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Sturgis XC 'Star' Takes Center Stage
September 8, 2015
By Wes Morgan
Special for Second Half
Daniel Steele became a star in the fifth grade when he played a star in his class’ Christmas production.
Ever since, he’s fed off that adrenaline rush each time the curtain has gone up.
He’s played Rooster in “Annie Jr.” and the White Rabbit in “Alice In Wonderland.” Steele greedily gobbled goodies as Augustus in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” He was cowman Slim in “Oklahoma” and eventually landed lead roles of Mr. McAfee in “Bye Bye Birdie” and Mr. Browning in “Leaving Iowa” before his most demanding performance as Seymour Krelborn in “Little Shop of Horrors.”
Steele said at an early age he was comfortable at the center of attention, which is where he first experienced the joy of putting in work for the payoff of a laugh – and where he learned the importance of precise delivery and timing.
“I feel like I’ve always been a lively person,” the Sturgis High School senior said. “Singing and music have always been a part of my life. It’s something I really love doing.”
One day Steele, who also knows his way around the guitar and clarinet when he’s not leading the Sturgis High School marching band as drum major, hopes to earn a living in entertainment. Most folks, however, know Steele for his rapid ascent in the world of Michigan high school distance running.
That is one of Steele’s talents that materialized his freshman year when he made a decision to be good rather than coast on natural ability.
Believe it or not, Steele said he’s far more nervous stepping up to the starting line at a big meet than delivering a monologue or singing a solo in front of a packed house.
Last season, Steele flirted with a sub-16-minute time for the first half of the season leading up to the Jackson Invitational. He was determined that would be the race where he’d finally break through. He ran a 15:59.5.
“That was one of the biggest things for me as a runner,” he said. “That had been such a big goal for such a long time. That was huge. Achieving something like that kind of opened my eyes like, ‘Hey, if I can do that, I can probably do more.’ It’s going to hurt, but I can do this.”
Steele, last year’s Wolverine Conference champion who is considering running cross country and track at Grand Valley State University, has set the highest of goals for his final season. He’s gone on record saying he will leave Sturgis as the school-record holder, and his aim is to go undefeated.
Keith Keyser, a big supporter of Sturgis athletics, holds the program’s fastest time of 15:36. Before Steele’s third-place finish at the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals last year, the best performance by a Sturgis runner at an MHSAA championship race was Keyser’s fifth-place performance in 1981.
“He will be working on his racing technique this year to attack those goals,” Sturgis coach Emerson Green said. “Time improvements are nice, but since cross country times are not linear due to weather, course, competition, etc., he will need to be able to adjust his race strategy based on what the competition yields.”
That’s something Steele learned the hard way this past March, when he disregarded his targeted first-lap split in the 800-meter MHSAA Final and dropped from first to eighth place on the second lap.
Pushing his body to the red line too early cost him. Though the experience taught him to implement more method rather than relying solely on guts, old habits are hard to break.
“I can’t feel too bad about it because I really did give it everything I had,” Steele said. “I learned my body is only capable of so much. I want to push myself to the limit, but running is tricky.
“It’s not always consistent and you can’t always go out and give it everything you have and have it work out. The last 200 meters of the race, it was kind of like muscle failure. Everything was falling apart and nothing was working. But I still remember pushing through all of that.”
Green, a chemistry teacher at Sturgis, hopes he can convince Steele that winning races isn’t always about who has the biggest heart.
Steele credits the guidance he’s received from Green, a former college runner at Alma and a 21-year head coach for the Trojans, for helping him grasp the importance of thinking his way through a race and through life.
“I have a lot of respect for Coach Green for how he carries himself as an adult and how he’s helped all of us on the team,” Steele said. “He’s an all-around great guy and really knows what he’s doing. Personally, he’s helped me a ton with his wisdom. Having the experience that he does … and that he’s very personable, it’s easy for me to listen to him and put to good use everything he has to say.”
Every leading man can benefit from a competent supporting actor, and Steele is now being truly pushed in race situations by classmate Shawn Bell, who was 14th at Michigan International Speedway last fall with a time of 16:11.4.
The two finished 1-2 at the St. Joseph Invitational late last month in their only race of the year so far. Steele clocked a 16:25, and Bell crossed the line in 16:29.
“Last year I was kind of training by myself,” Steele said. “I was out in front of the pack in workouts, and in most races I was the frontrunner. Even at the state meet I was pretty much by myself because it was so spread out.
“This year I feel like Shawn has really played a part in the sense that he’s a lot faster now than he was his junior year. He’s made a lot of good steps mentally. He’s a very talented kid; we’ve seen that since middle school. Now he’s really putting in the work and now he’s right up there with me. We’ve been pushing each other like crazy.”
When the cross country season is over, Steele will begin winter workouts for track. Sometimes he uses those hours running around Sturgis to recite lines for the winter musical.
If anyone sees him darting down a sidewalk apparently in mid-conversation, he wants people to know he’s not talking to himself; he’s simply working through a scene.
See below for a video piece on Steele by JoeInsider.com.
Wes Morgan has reported for the Kalamazoo Gazette, ESPN and ESPNChicago.com, 247Sports and Blue & Gold Illustrated over the last 12 years and is the publisher of JoeInsider.com. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Berrien, Cass, St. Joseph and Branch counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Sturgis' Daniel Steele surges past the crowd during his MHSAA Regional race last season. (Middle) Steele rounds the curve at Michigan International Speedway on the way to finishing third in the LP Division 2 Final. (Photos courtesy of the Steele family.)
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One More Shot at No. 1
November 4, 2011
Nervousness is part of Spencer Nousain's pre-race preparation.
“I’m scared I’m going to lose,” he said earlier this week, just days before his final high school cross country race -- Saturday's MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 Final at Michigan International Speedway.
And it seems a little odd, considering his resume.
The Concord senior has never finished lower than 10th at an MHSAA Finals. So far this fall, he's placed first in every race but one – Michigan State’s Spartan Invitational, where he was seventh in the “Elite” race against many of the state’s best from all divisions.
But if Nousain is first to cross the finish line for the Division 4 Final, he won’t celebrate right away. Instead, he’ll turn around and wait.
There’s definitely a pressure in having one last chance to win an MHSAA title. But Nousain has poured that into his team, which he is focused on leading to its second team championship in three seasons.
“I think the team relaxes me. If I focus on helping my teammates, that takes the pressure off of me,” Nousain said. “That’s the one thing I have changed. I’m a little more concerned about team this year.”
The Yellow Jackets have followed their leader to a spotless team record so far, including a Regional win without him. Concord is ranked No. 1 in Division 4 by MichiganCrossCountry.com’s coaches panel.
Nousain is fresh off his second-straight championship at the Jensen Memorial meet, which pits all of the Jackson-area cross country teams. He crushed the field in 16:05.7, 35 seconds faster than the runner-up. It's been that kind of fall, coming off last year’s state final when Nousain ran a 15:51.7.
Leading and following is nothing new for him. He’s the seventh of nine children in a running family. All but one of the first six ran high school cross country, and three of his siblings have gone on to run at the college level.
Unintentionally, Nousain’s sitting out the Regional allowed younger brother Mason, a sophomore, to place as Concord’s fifth runner that day. Mason has been the recipient of some of Spencer’s best lessons.
Starting in seventh grade, Nousain began training hard during the winter even as some of Concord’s high school runners were a little less serious, Yellow Jackets coach David Jordon said. Nousain has imparted that work ethic on his younger brother, and also become a target for some of the team’s younger runners to chase during practices.
“He wants to go out and run a great race, and everybody would love to win. But more of his focus is on how his teammates do,” Jordon said. “He’s definitely matured and seen the bigger picture. It’s exciting to win, but when the team wins, it’s more exciting.”
That might add some of the anxiety Nousain feels of late. Family, friends and others in the community expect him to lead Concord to another MHSAA team championship. But when Saturday’s starting gun goes off, he’ll only be able to control his race – and use the lessons he learned himself during the two near-misses.
The first time Nousain took second at an MHSAA Final, he was excited. The only runner to cross the finish line ahead of him was teammate Kyle Stacks, and their Concord team had just won the 2009 overall championship.
The second time Nousain finished second – a year ago this weekend – Nousain was a little disappointed. He’d expected to be first. He didn’t feel like he improved at all.
On Saturday, he has one more chance. And only one way to get better individually, although he’ll still celebrate coming in second if his team comes in first. He’ll race as he has all fall – start smart, close hard in the last mile, and then watch for more purple coming soon after.
“It’s going to be amazing. I love watching not just Mason, but my teammates improve,” Spencer said.
“In the sense of watching them be happy, when we win as a team, I’ll be happy. It makes me proud to say I helped them.”
One race, two champions, more contenders
The most competitive of Saturday’s races could be the Division 2 girls final. The field includes reigning individual champion Rachele Schulist of Zeeland West, last season’s third place finisher Megan O’Neil of Remus Chippewa Hills and fourth-place Julia Bos of Grand Rapids Christian.
Also in Division 2 this time is Allendale and Ali
Wiersma, last season’s Division 3 MHSAA champion.
Bos (17:43.2), Wiersma (17:59) and Schulist (18:19) were the top three, respectively, at last Saturday’s Regional at Allendale.
O’Neil (18:03.55) was third at the Benzie Central Regional behind two more runners who could break into the top group this weekend, including the possible favorite: Cedar Springs freshman Kenzie Weiler won that Regional in 17:13.07, and her junior sister Katie was runner-up in 17:57.55.
Final countdown
Also in Division 2, in the boys race, Chelsea senior Bryce Bradley will try to finish with a championship after improving from 20th as a freshman to 10th and then to runner-up last season.
At last year's final, he finished less than a second ahead of Dearborn Divine Child’s Nicholas Soter, who also will be back at MIS. They'll both might have to fend off Mason Tanner Hinkle, who beat Bradley by 19 seconds in their Regional.
Fast start![](/sites/default/files/imported/Photos/FirstPitch/Ollingd4xc.jpg)
Only 15 girls have won at least three MHSAA cross country individual championships. But Breckenridge sophomore Kirsten Olling has lots of time – and at least a few opportunities.
Olling won last season’s Division 4 championship in 18:09.8. Fast forward to last weekend’s regional at Harbor Beach, which she won in 17:17 – more than 2 minutes faster than the runner-up.
Click for Saturday's schedule and race information, all Lower Peninsula finalists and links to regional results, and check back Saturday for coverage from MIS. Go online to FoxSportsDetroit.com for live coverage via the Finish Line Camera and live audio commentary throughout the race from reporters around the course.
PHOTOS
(Top) Concord's Spencer Nousain will attempt to win his first MHSAA championship after finishing runner-up in Division 2 the last two seasons (Photo courtesy of Concord cross country program).
(Middle) Zeeland West's Rachele Schulist (1001) emerged from the pack -- including Grand Rapids Christian's Julia Bos (829) to claim last season's Division 2 championship.
(Bottom): Breckenridge's Kirsten Olling won last season's Division 4 championship as a freshman.