Benzie Phenom's Story Continuing to Unfold on Track
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
May 14, 2021
As the phrase “history in the making” originated, someone simply had to know there would be a long-distance runner in Northern Michigan named Hunter Jones.
Arguably, he is history in the making.
And, track enthusiasts have a chance to preview some of the history the Benzie Central High School runner will make. Emphasis on will. He already has made history in so many ways.
He is only a sophomore. And, the history he makes will have at least one asterisk —for the 2020 Michigan high school track season that wasn’t.
The Benzie track team is offering its next preview glimpses of history-making Monday at the Titan Last Chance Meet at Traverse City West. The next opportunities after that will be on the Benzie track, during the Northwest Conference meet May 21 and the MHSAA Regionals on May 25.
This history-in-the-making story to watch over the next month is Jones’ likely accomplishment of winning his first MHSAA individual track championship June 5 at the Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals at Jenison High School. Perhaps the only reason he hasn’t achieved that first title before is COVID-19 cancelled his freshman season.
Many onlookers believe Jones will do that in the 800. They also believe after re-hydrating, resting, stretching and foam rolling, he’ll hit the track again shortly after and win another state title in the 1,600.
And, they further believe, he’ll write even more history after a brief recovery to win the 3,200 and finish with three Finals championships in one day.
Jones is preparing for the Finals by competing is all three of those events in the same day in the remaining meets. He and his coaches are challenging him by adding a 400 in all of those meets including the Finals.
He may run the 1,600 relay in the Finals should his team qualify. So four state championships are not out of the question. He tried the four events earlier this week and narrowly missed winning all four in an eight-team meet on Benzie’s track. He started the open 400 a bit slow and finished less than one second behind Kingsley’s Gage Hessem.
“I don’t know if anybody — I don’t know if I — truly, truly appreciate what this kid is,” acknowledged Asa Kelly, the Huskies’ longtime distance coach and a former college runner. “We knew he was going to be good for a long time, but how good is the question, right?
“We’ve had multiple state champions and loads of all-state kids, but nobody quite like him,” added Kelly, who has coached the boys cross country team to three Division 3 Finals titles. “He’s got this insatiable desire to win.”
At the age of 16, Jones is already in the history books. He owns school, meet and event records. He also has cross country course records. When he runs cross country in the fall, he’ll be pursuing a third Finals championship to go with his Lower Peninsula Division 3 titles won as a freshman and sophomore.
He is also a national champion. He won the sophomore division in the 3,200 of the National Scholastic Athletic Federation indoor track event in Virginia this spring.
“I want to be a state champion in at least three events,” Jones offered as one of his goals for his first track season. “It doesn’t matter what it is – at least three events.
“I have to run four events, so I think it will be challenging for me to go to each event and try to win,” he continued. “I think it is a good goal to try to win those.”
His others goals for this season? He wants to break the school records in the 800 and 1,600. He broke the school record in 3,200 last week in Farmington running an 8:59.
Another of his Benzie coaches, Traci Knudsen Kelly, has no doubt Jones will he will win three Division 3 Finals championships this June. She should know. She competed in the Big Ten as a member of the Indiana University cross country, indoor and outdoor track teams after setting records and winning state titles in 400, 800 and 1,600 runs at Suttons Bay High School.
“It’s a rare kid that comes along like him,” she noted. “I mean, I have never seen a high school kid like that.
“Between just the internal drive ... the will to win, the work ethic ... I mean, he’s the whole package.”
Jones’ brother Rick and sister Sarah are among the standouts in Benzie’s rich track and cross country past. Hunter recalls watching his siblings compete, and as he started running he was winning races as a second grader against fifth and sixth graders.
“I used to be deathly scared of racing, and I would almost cry before races,” Jones recalled. “It was weird going up against people that were like double my height.”
Not so anymore for the decorated runner whose future may not have any limits.
“The fact that he is sophomore is what a lot of people forget,” said Asa Kelly. “He is so young yet, and he’s got so much in front of him.”
Yup, history in the making.
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) Benzie Central’s Hunter Jones warms up during a track meet this season. (Middle) Jones, with Benzie coaches Asa Kelly, left, and Traci Knudsen Kelly. (Below) Jones crosses the finish line during the Cross Country Finals at Michigan International Speedway. (Track photos by Tom Spencer. Cross country photo courtesy of Benzie Central's cross country program.)
Matelski Makes Own Path to Become Gaylord St. Mary's Long Jump Record Setter
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
May 31, 2024
It wasn’t much of a long shot Rylan Matelski would become a school record holder this spring, according to Gaylord St. Mary track & field coaches.
However, it came in the long jump — with a 21-foot, 8-inch leap at the Snowbirds’ first meet of the season at Indian River.
Despite the fact Matelski rarely had a true long jump runway to practice on, his coaches knew he was going to become a record holder. It might have something to do with a 21-foot leap he made as a junior, his first-ever experience with the sport of track. And to top it off, his record-setting performance this spring followed an offseason during which he experienced two seizures before the start of basketball this winter.
The Snowbirds’ previous school record was 21-3. Matelski will have another chance to break his own Saturday when he competes at the Lower Peninsula Division 4 Finals at Hudsonville Baldwin Middle School.
“I already had it in my head that we were going to have a record holder at some time during the course of the season,” said Brian Oliver, the St. Mary head track coach. “That early in the season was pretty impressive, particularly up here where we have limited time to practice with the weather and such.”
Matelski admitted he was a little surprised.
“I was just feeling myself that day,” the senior three-sport star said. “When they said ‘21-8’ I was just stunned — I didn’t really know what to say.”
Gaylord St. Mary does not have a long jump area that allows for Matelski to properly train for his approach, takeoff and landing. He practiced mostly on grass and during warm-ups at competitors’ venues. Occasionally he picked up some practice time at neighboring Gaylord High School when the Blue Devils were not using their facility.
But you will never hear Matelski – nor his coaches – complain.
Another surprising factor in Matelski’s record-setting leap was that he was recovering from a hamstring injury at the time.
“It is because of his physicality and his work ethic and what he puts into what he does,” said Oliver. “You make what you do have available work, and not so much focus on not having the opportunities other kids do have on a day-in and day-out basis.”
Matelski qualified for the Finals with a 20-2½ leap and third-place finish at his Regional. He nearly qualified in the 200 meters as well.
Unfortunately, Matelski aggravated his hamstring this week at the Gaylord Meet of Champions. It is unknown how that will impact his Finals performance. Unofficially at the Champions meet he went over 21 feet on all three jumps, but officially he was a scratch on all three. The longest scratched jump this week was 21-10. Matelski had come within three inches of the school record at last year’s Meet of Champions.
Matelski, whose favorite sport is basketball, is focused on having fun on the track. Whatever happens at the Finals is just fine with the graduating senior, who also played football and basketball for St. Mary.
“I would love to get 22 feet, but if I don’t it’s okay because I just want to have fun,” said Matelski, who will head to North Central Michigan College this fall to play basketball. “Track is for fun, mainly.”
Oliver, now in his eighth year as the Snowbirds’ coach, has been amazed by Matelski’s senior year.
“These kids go from sport to sport with no break,” said Oliver, who is a chiropractor in Gaylord away from track. “Although multi-sport athletes are better athletes, they are more prone to injury. For him to make it through that and still have the fortitude to be where he is at, I think, is pretty cool.”
Matelski is the oldest of three children adopted by Gary and Alison Matelski. Gary serves as the long jump coach for the Snowbirds and as the assistant NCMC basketball coach. He was raking the pits on opening day, as he usually did, and was the first to congratulate the new record holder.
Coach and father Matelski is amazed too at what has occurred this spring.
“We don’t have a long jump pit to practice on,” Gary Matelski said. “When he’s doing all this stuff he’s basically doing it in a field — we don’t get to work on the approach much.
“Rylan is a good indicator of not dwelling on the things you don’t have but really looking at the things you do have,” Matelski continued. “He concentrated on what he does have and making the best out of that instead of worrying about what he didn’t have.”
Rylan Matelski rolls along with the obstacles for the most part. He’s determined to put his challenges behind him to compete Saturday.
“It makes me a little bit inconsistent compared to the other kids who are jumping farther than me,” he’s acknowledged. “I need to keep pushing through everything no matter what.”
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) Gaylord St. Mary’s Rylan Matelski long jumps and runs a relay. (Middle) Matelski and father Gary Matelski confer in the long jump area. (Photos courtesy of the Matelski family.)