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.)
Sinke Family Has Bear Lake Primed to Compete for Championships Now, In Future
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
October 25, 2024
One Sinke is nearing the end of a high school running career seeking to qualify for a fourth-straight MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 Cross Country Final.
A few other Sinkes are right in the middle of possible team and individual title opportunities.
Mason Sinke, who broke the Bear Lake cross country race record earlier this season, is about to finish his stellar career on 5K courses. He still has the spring track season ahead, and then he’s moving on to run for Hope College. Saturday, he hopes — or rather expects — to qualify for his fourth Final while vying for the individual Regional title at Benzie Central.
His team will not qualify for the Final due to an insufficient number of healthy runners. But the Bear Lake girls team – led by freshman Callie Sinke – has its eyes on qualifying for the Final and can’t help but think a state championship is obtainable in the near future.
A future boys title also isn’t out of the question as the Lakers have a strong middle school program as well. The middle school’s current number one runner is Johnny Sinke.
And all the Lakers cross country teams are coached by Tony Shrum and Kim Sinke. Shrum has headed up the cross country program, which co-ops with Onekama, since 2012. Kim Sinke, a former college distance runner, joined the staff this year. She is also the mother of Mason, Callie and Johnny Sinke.
Bear Lake is really hoping to start some strong winning streaks this weekend after long Regional championship streaks were common up until a decade ago. The Lakers are not unfamiliar with Finals appearances, but they’re looking for their first in a decade with the Regional trophy earned.
“For the girls, as long as we’ve got everybody healthy and racing, the goal is to win,” Shrum said of the upcoming Regional. “It would be our seventh girls Regional title in the program’s history, so they would be on a list with a pretty exclusive group.”
Shrum hopes the resting and recovering this week will allow the Lakers to put their best foot forward in the Regional. Bear Lake’s girls, the West Michigan D League champions this year, will be racing against some familiar foes.
There will be disappointment if there aren’t several Lakers listed among the top 10 finishers – and a handful in the top five are pretty much expected.
Callie Sinke, who is fighting through normal running injury challenges, and Addy Zeller are the Lakers’ top two runners and arguably the top two rated runners in the region. But injuries have slowed down the top two Lakers a bit.
“Right now Callie is about 20 seconds ahead of everybody in the field Saturday,” Shrum pointed out. “We have three of the top five girls when healthy in the region, and our fourth girl has top-15 ability and our fifth girl has been coming on.”
And these Lakers are young. Callie Sinke is a freshman and Zeller, hampered lately by a quad injury, is a sophomore. Melodie Hulinek, the number three runner who is coming back from a knee injury, is also a freshman. Natalie Brown, the current fourth runner, is a junior. Two other freshmen, Isabella Card and Peyton Buckner, may run for the fifth scoring spot, along with two other juniors, Lauren Pulido-Huber and Libby Daugherty. The co-op is without a senior on the girls side.
Shrum is excited about the opportunity this year and really the next three. He notes two current middle school runners will likely compete for varsity spots next fall.
“We’ve got a good core of girls coming back for the next four years,” Scrum said.
Zeller and Sinke attend Onekama High School. The rest of the girls team are enrolled with Bear Lake.
Mason Sinke is a senior at Onekama. He too has sat out a few races recently to rest and prepare for his last two career high school meets.
All season, he’s had a special partner and coach, Kaden Forward. The school record Sinke broke this year had belonged to Forward, who finished 13th in last year’s Final. Sinke was a few seconds behind Forward in the Final last year and finished 16th. He’s looking to take one of the top spots – if not first place – this Saturday and go on to a top 10, if not top five, at the Final.
The West Michigan D League features one of the top runners in the state in Alex Tyndall from Mason County Eastern. Tyndall finished 18th in last year’s Final, a few seconds behind Sinke. Tyndall and Eastern will be among many competitors Bear Lake has raced against week after week. A handful of other runners familiar to Mason Sinke will challenge him for a top-five Regional finish.
“Right now Mason would be the number two guy behind Alex coming in,” Shrum acknowledged. “We’ll see if he wants to chase Alex and push him and see if he can take Alex down. but otherwise I think silver at the Regional is a definite possibility for him.”
The Bear Lake boys team has no chance of qualifying for the Finals as two of its five team members are out with injuries. But Shrum holds strong hopes senior Greyson Hoeflinger will also qualify for the Finals as an individual.
Over the 35 years of the co-op’s existence, Bear Lake’s boys teams have won 23 Regional titles and the girls have won six.
“Between Mason and Kaden, they have really changed the mindset of our program,” Shrum said. “Callie is leading the girls on the same path.”
Bear Lake is looking forward to an influx of talented young runners on the boys side too.
“Our next set of boys teams could be banner raising, winning teams of the state final,” Shrum predicted. “We’re on the comeback collectively as a program.”
The future is bright, but the current boys and girls teams members should get the credit for getting Bear Lake back to its winning ways.
“To me it is exciting to get back on that level and compete for state titles and Regional championships in the next five, six years,” Shrum noted. “A lot of it really has to do with the current group of kids that we have and their dedication, their discipline, their excitement and enthusiasm for the sport.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. 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.
PHOTOS (Top) Mason Sinke runs to his school record-setting 5K time Sept. 7 at the Bear Country Invitational. (2) The Bear Lake girls team take a trophy photo after clinching the West Michigan D League title. (3) Mason Sinke, middle, takes a photo with Bear Lake head coach Tony Shrum and assistant and mother Kim Sinke. (4) Callie Sinke runs a race this fall. (Photos courtesy of the Sinke family.)