#43 The Season Takes Off!

Author

Jeff Hollobaugh
April 24, 2024

Inside This Issue

Our First Hall of Fame Gold Sponsor

Making the Michigan Track & Field Hall of Fame a reality wouldn’t be possible without the support of the real movers in the sport. Our sincere thanks to Michiana Timing for coming on board as our initial Hall of Fame Gold Sponsor! The West Michigan-based timing company is well-known throughout the state, and the MHSAA state finals are among the meets that have showcased their excellent service. Their decision to become a Gold Sponsor underscores their commitment to the sport in this state and the value they place on its amazing history. Find out how you or your school/team/company can join Michiana Timing as a Hall of Fame sponsor!

Michigan To Receive World Athletics Heritage Plaque May 9

The Day of Days, when the legendary Jesse Owens came to Ann Arbor’s Ferry Field and set four World Records in a 45-minute span, will be commemorated in a ceremony at 10am on May 9, open to the public. The site will be honored with the awarding of a World Athletics Heritage Plaque, the highest honor given to mark one of the sport’s most important performances. Michtrack, as the primary booster of the sport’s history in this state, has been honored to be asked by World Athletics to play a part in the ceremony.

Both the Michigan and Ohio State coaches are expected to attend, as well as representatives of the Owens family. Owens, a year after his Ann Arbor heroics, went on to win four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics in a major defeat of Adolph Hitler’s hopes to use the Games as a showcase for white supremacy. He died in 1980, and was honored in 1985 with a plaque at the site by the University of Michigan.

Just what did Owens do on that perfect day on Ferry Field’s cinder track? First, at 3:15 he won the 100 yards in a WR-tying 9.4. All three watches caught him in 9.4, with the wind gauge reading 1.55. Ten minutes later, he took his only long jump of the day. With a 1.5 wind, he added 6 inches to the World Record with his 26-8.25. At 3:45, he ran the 220-yards on the straight, legal wind 0.3, and sliced 0.3 off the WR with his 20.3. Finally, at 4pm, he ran the 220-yard low hurdles on the straight (0.46 wind) in 22.6, slashing 0.4 off the WR. Technically, he was given credit for 6 World Records on the day, as both the 220 and 220H marks bettered the existing records for 200 and 200H (and were several inches longer). Owens’ long jump record lasted 25 years.

The Season Takes Off!

We unfortunately were not able to get a newsletter out the door last week, but that just means more great track & field to report now… and honestly, this season has been stunning so far. We can’t recall a better first few weeks of the outdoor HS campaign, in a large part thanks to the weather. There are so many incredible performances to talk about, it’s truly been head-spinning. I can’t imagine that we’ll get to them all here, but we can do our best.

Russell Scares Discus Record

Throwing in a dual meet in Wyandotte on 4/16, Allen Park senior Abigail Russell hit 163-5 in the discus, just three feet away from the state record of 166-5 that was set by Grosse Ile’s Alana Robinson at the Midwest Meet in 1998. The big one came on the Michigan signee’s third attempt. She opened with throws of 146-6 and 149-6 and finished off the 4-throw series with a 135-2.

In the 26 years since Robinson’s record, the mark has had plenty of challengers. The closest was Byron Center’s Mary Angell with her 165-7 in 2007. Country Day’s Brittany Mann threw 165-2 in 2012. Corinne Jemison of East Kentwood threw 164-4 at the Midwest Meet in 2018. Lansing Waverly’s Malin Smith hit 163-9 at the 2018 D1 Finals. And Sarah Marvin of Byron threw 160-0 at the D3 Finals in 2021.

West Ottawa Breaks 4×4 Dual Meet Record

A time of 1:27.74 in early April is stunning all by itself. That it came in a dual meet is even more amazing. The Holland West Ottawa foursome of sophomore Charlie Sanders, senior Desmond Chapa, senior Andrew Spilotro and junior Ruben Esparza, running on their home track in a dual against Jenison, finished more than 10 seconds ahead of the opposition. Their time just nipped the old dual meet best of 1:27.79 that East Kentwood set in 2010. It’s also the fastest time ever run before April 30.

Chevallier Tops 5-10

Chevallier in next year’s uniform.

In her first actual outdoor meet of the year, Farmington Hills Mercy senior Milena Chevallier soared over 5-10 in the high jump. Even though she has a best of 5-11 from last year, it’s worth nothing just how good a 5-10 is. Only five girls in Michigan history (including Chevallier herself) have ever gone higher.

Machiniak Out Fast

The Berrien Springs senior, who won the D2 dash title last year in a wind-legal 10.54, has picked up where he left off. On April 10 at the Lakeland Jamboree he sped to a 10.67, and at the Allegan Invitational on Friday he improved to a 10.62. He leads the lists at this point.

The Distance Scene

Unlike the rest of the prep world, which is allowed to go to Arcadia and run super-fast early season distance times (68 under 9:00 in the 3200 this year!), Michigan distance runners tend to jump back into training for a while before showing their best stuff at the Barnyard Mile (April 26) and/or the 3200s at Shepherd’s Bluejay Invitational (May 3) or Farmington’s Twilight 3200 (May 4).

Not that we haven’t seem some great races already. At the Cougar Invitational, Seth Norder of Grand Haven blasted a 4:12.60 over 4 laps to distance himself from Kalamazoo Central’s Jasper Cane (4:17.89). Helen Sachs of West Ottawa churned 8 laps basically solo in 10:32.47.

At Oakland University’s Leigh Invitational, Swan Valley’s Sydney Kuhn impressed with a 2:12.75 two-lap win over Layla Jordan of Goodrich (2:13.23). Lucy Cook of Rochester won the 1600 in 4:59.08.

At Dexter’s April Showers, Rachel Forsyth of Pioneer looked comfortable running a state-leading 2:11.81 for 800. A few days later at a conference tri meet, she blistered 3200 in 10:09.99, the fastest dual/tri meet time in state history.

2024 Outdoor Elite Lists, FWIW

We’re still whipping these lists into shape: the end goal is that we finish the season with a top 10+ list that has all the information we need to accurately update the Michigan all-time lists. In a simpler world, we could just cut and paste the top 10 from athletic-net, but there is information we need to keep track of that isn’t readily found there. For instance, we care about what’s wind-legal and what isn’t, we keep track of complete series for historic field event performances, and splits for key relays. (Plus, it must be admitted, the act of manually typing and updating these lists is fantastic homework for me and the best preparation I can have for announcing the big meets to come!)

And while I’m still behind on list-keeping this spring, remember to take some of the athletic-net reports with a grain of salt. Pretty sure that the Croswell-Lexington girls haven’t run 3:51 for the 4×4, and Woodhaven did not slash more than 12 seconds off the national HS record in the boys 4×8.

Wind Gauges, Please!

Talk to any college recruiter, and you’ll find that they aren’t so big on throwing money at sprinter/hurdlers who boast fast times without wind readings. Mostly that’s because of the high BS quotient that comes with such times. The best way to give those performances credibility is by using a wind gauge and putting those numbers on the official results.

It’s easy, and it’s cheap. And the kids are worth the extra effort. More and more timing companies are doing it as a matter of course. If you are a meet organizer, ask if your timing company will do it. If they won’t, get your own gauge out there (and ask that they put the readings in the results file).

It’s not just about record verification. In a meet where the kids all run slower than dirt because they’re battling big winds in their faces, it can be very useful to have that wind reading in the results. That way the world can see that the kids had an uphill battle—and years later when looking at the results, you can easily put a finger on why that was the slowest meet of the year.

The Wind Gauge Heroes!

Last year, we saw more meets than ever include wind readings in their official results. This year, it looks like we’re on pace to go way past that! Kudos to the schools and timing companies that have been doing it—here’s an incomplete list of some that we have noticed:

Heath Baldwin!

Heath Baldwin was pretty good when he was at Kalamazoo Hackett. Hurdle PRs of 14.50 and 39.93, jump PRs of 6-9 and 21-6.25. Five D4 state titles. But these days… whoa! Just 5 years post-Hackett, he is one of the best all-around athletes on the planet. He placed 2nd at the Mt SAC Relays decathlon with 8470 points. That’s better than the Olympic Trials standard; that’s even better the Olympic Games standard, which is a way bigger deal. It’s also just 15 points shy of the best-ever by a Michigander, the 8485 that Steven Bastien scored at the ‘21 Trials. Right now Baldwin ranks No. 3 in the world this season, No. 2 in the NCAA.

Here’s how he did it over the course of the 2-day competition:
100 - 10.79 [1.0]
Long Jump - 25-2w (7.67) [3.1]
Shot - 51-8.5 (15.76)
High Jump - 6-9.5 (2.07)
400 - 48.60
110H - 13.84 [0.9]
Discus - 121-3 (36.96)
Pole Vault - 15-5 (4.70)
Javelin - 233-0 (71.02)
1500 - 4:40.19

Keep in mind these are with heavier international implements, and higher hurdles than he faced in high school. The hurdle time and the long jump are both nearly good enough to put him among the best-ever Michigan HS alumni in those events. In the javelin, he is No. 4 ever! He’s one athlete you’ll want to watch closely this season!

Our Hurdlers Rock!

Stark (right) and Laurencin hurdle to a 1-2 finish in Gainesville.
(photo by Mallory Peak-Florida Athletics)

Looking at the post-high school crowd as well as the pros, there’s one event group where our alumni keep performing at a high level, year in and year out. The women’s 100 hurdles keeps showing up.

Case in point: at the Tom Jones Memorial at the University of Florida, Grace Stark, a grad of White Lake Lakeland, won the hurdles in 12.56. In second place was Aasia Laurencin, the Oak Park grad running for Michigan, in 12.72. Both were PRs. In a different race, Ann Arbor Huron grad Cindy (Ofili) Sember ran 12.57. On the 2024 world list as of today, Michigan HS alumni occupy spots 8, 10 and 15.

Where The Wind Comes Sweepin’ Down The Plain

You might have seen the news of the massive World Record in the discus set in Oklahoma by Lithuanian Mykolas Alekna (243-11/74.35). Winds gusting up to 28mph from the perfect direction certainly helped. In 4th place behind Alekna was our own Alex Rose, now juggling his Olympic aspirations with a demanding full-time job. The Ogemaw Heights alum hit 223-9 (68.20). His best is the 230-11 (70.39) he threw at the same site last year. In 6th was Portage Northern alum Andrew Evans at 221-1 (67.40), just shy of his PR set there are few weeks earlier (221-5/67.50).

I’ve already seen folks on social media complaining that the World Record should be thrown out for being “wind-aided.” LOL. Of course the wind helped. But there’s a few things to remember. It depends what direction it’s coming from and what hand the thrower is using. A leftie throwing in the same competition as a bunch of right-handers who are killing it with the wind is generally not going to have a fun day. Another thing: how on earth could anyone measure the wind in a discus throw? A tripod 40-feet high? That’s why the tradition is to not worry about the wind in the discus. Unlike in the sprints, it’s rare that discus throwers catch perfect wind. And while some throwers are already planning their next trip to Ramona, Oklahoma, the real action is going to be on the Diamond League circuit and in Paris for the Olympics.

TJ Hansen Commits To Tennessee

The Freeland junior is an early commit to the Vols, part of their goal of building a distance powerhouse there under the guidance of former Notre Dame coach Sean Carlson. Hansen, the D2 XC champ at 14:52.8, had an indoor season highlighted by three efforts under 4:10 for 1600, topped by a 4:05.87 mile at the Millrose Games. This Friday, we’ll see him in his first big outdoor race at the Barnyard Mile.

Other Things

300M+: Last year the MHSAA lightened up on its hated 300M rule and allowed Michigan teams to travel farther. Now our teams can go to anywhere in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin and Ontario. Question: Has this had an effect on anyone’s track schedules? Is anyone going to meets they were previously forbidden to? Please, let us know: [email protected]

Forget The World U20 Champs: Last newsletter I raised the possibility that there might be some Michigan athletes who have a shot at making Team USA for the World U20 Champs this summer. Then USATF pulled the rug out, saying it would not be fielding a team, citing safety concerns, scheduling issues, and “competitive readiness.” The latter is ridiculous, as U.S. sprinters, hurdlers and field eventers have always done very well at the meet, which is crucial in preparing them for future international competition at the senior level. At least one Michigander might still be there: Pioneer star hurdler Maya Rollins is eligible to compete for Barbados.

Pardon Our Dust: Some plans we had to make the michtrack.org website more useful backfired and we ended up having to do a lot more work than expected at the worst possible time of the year. While the main features are all accessible at this point, every day we’re finding little things that need to be fixed. Thanks for your patience!

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