRTC Peregrines, a homeschool team (12:39.04). Video
Distance Medley Boys - It was the Up North Elite foursome of Nate Carmody (3:11), August Rohde (53), Jacob Montgomery (2:00) and Owen Patton (4:22) that claimed the win in 10:26.66, holding off the fast finish of A2 TC’s 10:27.47. Video of both heats
MITS Miscellany
We like Canadians, but… The indoor state finals has always been reserved for Michigan residents who go to school in this state. So while Canadians (and folks from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, etc) are generally welcome at regular-season MITS meets, they don’t get to enter the finals. Over the years, we’ve occasionally had such people slip in (it’s a challenge confirming every single kid). This year, a Canadian somehow got in and placed 2nd in the boys discus. Aidan Crawford competes for Eastside High in Belleville, Ontario (and yes, he was inadvertently included on the list of meet qualifiers). So, not saying he’s evil for getting in—he truly might have been confused about the nature of the meet. However, he got the 2nd-place medal that should have gone to Brycen Anderson. And 9th-placer Tyler Woodside should have gotten a medal but didn’t.
But Cole Hocker Did It! Yes, indeed, Cole Hocker won the USA Indoor 1500 title using inside passes and even bumping one of his competitors. Maybe not a good idea to emulate him in a race at the high school level, especially if there’s no room to get through! We saw one individual in the 800 do an inside pass on the homestretch, one that involved him stepping across the white line and bumping the other person hard, causing him to be thrown off stride. In this case, a DQ resulted, which seemed quite fair (and hopefully proves educational).
Team Scores? Of course, they’ve never been compiled for an indoor states, which is the ultimate clash of teams that are impossible to compare on a level playing field—apples and oranges and mangos, if you will. But Matt Armelagos (MIXC Speed Ratings) went ahead and crunched the numbers on this year’s edition just for fun:
Boys: 1. Elite Performance XL 48; 2. tie, Michigan Mustangs & Motor City 39; 4. Six Mile 28; 5. Jackalopes 27; 6. tie, 16 Ways & A2 TC 25; 8. AA Youth; 9. tie, Breen & Dearborn TC 18.
Girls: 1. Motor City 71; 2. Track Life 63; 3. Up North Elite 39; 4. Michigan Racers 35.5; 5. Sturgis 26; 6. tie, Michigan Elite Throws & Michigan Mustangs 23; 8. tie, Dearborn TC & Shore TC 20; 10. 810 TC 18.
College Signings
If you know of one that wasn’t previously reported here, please let us know! [email protected]. This has been a feature since issue #28. To check back issues, go here.
Maddy Biller (Brethren) - Ferris
Abby Kissling (Brethren) - Northern Michigan
Anirudh Krishnan (Plymouth) - Johns Hopkins
Evan Watson (Troy Athens) - Illinois State
Little Things
World Indoors: This weekend in Glasgow, and on TV as well. Michigan’s Hobbs Kessler will be in the 1500 (preview here) and Cindy Sember in the 60 hurdles (preview).
But Paul Chelimo got away with it! Not Salem alum Talha Syed, however. Now running collegiately for Columbia, he appeared to win the Ivy League 5000 last weekend in 14:01.63, but in doing so, he ran out to lane 4 in the final stretch to keep his opponent from passing him. Officials called that interference, and he was disqualified. A discussion (with video) on LetsRun.
Helen Sachs: The Holland West Ottawa star bravely opens up about her struggle with an eating disorder. She writes: “Challenges are presented continuously, and with each dawn of a new day, I will be one moment closer to gaining more control over my life. I am coming back to my sport of running so that I can show those around me that I am better.” Read the whole article here.
Help Wanted: While I would have loved to have a recap here of how our Michigan HS alumni did at all the college conference meets over the weekend, I had no bandwidth to take that on. Is there anyone out there who might want to regularly cover MI HS alumni on the college scene? If you’re nuts enough, and can process a lot of information and write up little squibs fast, contact me at [email protected]
Pole Vault Clinic: A chance to learn from some of the best on March 2 at the Vault Barn Camp. Details here.
Michtrack Results Archive: The Archive now includes 11,309 old results and clippings, thanks to the many people who have scanned old results and sent them. Check out the Archive!
Past Issues of the Michtrack Newsletter: Can be found here.
The Michigan Track & Field Hall of Fame: A work in progress. See where we are.
Michtrack Books:
XC! High School Cross Country in Michigan 1921-2020
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