Inside This Issue

• Michigan at the NCAAs

• Forsyth Crushes 800 Record

• High School Nationals

• Michigan’s Olympic Trials Qualifiers

• College Signings

• Other Things

The NCAA Point Scorers from Michigan

Grace Stark - 1st 100H: Stark came out of Lakeland High as the greatest prep hurdler in state history, having run a state record 13.16. She captured the D1 title as a junior and senior, and also won the Youth Olympics in Argentina with a 12.83 wind-aided performance over 30-inch barriers. At Florida she showed her potential with the 2022 NCAA Indoor 60H win, but later that season she fell at the SECs and broke her leg. A long and difficult rehab followed several surgeries, but now she is back with her PR 12.47 win at the NCAAs, the fastest race ever by a Michigander.

Chandler Ault - 2nd Javelin: Ault was homeschooled in Midland, and never competed in an MHSAA event. Nevertheless, he became active on the summer track circuit and taught himself the javelin, in which he holds our state HS record of 215-7. Now competing for Washington as a grad student after his time at Princeton, Ault won the final Pac-12 title and then hit a PR 260-2 (79.31) to place 2nd in the NCAA. It’s the longest throw ever by a Michigander.

Dylan Targgart - 3rd Shot: At Coldwater HS, Targgart won the D2 SP/DT double twice as an underclassman. He lost his senior season to the pandemic but still holds our state record at 69-4.25. At South Carolina he has developed into one of the nation’s top collegiate throwers. He placed 3rd at NCAAs with his 66-4.5 (20.23). His PR is 69-4 (21.13) indoors, which is the farthest legal throw ever by a Michigander. He has also thrown 184-0 (56.09) in the discus.

Kaila Jackson - 5th 100, 6th 200: At Renaissance High, Jackson won the D1 100/200 double as a junior and senior. She also won the 200 as a 9th-grader, losing the chance to go for 4-straight with the pandemic. She also ran on 6 winning relays over the years, so totaled 11 MHSAA D1 victories. At Georgia she didn’t lose a step. She placed 2nd in the NCAA Indoor 60 as a frosh and 4th in the 100 outdoors, before winning the USATF U20 title at 100. All told she has now been an NCAA All-America 7 times. This year, she placed 5th in the 100 in 11.00w, and 6th in the 200 in 22.68. Her PRs are now 10.95/22.28.

Corinne Jemison - 5th Discus: At East Kentwood, Jemison won the D1 shot title in 2018 by destroying the state record with her 49-11.75. The previous year she had won the discus title, and she had a prep best of 164-4. She then signed to play volleyball at Miami/Ohio and disappeared from track & field until she transferred to Michigan. Since then she has made All-America in the discus three times. This year, she placed 5th with a PR 197-1 to qualify for the Trials.

Aasia Laurencin - 6th 100H: At Oak Park, Laurencin never won the D1 title for the 100 hurdles (she did win at 200, 4×1 and 4×2), but that never stopped her. Her high school best was 13.43 but she improved that to 13.19 as a freshman at Texas. She transferred to Michigan, looking for a better pathway to her potential, and has since won 3 Big 10 titles and made All-America three times. At NCAAs this year she ran 12.86 for 6th after a near-PR 12.77 heat.

Sophie Novak - 7th Steeple: At Lake Orion, Novak ran bests of 2:12.76, 4:49.17 & 10:58.17. Her highest D1 finish was a 3rd in the 1600 in 2019. She finished 5th in D1 XC as a sophomore. At Notre Dame she has blossomed as a steeplechaser, winning the ACC this year before running a PR 9:40.54 to finish 7th at NCAAs and qualifying for the Olympic Trials.

Forsyth Destroys 800 Record

The highlight of MITCA’s Champion of Champions Festival (6/7-8) was surely the girls 800, which brought together 8 of the 10 fastest in the state. Pioneer senior Rachel Forsyth wasted no time, going out in 60.7 and daring the field to chase her. No one came close to her historic effort, though great races were run.

Forsyth’s 2:03.87 took down the state record of 2:05.05 that Grand Blanc’s Geena Gall ran to win Nike Nationals in 2005. Gall went on to win 2 NCAA titles for Michigan and represent the United States at the 2012 Olympics. Behind Forsyth, three others broke 2:10, a record for the deepest Michigan race ever: Emmry Ross 2:07.54, Sydney Kuhn 2:08.34 and Kylee King 2:08.41. Fourteen out of 15 PRed.

Watch the video (courtesy of FreeTrackLive.com).

High School Nationals!

Suddenly, they are upon us, and this newsletter publishes right in the midst of the action. So for now, just a few highlights. Plus links to our results pages where we give all the details on the Michigan performances. Corrections welcome—it can be tough, especially with New Balance, to identify all of the Michigan kids, especially the younger ones.

Brooks PR, Renton, Washington (6/12): The big race was the boys mile, where Grand Haven’s Seth Norder came from way behind on his final lap in 58.24 to snatch the win in 4:01.94. In/out, that makes him the third-fastest performer in Michigan history, after sub-4:00s by Hobbs Kessler (indoors) and Grant Fisher (out). He came through 1500 in 3:46.01 (No. 3 ever) and 1600 in 4:00.50 (No. 2). In 4th was junior TJ Hansen of Freeland in 4:04.28 (3:47.72/4:02.81). Hansen makes No. 5 in Michigan history on all three lists.

In the “Junior” (middle school) races, Janae Coleman stole the headlines. The Motor City/Oak Park runner won the 800 in 2:09.02, destroying the old 8th grade state record of 2:12.66 set by Midland Jefferson’s Anna Jensen in 2016.

Lennox Naswell ran 12th in the mile in 4:32.53 (4:13.54/4:30.85). He scored 8th grade state records in the 1500 (beating Brandon Thompson’s 4:21.91 from the ‘19 New Balance meet) and the mile (beating the 4:34.4 that Paul Singer of Saginaw ran 54 years ago!). Eliza Schwass ran 9th in the girls race in 5:04.04 (4:45.90/5:02.26). That mile time for Schwass is a 7th grade state record, albeit rarely run for that age group.

New Balance Nationals, Philadelphia (6/13-16): Records broken so far— Pioneer’s Purple TC blasted 20:03.82 in the 4 x Mile to break the outdoor state record (Pioneer 20:08.62 in ‘22). The indoor best of 20:02.80 was set by Grosse Pointe South in 2013. Pioneer’s splits: Sylvia Sanok Dufallo 5:04.13, Lydia Bowman 5:09.47, Natalie Mello 5:08.31, Rachel Forsyth 4:41.93. Note that Forsyth’s split is the fastest 1M split in state history. Also, this was 4 x Mile, not 4 × 1600. If they had been running the metric distance, they would have clocked 19:56.84, a national leader.

Motor City crushed the state record (and meet record) in the 1600 sprint medley with its 3:54.95. The old record is the 3:56.09 that they ran in 2018. The line-up: Carrie VanNoy, Morgan Roundtree, Nevaeh Burns, Kylee King 2:09.64. In 5th overall was Purple (Pioneer) at 4:00.67. Personnel: Maya Rollins, Natalie Mello, Sylvia Sanok Dufallo, Rachel Forsyth 2:09.26.

Alexandra Scappaticci from Northville set the 2 Mile record for 7th graders with her 10:49.65 for 2nd in the MS race. Along the way her 10:07.28 for 3000 broke an old one, Mara Matuszak’s 10:21.5 set in Eugene 42 years ago.

In the MS 100H (30 inches instead of the high school 33), Motor City’s Payton Gee zipped 14.29 with a 1.4 wind in the heats to break the 8th grade record from Nonah Waldron’s 14.37 set in 2019. Then in the final, with a 0.1 wind, she ran 14.29 again to tie her own mark.

Kenneth Harris of Kentwood placed 2nd in the MS long jump, his 21-6.75 (1.3) breaking the 8th grade record of 20-10 set in 2000 by future NFL player Morgan Trent when he was at Brighton’s Maltby MS.

Nike Outdoor Nationals, Eugene (6/12-15): Eighth grader Janae Coleman of Motor City ran a state-leading 54.92 in the 400 to take 2nd in the emerging elite race.

USATF U20 Championships, Eugene (6/12-13): Mostly it’s college freshmen in the U20 championships, with a sprinkling of top high school talent. The only win went to UM frosh Trent McFarland (Utica HS) who won the 1500 by 0.04 in 3:47.39. HS soph Zacchaeus Brocks went after the big boys and ended up breaking his 10th grade record twice, 13.76 in the heats and 13.73 in the final. He is now =5 performer all-time.

Olympic Trials Qualifiers

We are a week away from the big one, the Olympic Trials to decide who will be on our team for Paris! Here are the accepted/declared entries that attended middle/high school in Michigan. This does not include other athletes who are currently in the gray area with unaccepted entries or pending appeals. Times shown are not PRs necessarily, but the athlete’s best accepted time in the qualifying period. High schools or middle schools are shown.

Note that Georgia star Kaila Jackson scratched her events, possibly because of injury.

• M100m - Mason Phillips (Salem) 10.15

• W100m - Anavia Battle (Wayne Memorial) 11.05

• W200m - Anavia Battle (Wayne Memorial) 22.56

• W400m - Taylor Manson (East Lansing) 52.25

• M800m - Hobbs Kessler (Ann Arbor Skyline) 1:45.07

• M1500m - Hobbs Kessler (Ann Arbor Skyline) 3:48.66y

• M1500 - Nick Foster (Ann Arbor Pioneer) 3:54.48y

• M5000m - Grant Fisher (Grand Blanc) 12:51.84

• M5000m - Morgan Beadlescomb (Algonac) 13:03.57

• M10,000m - Grant Fisher (Grand Blanc) 26:52.04

• W100H - Grace Stark (White Lake Lakeland) 12.53

• W100H - Aasia Laurencin (Oak Park) 12.72

• M110H - Freddie Crittenden (Utica) 13.15

• W400H - Anna Cockrell (Detroit Country Day MS) 53.34

• W400H - Hannah Antkoviak (Allegan) 56.20

• W400H - Erin Dowd (Brighton) 56.99

• W-Steeple - Sophie Novak (Laker Orion) 9:40.54

• M20K Walk - John Risch (Williamston) 1:31:15

• M-PV - Trevor Stephenson (East Kentwood) 18-7.25/5.67

• W-PV - Gabriela Leon (East Kentwood) 15-5/4.70

• W-PV - Kristen Leland (Remus Chippewa Hills) 14-11.5/4.56

• W-PV - Jessica Mercier (Waterford Kettering) 14-7.25/4.45

• W-PV - Mackenzie (Shell) Buekes (Port Huron Northern) 14-6/4.42

• M-TJ - Isaiah Griffith (Detroit East English) 52-7.5/16.04

• M-SP - Dylan Targgart (South Carolina) 67-1.25/20.45

• M-SP - Myles Kerner (Kenowa Hills) 65-5/19.94

• M-DT - Andrew Evans (Portage Northern) 223-4/68.09

• M-DT - Brian Williams (Fraser) 213-2/64.99

• W-DT - Corinne Jemison (East Kentwood) 197-1/60.07

• W-DT - Erika Beistle (Big Rapids) 193-2/58.89

• M-JT - Chandler Ault (Midland-homeschool) 260-2/79.31

• W-Hept - Cheyenne Nesbitt (Essexville-Garber) 6002

• M-Dec - Heath Baldwin (Kalamazoo Hackett) 8470

• M-Dec - Samuel Black (Pinckney) 7946

• M-Dec - Ryan Talbot (Forest Hills Central) 7786

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.

Notable transfer—Gabrielle Jeffries (Bloomfield Hills ‘23) from Morgan State to MSU.

• Ireland Breitner (Pentwater) - Alma

• Emma Dell (SCS Lakeview) Macomb

• Brooke Jankwietz (Manistee) - Olivet

• Libby McCarthy (Manistee) - Marquette

• Lily Russell (Davison) - Olivet

• Luke Senters (Manistee) - Olivet

• Lisa Ung (Clinton Twp Chippewa Valley) - Macomb

Other Things

• Eastern Michigan Reorganization: Sue Parks has stepped back from her past position and will serve as associate head coach for women and head women’s XC coach. Chris Best and Sterling Roberts will be co-directors of the track & field program. Said Parks, “After so many great moments as a head coach and director, I started thinking about what I wanted the next chapter of my coaching career to look like. I decided that I wanted to return to my roots and spend more time working with our student-athletes. I'm a very competitive person and I love to win but my journey has always been about the people.”

• Jaron Flournoy accepted a 3-year ban from the sport after admitting he was in possession of ostarine, a prohibited substance. Ostarine is a selective androgen receptor modulator that attaches to proteins in the body and effectively tells muscles to grow; it has never been approved for human use. Flournoy ran 10.56/21.07/48.53 for Westland Glenn and won the D1 100/200 double in 2015. In 2016, he ran on LSU’s NCAA-winning 4×1 squad. He ran PRs of 10.12 and 20.09 in 2019 and his 400 best of 45.48 was from ‘22.

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