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Freshman Quickly Joins Benzie All-Time Elite
October 19, 2019
By Chris Dobrowolski
Special for Second Half
BENZONIA — At Benzie Central, the emphasis in the boys cross country program is placed upon team goals and toward achieving success as a group.
However, it’s been hard not to notice the Huskies have their next great runner coming through the system.
Freshman Hunter Jones has burst onto the scene like a comet for Benzie, leading the Huskies with first-place overall finishes in all but one meet this season and recording the fastest 5K time nationally for a freshman along the way.
“Any challenge we throw his way he rises up, whether it’s a workout or a race — anything,” said veteran Benzie Central head coach Asa Kelly. “He always wants to exceed whatever we put out there. He’s a rare individual. An exceptional talent but it’s not even the talent. It’s just his drive. His desire to win. His desire to continue and improve is just pretty amazing.”
The desire and the drive stem from Jones’ love for winning, which is much greater than any passion he holds for running. He’s done plenty of winning, too, coming in first in 11 of the 12 races he’s run this fall.
“Running is not the greatest, but when you win it’s all worth it in the end,” said Jones. “I just say, ‘Well, the harder you run, the sooner you can be done.’”
Running is a tradition for Jones and his siblings. His brother Rick was on the Huskies’ 2009 Lower Peninsula Division 3 champions. His sister, Sarah, ran for the Benzie Central girls program. As a 6-year-old, Hunter watched his brother and his Benzie Central teammates celebrate the sixth of the boys program’s eight MHSAA Finals titles. Not long after he got started running with the elementary school squad.
“I was pretty successful,” Jones says, while foreshadowing what was to come.
Jones left Benzie Central in sixth grade and spent nearly two years in Buckley before transferring back to Benzie Central so he would have access to taking more honors classes in high school. Last spring, he generated some buzz when he ran the fastest middle school time in state history in the 1,600 meters (4:32) and the 3,200 meters (9:34). The mile record snapped a mark that was set 47 years before by Paul Singer of Saginaw St. Thomas, while Jones smashed by 17 seconds the 2-mile record set in 2011 by Ben Hill of Royal Oak.
“That was when we were like, ‘This is kind of an unreal level that this kid could be,’” said Kelly, who knew Jones as an elementary schooler, coached both his brother and sister in high school and began mentoring Hunter during track season last year.
Kelly noticed immediately how receptive Jones was to coaching, and the Huskies’ head coach also noted how well Jones implemented what coaches were asking him to do.
“It’s rare if I have any kid, even a polished senior athlete, where I can say, ‘This is exactly what I want you to do in this race,’ and they do it perfected,” said Kelly. “This kid was doing it in eighth grade. I would say, ‘These are the splits that I want you to hit at this point of the race, and I want you to surge at this point,’ and he could do it to a ‘T’. I’m like, ‘Wow, this kid is pretty special.’”
By that point Kelly knew Jones would be the Huskies’ top runner in the fall. But he also had a fairly veteran group returning. Four of the Huskies’ top seven were back from a squad that finished 15th last year in LPD3. To help with the transition into this season Kelly had former Benzie Central standout Brayden Huddleston, a sophomore running for Bradley University, come and talk to the team’s captains about how to handle having an impact freshman runner. Huddleston was speaking from experience, having been in Jones’ shoes as the Huskies’ No. 1 runner his freshman season.
“Brayden came and talked to those guys and said, ‘Hey, those guys took me in with open arms, and I beat seniors who were returning all-state.’ They thought it was the greatest thing ever,” said Kelly. “It was pretty awesome we could use an alumnus and say, ‘This has been done before and it worked really, really well if it’s done the right way.’ It’s really about how the upperclassmen handle it, and they’ve embraced (Hunter) really well.”
Kelly said Jones’ abilities have not only helped the Huskies in races, but also improved the level of intensity of practices. He said that was a needed jolt for a program that two years ago failed to qualify for the Finals for the first time in 24 years, snapping a string of top-10 state team finishes that also reached 24 years. The Huskies returned to the Lower Peninsula Finals last year but ran out of steam as the season came to a close.
“Practice as a whole has seemed to ratchet up a bit because (Hunter) doesn’t really back down,” said Kelly. “He runs hard. In the past few years I felt like it was pretty relaxed, like ‘OK, we’re going to go easy today.’ All of the sudden now you’ve got this kid who’s not going really easy and other guys are going, ‘Well, I’m going to go with him.’ I think we needed that mentality shake up. It was kind of one of those blessings to have this kid come in that just pushes all the time. His mentality is win. All the time it’s win. That’s what they needed. It was a great thing to have him come along.”
Jones enjoys the focus the Huskies place on their team, where even the star runner has an opportunity to blend in as much as possible.
“We don’t put all the focus on him,” said Kelly. “I think he likes that. He’s just part of the group. Monday through Friday he’s just part of the group. He’s not the one going out winning races and people talking about him. He’s just another kid on the team during the week.”
Jones has seen dramatic improvement through the fall. At each of his last three meets he clocked under 16 minutes. Included in that was the performance at the Shepherd Invitational on Sept. 28 where Jones ran a 15:38 — the best time any freshman had posted in the nation. One meet later, at the third Northwest Conference jamboree, Jones bettered that with a time of 15:25.
“It was a good feeling,” Jones said, recalling the meet in Shepherd. “I was just so tired. It was hard. I just dropped and put my hands over my head.”
The lineage of elite runners who have come out of Benzie Central is impressive. Jake Flynn was a three-time individual Finals champion from 1997-99 and a Foot Locker All-American. The trio of Bill Huddleston (Brayden’s dad), Matt Johnson and Todd Kulawiak helped Benzie Central win three consecutive Class C championships from 1984-86. Each of those runners remains close to the Benzie Central program, and the consensus is that Jones could be just as esteemed when his career is over.
“They’re kind of shaking their heads when they see this kid,” said Kelly. “They also see what he’s got. He’s got that difference-maker that’s really hard to describe in an athlete. That next-level type of thing. His mental toughness is just off the charts. To say, ‘I race to win every single time.’ Most kids don’t think that way at all. It’s, ‘Well, I just want to run fast.’ He’s not thinking that way at all. It’s, ‘I’m going to run as hard as I can and win. Whatever it takes.’ That’s just a different mentality.”
It’s that mentality that Jones is hoping can help him achieve some of his goals. He is taking aim at Flynn’s school record of 15:12 and would like to be only the second four-time individual Finals champion in state history — Central Lake’s Ryan Shay won four straight from 1993-96. The state record time of 14:10, set by Rockford’s Dathan Ritzenhein at the 2000 Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final, also is an objective.
“The sky’s the limit,” said Kelly.
Chris Dobrowolski has covered northern Lower Peninsula sports since 1999 at the Ogemaw County Herald, Alpena News, Traverse City Record-Eagle and currently as sports editor at the Antrim Kalkaska Review since 2016. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTO: Benzie Central freshman Hunter Jones breaks away on the way to winning the Charlevoix Classic by 32 seconds on Sept. 7. (Photo by Sports in Motion.)
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Performance: Corunna's Noah Jacobs
September 8, 2016
Noah Jacobs
Corunna senior – Cross Country
Jacobs is considered the state’s preeminent high school distance runner by many heading into this, his final season. He was runner-up at last year’s MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Final with a time of 15:30.5, which was ninth-fastest in any division and third among non-seniors, and he’s also the two-time reigning LPD2 champ in the 3,200 and set a meet record in the spring with a time of 8:55.57. Jacobs earned the first Michigan National Guard “Performance of the Week” of this school year after clocking a 15:43 to win the Medium Schools race at the annual Corunna Earlybird Invitaitonal while outpacing all runners at the event by at least 55 seconds.
Jacobs holds Corunna’s cross country record of 14:59.5, which he ran at the Portage Invitational last season in finishing second to now-graduated Algonac standout Morgan Beadlescomb – who also finished ahead of Jacobs at the MHSAA Final. Jacobs did win the Greater Lansing and Greater Flint meets and his Regional, and gained additional individual acclaim over the summer by winning the 2-mile championship at the New Balance outdoor national meet with a time of 9:03.71. Even with a bright future guaranteed, he has continued to set lofty high school goals, including leading his cross country team to its first MHSAA team championship since 1997. The Cavaliers finished fifth in LP Division 2 last season, and five of the team’s top seven from that race return. They also are getting an additional boost from Noah’s sophomore brother Ben, who is already coming close to or surpassing Noah’s personal records at that age. Noah Jacobs also should continue to drop his school record time this fall, as he’s running faster than at this point a year ago.
In addition to his running excellence, Jacobs carries a 3.98 unweighted grade-point average (4.12 weighted) to rank among the top few in his graduating class. He’s considering University of Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Stanford and careers in business or statistics after his running days at Corunna are complete.
Coach Bryan Heid said: “Noah has run every day since the summer before his freshman year. He also encourages others to do the same and to believe that they can do things they would otherwise not even dream of. He sets incredibly high goals and then goes out and puts those words into action. He is patient and sticks with the process. Every year he gets better and better because he does not try to skip steps. … If you want to understand what makes him a great leader, watch him after he crosses the finish line of a race. He knows that his race is not done until all of his teammates have finished. You will see him back out on the course cheering for the guys in the race he just ran with everything he had. Somehow he finds more and encourages the rest of our guys to give their best as well. Personal records are great, but team success is what truly drives him and causes him to celebrate. When our team has a great race, he is on top of the world even if his individual race did not meet his goals.”
Performance Point: “I was pretty happy with that (Earlybird time)," Jacobs said. "I wanted to run just a little bit faster, but I didn’t fully empty my tank. I ran a controlled race, didn’t try to overdo it at any point; I stayed comfortable but pushed it. … I wanted to go out and lead our group of guys; hopefully as a team we can chase a state title as well. I showed everybody that I’m still fit and I didn’t back off even though I’ve accomplished some of my goals.”
Big finish: “I have two big goals this season; the first is the win a team state title, and the second is to break the state record Dathan Ritzenhein has (14:10.4 for Rockford at the 2000 Finals). We’re into the part of the season where there’s a lot of training, and there are a couple races where it won’t show up and people won’t see it and question where I’m at. But once I get (there), in October, I’ll be ready to run really fast. … This is my fourth year doing the same general type of (training). I know what it’s like at this point in the season. It gets kinda hard, but at the same point, I know I’m going to see the benefit of what I’m doing now.”
High school matters: “It’s everything to me, that I can still do this for one more year, help out all the guys who helped push me through the years, and carry on the legacy of the guys who helped me when I was younger. Still represent my school and community in a good way, still be the change in athletics in Corunna, trying to lead the way for the generation of guys who are working really hard to be successful.”
Brother’s catching up: “I see everything he does. I know how he works, really well, what works for him and what doesn’t. Everything we do for the most part is together, and it’s great to have him chasing all of my records because he’s going to work for it. But it’s also great for me because I have to have that edge in the sibling rivalry when we go to family reunions in 10 years. (So) I’ve gotta make him work for it; nothing's going to be easy for him.”
Getting down to business: “My dad is a business guy, and he owns a small business and has been successful and given us a good life – when we need a pair of running shoes, it’s not a problem, and we’re able to eat out once in a while. I would like to be at that same point when I’m that age where I can support my family well. And statistics, I’m a big numbers guy. During cross season I look at us, I look at other teams and where we stack up. Our cross coach was our stats teacher when I had it, and he made it interesting, and I saw all the difference fields you can go into.”
– Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2016-17 school year, Second Half and the Michigan National Guard will recognize a “Performance of the Week" from among the MHSAA's 750 member high schools.
The Michigan Army National Guard provides trained and ready forces in support of the National Military Strategy, and responds as needed to state, local, and regional emergencies to ensure peace, order, and public safety. The Guard adds value to our communities through continuous interaction. National Guard soldiers are part of the local community. Guardsmen typically train one weekend per month and two weeks in the summer. This training maintains readiness when needed, be it either to defend our nation's freedom or protect lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
PHOTOS: (Top) Corunna's Noah Jacobs leads the pack during the Corunna Earlybird Invitational. (Middle) Jacobs paces the field alone during the Medium Schools race. (Photos courtesy of the Corunna athletic department.)