Caro's Albrecht Proves to be Quick Study
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
August 29, 2017
Before the first cross country race of his life, Yami Albrecht stepped to the starting line without much of a plan.
Then a freshman at Caro, Albrecht knew he could run, but didn’t know how to pace himself over the course of a 5K or what type of strategy to employ other than “follow Zak.”
“During the race, I didn’t know what I was doing and thought that maybe cross country wasn’t for me, because I was dead tired in that race,” Albrecht said. “Zak Drews was my teammate at that point, we had trained together all summer and I was always right behind him in the workouts. So that was my expectation, to stay behind him. I did that until after the first mile, then I broke down a little bit.”
Two years, several wins and an MHSAA championship later, everyone is following Yami, and the junior is working to make sure it stays that way.
“Obviously I want to win more, but it pushes me to train harder,” said Albrecht, the reigning Lower Peninsula Division 3 champion. “In my training, I think about how people have a target on me now. I have to train that much harder if I want to be a state champ again. It’s definitely not a guarantee that just because I won last year that I’ll do it again.”
Albrecht’s talent was noticeable long before he ran that first cross country race in the late summer of 2015.
“I knew he was going to be good,” Caro coach Jeff Schember said. “He came over (from Ethiopia) in second grade, and I’m an elementary teacher, so I knew right away when I saw him in second grade that he was something special. I would throw a soccer ball on the field and nobody could catch him to take it away from him.”
Albrecht was born in Ethiopia and adopted at the age of 7. Sports were a way for him to connect to his new classmates.
“When I first came here, my first love was soccer,” he said. “I love sports, and that’s what I did, that’s how I met most of my friends. At recess, we would play basketball and soccer. It just went on from there.”
As a middle schooler, Albrecht ran track, where his mix of speed and endurance translated into plenty of success. In the fall, he wasn’t running on a cross country course, but rather a football field, where he was excelling as a running back.
He decided not to continue with football in high school, however, and cross country was a natural fit.
“It was well established that he was pretty athletic,” Schember said. “But we didn’t know how good he would be because he had never trained. He just came out and tried it, and after our first cross country meet his teammate beat him and he placed (fifth) and he was like, ‘Man, what did I get myself into?’ He’s ultra-competitive, but he’s coachable and he listens.”
Albrecht dazzled his freshman year, even while figuring the sport out. The fifth-place finish in that first meet was tied for his lowest of the season until he went to the Division 3 Final, where he finished eighth, securing an all-state honor.
As a sophomore, Albrecht said, he started to figure out racing even more. He proved it by never finishing worse than fourth and winning the Division 3 title with a personal best time of 15 minutes, 47.4 seconds.
He opened his junior season Aug. 24 by cruising to a victory at the Mike Jackson Memorial Meet at Croswell-Lexington – the same race in which he made his high school debut – in 16:16.4, more than 40 seconds faster than he crossed in the same race a year ago.
That type of improvement, mixed with the success he’s already had, should lead to plenty of opportunities at the college level for Albrecht, who has already had interest from several schools, including University of Nebraska.
“I want to run at the next level, for sure,” he said. “I always thought about it, but I wasn’t sure how big I would make it as a freshman or sophomore, or even now. I for sure want to run in college, though.”
Before he leaves, however, Albrecht wants to bring more than an individual title to Caro, which finished fifth as a team in LPD3 in 2016.
“It can be a lot more fun winning it as a team,” he said. “It’s not just me having the joy of winning, it’s the whole team, so it’s a lot better that way. In our practice, even when the coaches tell us to go easy, the four juniors, obviously our pace is a little faster. But the freshmen always want to stick with us, and to see that from them is great.”
Keeping up might be difficult, but trying to stick with Albrecht could definitely pay off in the long run for the younger Tigers.
“When you’ve got a kid like that, a special talent like that, it does elevate everyone else around them,” Schember said. “He’s such a team player. He’s won his state title, now he’s focused on getting his teammates a state title. It’s fun when you’re sharing rather than just being an individual. He’s definitely a team player. It’s exciting.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Caro's Yami Albrecht sets the pace at Thursday's Mike Jackson Memorial Meet at Croswell-Lexington. (Middle) Albrecht is the reigning champion in Lower Peninsula Division 3. (Photos by Mark Rummel.)
Jackson's Janke Recalled as 'Larger than Life,' Always Willing to Help
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
January 26, 2022
JACKSON – A few days before Christmas, Jackson boys track & field head coach Corey Pryor was called to meet with Charles Janke, the longtime former Jackson coach and teacher.
Janke was very ill and in the final days of his life. Janke, it turns out, wasn’t leaving anything to chance.
“He asked me if the stadium was ready for our big track meet, the one named after him,” Pryor said. “Believe it or not, that’s what he asked. He was always so organized and meticulous. He wanted to make sure everything was always on schedule.
“I am grateful for getting the chance to spend a few more moments with him.”
Janke, 85, died Dec. 30 at Henry Ford Allegiance Hospice Home in Jackson.
Janke was a track and cross country coach for Jackson who was recognized statewide for his commitment to high school athletics, student athletes and the two sports he loved the most. Although he retired from coaching nearly two decades ago, he remained very involved in high school sports. He was a leader in both sports across the state, a giant in the high school running community.
A Detroit native who went to Central Michigan University to play football, Janke had short stints at Southfield and Milford schools before moving to Jackson where he taught history and physical education. Although he got his start as a football coach, at Jackson he took over the track and cross country programs in 1966. He pulled double duty for years before stepping down as track coach in 1990, but he continued with cross country through 2003 while helping coach the distance runners in track for several more years.
If it involved track & field or cross country in Michigan, Janke was probably involved. He was an early pioneer in the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association, the first statewide sports-specific association for coaches in the state. He founded several events, including the first countywide cross country meet in Jackson. He hosted, organized and gave presentations at coaching clinics for years and in the early 1970s helped organize indoor track & field meets through MITCA by contacting colleges across the state to see if they were interested in hosting events. He also was the first to publish a MITCA newsletter.
In cross country, he was among those who played a role in bringing all four classes together for a Lower Peninsula championship meet at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn. He helped with the event long after coaching. He also served as head field events judge at Big Ten Indoor Championships and became a high school official after retiring as head coach.
His passion for the sport was evident.
“He had a genuine love for the sport,” Pryor said. “He always had his way of doing things. He was a special kind of guy.”
When Pryor was a high school sprinter at Jackson, Janke was an assistant coach who mainly worked with long distance runners.
“He coached hard,” Pryor said, adding that he never fully appreciated Coach Janke until later in life and especially after he became track coach. Pryor found pages and pages of handwritten notes with dates, times and athletes’ names.
“He even wrote down the weather,” Pryor said.
He and Janke had a lot of discussions, often over breakfast, about track events.
“He would be at almost all of the meets,” Pryor said. “He learned every kid by name. He told them he wanted to see them at the state meet. I welcomed him with open arms. When I began to see just what he meant to our state, I realized this guy was a diamond.
“I was blessed to see him behind the curtain. I saw he was the type of guy who really cared about people and wanted to see them succeed. He was more than a coach.”
Vandercook Lake cross country coach Dan Roggenbaum is one of several from the Jackson area who would seek out Janke for advice and mentorship. He said Janke approached officiating with the same rigor and commitment he did coaching.
“Charlie was always willing to help me out with any questions I ever had,” he said. “He was larger than life to me and most other coaches in our county. He was always willing to help and give advice to any of us who were a lot newer to the cross country and track & field scene.”
Two things Janke was most proud of was Withington Stadium in Jackson and the cross country course at Ella Sharp Park named after him.
“I always admired his love and passion for cross country, track & field,” said Ben Pack, now a coach and administrator at Manchester, but once a shot and discus thrower for Janke. “On days of track meets he would have the track set up before the school day started, with the blocks at the starting line, the hurdles stacked along the track to be placed for the first hurdle race, and the throws event areas lined. Every detail for the practices and meets were paid attention to.
“He didn’t do this because he had to do it; he did it because he loved doing it. He always wanted everything to be first class.”
Janke was admittedly a tough coach.
In winning the Al Cotton Award for his dedication to Jackson athletics, the Jackson Citizen-Patriot wrote this about Janke in 2003: “One does not need to talk to many of Janke's athletes or listen very long to get a clear picture of the type of coach he was. He was intense. He was in charge. He demanded respect and he expected the best, and he received a huge measure of both from those who followed his regimen.”
Janke was inducted into both the Michigan High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the MITCA Hall of Fame.
Pack said, “During high school we had a sign that read, ‘The mind controls the body.’ In PE strength class we often did exercises that helped us understand how much more we could push ourselves if we fought off the pain of the exercise. Without question, this built mental toughness. He taught kids how to set goals, and the step-by-step process to get to the goal.”
All told, Janke spent more than 60 years involved in track and cross country. His impact will roll on in both sports. A number of former athletes have gone on to become teachers and coaches themselves, like Pack, who not only was an athlete for Janke but coached alongside him. Pack served as Jackson’s varsity football coach from 1987-2002 and again in 2012.
“As peers we often would guide kids to each other’s sports,” Pack said. “Kids that I felt would be better at running cross country, I sent to him. Kids that he felt would be good football players he sent to me. Working together was an honor.”
Jim Martin ran for Janke at Jackson in the 1970s. He’s now in his 36th year coaching track and cross country, the last 26 at Sault Ste. Marie High School. He said he’s a coach today because of the impact Janke had on him.
“At a time in my life that I needed structure and guidance, he was the rock,” Martin said. “He was always there. There's no way I'm in this (coaching) 35 years without him. He was my role model. He cannot be replaced.”
Last fall, Martin took his Sault Ste. Marie team to Jackson for the Charles Janke Invitational. His Blue Devils team won. Going into the meet, he didn’t think that was possible.
“For the life of me I couldn’t figure out how we won that,” Martin said. “We were good, but not Jackson good. … That was the last time Coach Janke saw my team. Now I know why.”
A Celebration of Life service will be held at 2 p.m. on June 12, 2022, at, appropriately, Withington Stadium.
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTO: Charles Janke coaches his Jackson team during a cross country meet in 2003. (Photo by John Johnson.)