Livingston Pair Hough, Jarema, Primed for More Memorable Runs
By
Tim Robinson
Special for MHSAA.com
August 23, 2021
Hartland’s Riley Hough and Pinckney’s Caleb Jarema don’t see a lot of each other during their respective seasons, despite their schools being both located in Livingston County.
Hartland is in Division 1 and Pinckney in Division 2, for starters, and they are in different conferences as well.
They might have a rare chance to compete against each other in October’s Portage Invitational, provided Pinckney coach Jim Wicker can get his team into the Division 1 portion of the meet.
Otherwise Hough, who won the Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals individual race last year, and Jarema, who was second last year in Division 2, may not face each other during this fall’s MHSAA season.
“We know each other pretty well,” Hough said. “We don’t talk too much, but when we’re racing we’re always talking a little bit.”
That is, until it’s time to go.
“Yes,” Hough said. “That’s when it gets silent and pretty serious.”
Both played soccer before turning to cross country. Hough got his start running while working on conditioning before playing soccer in the fourth and fifth grades.
“Then I did some local 5Ks, like the Howell Melon Run and the (Howell) Headless Horseman runs, and I saw I did pretty well for my age,” Hough said. “So did my parents. So we decided I could try cross country in the sixth grade, and it took off from there.”
Jarema took a different route. He played soccer and ran cross country his first two years of high school before giving up soccer before his junior year in 2020.
“I just started to enjoy running a lot more than soccer,” he explained, “and it became really hard to do both.”
It certainly worked out. Jarema improved from a 38th-place finish as a sophomore to second as a junior.
Both come from running families.
Jarema also was inspired by his older siblings. Brother Aaron is a senior at Ferris State University, while sister Courtney ran for a season at Oakland University.
“My brother was running for Pinckney, and I would be at his meets and it just seemed like a really fun environment,” Jarema said. “My brother was one of my role models, and I liked watching him run. I wanted to do the same thing he did, and then I ended up really enjoying it.”
Hough’s father, Jeff, competed at Corunna in high school, then went to Central Michigan University before finishing his career at William & Mary. He is an assistant coach at Hartland, and father and son talk running while driving to and from meets, among other things.
“He’s fortunate, or unfortunate, however you look at it, that he has to live with me,” Jeff says. “So we can discuss these things one-on-one. He’s very consistent at what he does, and it’s just a matter of improving from race to race. We’re down into small detail things now. He’s got the racing portion down now, We’re into the small, nitty-gritty things that can make a difference.”
Both also know they are on everyone’s list this season. Hough's 14:49.62 last year was the second-fastest Finals time, all classes and divisions, since the championship race went to 5K in 1980. Jarema was one of only four runners to break 16 minutes in Division 2, and the other three runners graduated.
“There definitely is a mental pressure of having a target on your back,” Riley Hough said. “I’ve had it for a while and I know what it’s like. It’s hard. It helps push me along as well. It’s a little easier now that I’m used to it. Now that I’m a senior, I have these fast times and people are going to be gunning for me. It’s definitely going to be interesting.”
The times are the times, which give both confidence without veering into cockiness.
That also allows Jarema to admit, without any personal animosity, that he’s never beaten Hough.
“I feel I’m as good as anyone in the state,” Jarema said. “I mean, Riley is a phenomenal runner, and I may not be better than him. But I feel I can compete with him, for sure. So I feel there’s a target on my back, and yeah, I would say that it pushes me to be better off, for sure. I know there are kids who are working just as hard as me and are looking for the same type of breakout season.”
Both runners are part of teams that are close. Jarema talks about the importance of family, both his own and one created by his teammates. Hartland coach Matt Gutteridge, meanwhile, talks about Hough’s contributions on and off the race course.
“What I appreciate about Riley is how consistent he is,” Gutteridge said. “Whether it’s the training, or showing up and doing the little things, the leadership, I mean, he’s stepping up his game everywhere. He’s a consistent teammate and a consistent athlete. It’s fun to coach someone who’s that darn consistent.
“What he’s been able to do day in and day out still surprises me,” Gutteridge added. “He’s smart about his training. Even when he gets nicked up, he doesn’t shut it down. He pushes through it and is smart about it. That’s where I think he’s going to be successful, long-term. He really listens to his body, trusts his coaches, and the sky’s the limit for him.”
Pinckney coach Jim Wicker, a former Pirate who ran at Eastern Michigan, said he could see Jarema’s potential early.
“You could tell way back in the sixth grade he was going to be something special,” Wicker said. “He was always in the front, even if he was running against older kids. His talent and his competitive nature are just natural.
“He has high expectations and he really wants to be a Division I recruit,” Wicker continued. “He’s being recruited by some pretty good schools. I’m really proud of him. He’s doing a good job of staying grounded, keeping everything in perspective. He’s working hard, and I’m expecting big things from him.”
Hough and Jarema may have a few other chances to race each other this fall – potentially in non-MHSAA events after the Finals in November – and they’re both looking forward to possibly competing head-to-head.
“We definitely have conversations before the race, but once we get on the line it’s dead,” Jarema says of pre-race chit-chat. “He’s a super-nice kid, and I do really enjoy competing against him. You know, it’s more fun to compete against people who are friendly.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Hartland's Riley Hough, left, and Pinckney's Caleb Jarema sprint to the finish during last season's MHSAA Finals at Michigan International Speedway. (Middle) Hough crosses the line first in Division 1. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)
Eberhard Surpasses Personal Goals, Becomes Linden XC Standard Setter
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
October 20, 2022
Kyle Eberhard has enjoyed running for as long as he can remember.
He joined a mileage club in elementary school. He said his days on the playground weren’t spent playing soccer like some of his classmates, but running back and forth.
Back then, he was simply having fun and blissfully unaware of a Linden High School distance program that was among the best in the state.
Now in his senior year, that love of running helped turn him into the best distance runner the program has ever had.
“Kyle had another year of really solid mileage and had a fantastic track season (as a junior),” Linden boys cross country coach Trevor Hall said. “Coming into cross country season, he was brimming with confidence. Running consumes his thoughts. He’s always thinking about, ‘How can I be a better runner?’ He just does everything right.”
Eberhard recently set the school’s cross country record, completing the 5K course at the Shepherd Blue Jay Invite in 15 minutes, 20.9 seconds. It was nearly 30 seconds better than his previous personal best, and 14.4 seconds better than the previous record, set by Roger Phillips in 2012.
“It’s crazy because my goal was just to get on (the program’s top 10 list),” Eberhard said. “And that was starting last year – by the end of my senior year, the goal was to get on there. I never envisioned getting on the top. There was a senior when I was a freshman, Tyler Buchanan, he’s (third), and I was like, ‘I’ll never be as fast as him.’”
The record started to become a reality for Eberhard this past track season. He set the school record in the 1,600 meters at 4:18.01, was a Regional champion in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 and was all-state at the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals in the 800 (fifth) and 1,600 (eighth).
Track season also showed Eberhard’s range as a runner, as he was unbeaten in six 400-meter races, including winning the Flint Metro League championship.
“I’ve been training over the winter since my freshman year,” Eberhard said. “But last winter, I went a lot harder. I raced a lot more. I really focused on racing almost every weekend, and focused on what workouts I was doing, stuff like that.”
Track didn’t just bring confidence to Eberhard, it also brought college interest. Scholarship offers have started rolling in, including from Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan. He’s also visited Michigan State and Oakland, among others, with more visits upcoming.
“In late spring, I was getting more attention from track, and it’s been consistent since then,” Eberhard said. “I’ve been narrowing it down since the start of the summer, going on unofficials and stuff. It’s fun, but it’s also annoying sometimes.”
The recruiting process hasn’t distracted Eberhard from having the best season of his career. He’s won six of Linden’s first eight races, including the Duane Raffin Festival of Races at Holly.
Not among those wins is the Shepherd race in which he broke the record. There, he finished third, behind Thomas Westphal of New Baltimore Anchor Bay and Trent McFarland of Utica, two of the top runners in Division 1.
“I was definitely really locked in that day, just because I knew that was one of two or three chances I had to really run fast this season,” Eberhard said. “I knew I would have more than one person to chase after.”
Eberhard knew he was moving fast throughout the race, and it really hit home when he crossed the 2-mile mark in 9:50, which would be a personal best for him on the track.
“I’m only the cross country coach, but I think that might be the most impressive record of all the distance records at Linden,” Hall said. “Just to have him not just break the record, but blow it out of the water in a program where we’ve had some state runners-up and top-five finishers. We had a plan going in, and he executed it perfectly. It was just a gutsy race. You could see the effort on his face at every step. It was just so cool to witness.”
Eberhard’s time tied for the second-fastest in Division 2 this season with Pinckney’s Evan Loughride. Only Chelsea’s Connell Alford has run faster in Division 2 this season, and he’s done so three times, with his best time 14:53.2.
Eberhard and Loughride will meet at the Regional on Oct. 29 in Waterford, but they won’t see Alford until the Division 2 Final on Nov. 5 at Michigan International Speedway.
“I definitely want to win Regionals, which is going to be a battle,” Eberhard said. “The big one is to try to win the state meet, which is going to be hard with Alford there. I know I can compete with the other guys, but anything can happen. Our coach always says, ‘You’re better than you think you are.’”
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) Linden’s Kyle Eberhard, left, runs with a pack during the Shepherd Blue Jay Invitational on Oct. 1. (Middle) Eberhard (1222) follows Anchor Bay’s Thomas Westphal, far right. (Photos courtesy of Kyle Eberhard.)