#85 - "Sunny, with a high near 73"

Inside This Issue

• Another State Record For Ross

• Hansen Breaks Fisher Records

• State Finals Forecast

• The Unattached High Schooler

• HS Highlights

• College/Pro Highlights

Ross Blasts 2:00.53

Racing at Distance Night Under The Lights At Houseman Field, Onsted’s Emmry Ross once again smashed the 800m State Record, crushing a 2:00.53 that beat her own 2:01.42 from April. Hammering it from the gun, Ross hit 200 in 27.7 with only Sydney Kuhn nearby. She passed 400 in 56.72, with Kuhn at 58.06. Their lead over the rest of the field only grew from there. Ross passed 600 in 1:28.2 (for context, the winning time at the Big 10 indoor meet was 1:28.18). She dug deep on the final stretch and with the faintest of leans set another record.

Behind her, Kuhn streaked to a 2:06.39 to become No. 7 in state history. Collette Wierks of West Ottawa ran 2:11.99 for 3rd with Grand Haven’s Valerie Beeck at 2:13:48.

There were plenty of other highlights in the 80 or so races at Houseman Field that night (the last on the current surface—they are currently tearing up the track for a full refurbishment).

Ludington’s Eliza Schwass won the middle school 1600 in 4:49.78 and came back for the 800 win in 2:11.32. Otsego’s Emma Hoffman also won two, taking the HS mile in 4:52.95 and the 3200 in 10:17.08. Grandville soph Caden Livermore blasted a 4:09.41 to take the 1600 from Seth Conner (4:10.33) and Luka Hammond 4:11.88.

The complete video from Distance Night can be seen here. The Emmry Ross race can be found at 5:47:00.

Hansen Breaks Fisher’s 1600/Mile Records

Grant Fisher’s mile state record fell on Saturday (now there’s a sentence I didn’t think I would be writing for a long time!). Freeland senior TJ Hansen won the RunningLane mile in Huntsville, Alabama in 3:59.02 to become the third Michigan prep to break the once-unthinkable 4:00 barrier.

Running behind pacesetters for the first half—and with wavelights—Hansen stayed in 4th. He covered the first 409m in 60.52. The next lap took 59.88 (2:00.40 for 809m).

Once the rabbits stepped off, Hansen stuck to leader Corbin Coombs of New Mexico like glue. He passed 1209 in 2:59.80 (a 59.80 lap). He made a challenge on the final backstretch, but Coombs held him off. In the final 100, Hansen challenged again, pulled even, and in the final steps drove to the line for the win in 3:59.02, breaking Fisher’s 3:59.28 standard. Along the way, he passed 1600 in 3:57.57, breaking another Fisher mark, his 3:57.93. Coombs also joined the sub-4:00 club with his 3:59.23.

Hansen told Milesplit, “I’m still in shock and awe at everything that went down today… Once we hit 200 to go I saw 3:28 and I knew we had it in the bag if me and Corbin could close, and we did… It’s definitely a confidence boost.”

Organizers did not have a camera at the 1500 mark, so Hansen will not be moving higher on the all-time list in that event (though it should be one of the official splits at Brooks PR and New Balance).

Watch the video.

The State Finals Forecast

This feels like a typical Tuesday (at this writing). The forecast for the state finals in the Grand Rapids area on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service, is absolutely perfect: “Sunny, with a high near 73.”

Let’s all pray that it stays that way! I have to admit, there have been too many years when the NWS adds new details to the forecast as we get closer to the meet. Wednesday might see “windy, dropping temperatures” added. Thursday it might be “25% chance of rain.” Friday might be “75% chance of rain.” And then of course, Saturday morning, it could say, “Severe thunderstorms, hail, tornado watch, severe heat, frost warning.”

Success at the Michigan state finals means being prepared for anything :)

The Unattached High Schooler

We’ve been asked recently about the Michtrack policy on listing athletes who don’t run for their high schools. In any given year there are a few; this year I can think of several who are at a fairly high level. Bottom line is we mirror the Track & Field News policy of the last 70 years or more of listing these athletes under the name of the high school they attend, whether or not they compete for the school.

It makes sense to us, for the simple reason that there are a lot of different possible reasons that an athlete may not compete for their school team, and often the reasons are private and it is difficult/impossible to access both sides of the story. We simply don’t have the time or interest in researching each case and playing judge about what a “legitimate” high schooler is.

Over the years, the cases we have encountered have involved abusive school programs, manipulative club coaches, overly involved parents and rightfully concerned parents, not to mention academic ineligibility and a host of other possible reasons. It’s also worth noting that some school programs compromise with star athletes, allowing outside or parental coaching input, while others stick to a “my way or the highway” philosophy. And we’re not even going to get into the sketchy transfers department!

We’re fans of Michigan high schoolers who compete in track & field. While plenty of people like to jump into the drama with strong opinions of their own on who is a “legit” high schooler, we’re not here to judge why athletes wear the colors they do.

HS Highlights

Just a few highlights this time around, as we are in rush to prepare for announcing the D1 finals Saturday.

• At the Traverse City Honor Roll meet, Lorelai Zielinski broke her own sophomore state record in the discus with her 164-9. That makes her No. 5 in state history. She also threw 48-10.5 to win the shot.

• At the UM Health-West Scholarship Invite, Henry Dixon of Forest Hills Eastern led a deep 800 field, clocking 1:52.12 as 7 runners broke 1:57. Portage Northern won its relays in 42.09 & 1:28.51. Meredith Cook of Zeeland East won the 800 in 2:15.09. Leigha Stoepker of Jenison won the throws at 43-3 & 130-3.

• At the Steeb Memorial, Belleville relayed 41.96 & 1:26.21. Maya Justice of Woodhaven sprinted 24.64 with 0.0 wind and jumped 18-5.25. Cora Williams of Richard threw 44-10.

• At the Lansing Honor Roll, Jenna Spitzley of Pewamo-Westphalia boomed a big 146-1 in the discus.

• The Oakland County Championships saw Noah Sanders of Groves beat a tough 100 field with his 10.75 (1.1), while Jordan Paige of Novi jumped a windy 23-2.

• At Lenawee County, Emmry Ross ran 4:48.06, 55.51 and 2:05.99.

• At MITCA’s team meets, East Kentwood won both boys and girls titles in D1. For D2, it was Harper Creek (boys) and Holland Christian (girls). D3 champs were Traverse City St Francis (boys) and Remus Chippewa Hills (girls). D4 champs were Riverview Gabriel Richard (boys) & Hillsdale Academy (girls).

College/Pro Highlights

• Sophie Novak (Lake Orion/Notre Dame) is redshirting the season. She ran unattached at the Track Fest in Los Angeles (Eagle Rock) and finished 3rd in the steeple against some great competition. Her 9:23.04 is a PR and makes her the No. 2 Michigander ever, after only Leah (O’Connor) Falland’s 9:16.96.

• Morgan Beadlescomb (Algonac) placed 3rd in the 5000 at Track Fest in a PR 13:05.47. Nick Foster (Pioneer) placed 2nd in his 1500 heat in 3:38.61.

• As Hobbs Kessler (Skyline/adidas) has risen in the track world, his racing schedule has gotten more and more exclusive as he focuses on what really matters and fine-tunes his training toward those goals. No more Tooting Becs on his calendar. This is what his upcoming schedule looks like: 5/31-6/1—Grand Slam Philly; 7/5—Prefontaine Classic; 7/31-8/2—USATF Championships.

• Michiganders in the line-up for the Grand Slam Track meet in Philadelphia this weekend: Udodi Onwuzurike (Brother Rice); Freddie Crittenden (Utica); Anna Cockrell (Country Day MS); Hobbs Kessler (Skyline); Grant Fisher (Grand Blanc).

• Just a day or two after we sent Andrew Evans (Portage Northern) a message asking if he was going to be competing this year, the Olympic Trials discus champion (and noted brewer) showed up in Tucson and won two competitions there in the space of three days, throwing 211-6 and 219-3.

• Also in Tucson, Myles Kerner (Kenowa Hills) threw 64-11.5 and Kristen Leland (Chippewa Hills) won the vault at 14-4.75.

• Aasia Laurencin (Oak Park) won the hurdles at Clermont in 12.88 (-0.2) after a 12.77w heat (2.8).

NCAA II Highlights (Pueblo, Colorado, altitude 1430m)

• Owen Westerkamp (Big Rapids/GV) steepled to 4th in 9:02.19.

• Koby Fraaza (Gull Lake/GV) placed 5th in the 5000 in 14:35.28.

• Dolan Gonzales (Saline/GV) vaulted 17-1.5 for 6th.

• Ben Haas (Clarkston/Hillsdale) won the hammer at 217-7. Michael Griffey (Plainwell/GV) was 4th at 210-9.

• Klaudia O’Malley (McBain/GV) won the 1500 in 4:29.11 and also placed 6th in the 5000 in 16:48.73.

• Allison Kuzma (Zeeland East/Hillsdale) was 3rd in the 10,000 at 35:02.50.

• Kylie Ray (Pinckney/Findlay) ran 2nd in the 400H at 57.72.

• Brooke Bowers (Forest Hills Central/GV) vaulted 5th at 13-8.25.

• Alaina Diaz (Hudsonville/GV) long jumped 20-10.75w for 2nd.

• Mackenzie Bohrer (Traverse C Central/GV) was 6th in the shot at 50-6.75.

• Erika Beistle (Big Rapids/GV) dominated the discus competition by more than 30 feet with her 213-5 winner. Margaret Stevenson (East Jordan/GV) was 2nd at 182-6.

• Shelby Ulven (Zeeland East/GV) was hammer runner-up at 200-4. Kelsey Hansen (Lincoln Alcona/Northwood) finished 7th at 186-8.

NAIA Highlights

• Camden Khon (Armada/Spring Arbor) finished 5th in the 1500 at 3:48.21.

• Armon Howard (Rochester Adams/Madonna) was 2nd in the 400H at 51.52. Jake Van Tassell (Greenville/Aquinas) was 3rd in 51.74.

• Alexander Pranger (NorthPointe/Cornerstone) threw 4th in the discus at 170-9.

• Mason Darden (Lansing Waverly/Madonna) won the hammer with his 211-6.

• Charity Jones (Waterford Kettering/Madonna) was 5th at 400 in 54.91.

• Hannah Antkoviak (Allegan/Olivent Nazarene) won the 400H in 58.94.

• Emma Valentine (Morrice/Siena Hts) was 3rd in the HJ at 5-7.75.

• Linnearia Richards (Flint Kearsley/Siena Hts) was 2n din the long jump at 19-1.

• Maeli Hope (Whitehall/Aquinas) threw 3rd in the discus at 160-11.

Other Things

• Help to Keep This Newsletter Going! Details here.

• Tom Micallef is officially retiring after many years as one of the top track meet organizers in the state. Before that, he was an incredible coach at Ypsilanti High. He’ll be missed (but hopefully we’ll still see plenty of him.