Boys Finals: Hurdles Conquered
June 2, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
With the number of elite athletes Lake Orion, Auburn Hills Avondale and Lansing Catholic have featured over the last many years, it was somewhat surprising that none had won an MHSAA boys track and field championship.
All three can check that goal off the list after earning first-place trophies for the first time Saturday.
Here's our breakdown of the best from the Boys Finals meets. It's impossible to include every highlight, of course. But feel free to comment below and tell us what we missed.
Headliner
Lansing Catholic senior Zack Zingsheim gets the edge over Union City’s Chris Maye just as his team finished just ahead of Maye’s for the Division 3 championship. Zingsheim won the 800 in 1:55.97 and also ran on first-place 800, 1,600 and 3,200 relays as the Cougars finished with 68 points and their first MHSAA team championship. The Georgetown University recruit previously has been part of one MHSAA championship relay and also won the Division 3 cross country title in the fall.
Record setters
LP D2/Pole vault – Jaime Salisbury, Marine City – 16-1
(previous was 16-0.5, set by Fowlerville’s Max Babits in 2010)
LP D2/800 relay – Lansing Sexton (Kendall Jackson, Adrian Sanchez, David Washington, Anthony Goodman) – 1:27.99
(previous was 1:28.11, set by Auburn Hills Avondale in 2011)
LP D2/200 dash – Kassius Kelly, Livonia Clarenceville – 21.36
(previous was 21.70, set by Muskegon Orchard View’s Clinton Allen in 2005)
LP D4/Discus – Jacob Patrick, Litchfield – 190-0
(previous was 170-1, set by Maple City Glen Lake’s Andrew Kemp in 2004)
LP D4/Long jump – Adam Abbott, Detroit Cristo Rey – 22-3.75
(previous was 22-1, set by Centreville’s Kevin Singleton in 2000)
UP D1/300 hurdles – Kenner Broullire, Manistique – 39.74
(previous was 40.01 set by Menominee’s Jason Hofer in 2004)
UP D2/High jump – James Sutton, Newberry – 6-3.5
(previous was 6-3, set by Munising’s Rick St. Amour in 2001)
UP D3/Discus – Brett Branstrom, Rock Mid-Peninsula – 154-8
(previous was 149-1, set by Rapid River’s Richard Poma in 2003)
UP D3/1,600 relay – Crystal Falls Forest Park (Alex Takala, Mark Hallman, Jake Divine, Derek Aberly) – 3:36.32
(previous was 3:37.51, set by Rock Mid-Peninsula in 2007)
Tales of the Trophy
LP D1: Despite just one first place, in the 1,600 relay, Lake Orion held off Grand Blanc to win its first MHSAA team championship, with 50 points. Grand Blanc scored 44, with wins in two relays. Lake Orion also finished runner-up in two relays.
LP D2: Auburn Hills Avondale got wins from Kyle Redwine in the 100 and Nathan Chapman in the 400, plus a relay win, to edge Lansing Sexton 47-40 at the top of the standings despite two Big Reds relay wins.
LP D3: With five event wins, including three in relays, Lansing Catholic also won its first championship – but in commanding style. The Cougars scored 68 points, 23 more than runner-up Union City.
LP D4: After tying for the championship last season, Albion left no question with 49 points, 13 more than Muskegon Western Michigan Christian. Albion swept the relays, with Nolen Mitchell on three of them, and he also tied for first place in the 400.
UP D1: Marquette claimed its third straight championship, this time out-pacing Gladstone by 15 points. Marquette won only three events, but got points from 14 entries.
UP D2: St. Ignace continued its reign with a third-straight championship, putting up 112 points to Stephenson’s 85. Parker Simmons won both the 100 and 200, and the team also won three field events.
UP D3: Pickford has had streaks of dominance before, but won its first championship Saturday since 1992. Jordan Lavinge was part of both event wins, taking first in long jump and running on the 800 relay.
So long, seniors
Drake Johnson, Ann Arbor Pioneer – Won the LP Division 1 championship in the 110 hurdles for the third straight season.
Garret Zuk, White Lake Lakeland – His win in the 3,200 at the LP Division 1 Final was his first in track and field, but he also won the Division 1 cross country title in the fall.
Austin Sanders, Ypsilanti – Sanders had the top-seeded LP Division 1 times in both the 100 and 200, and made good by winning both.
Jake McFadden, Clare – Won both the 110 and 300 hurdles at the LP Division 3 Final to give him four championships total in his career.
Chris Maye, Union City – Carried his team to second place in the LP Division 3 Final with wins in the 100 and 200, a second in the long jump, and as a runner on the winning 400 relay. He won three titles as a junior.
Click for links to all results.
PHOTOS: (Top) Williamston's Austin Loewen (left), Alma's Chaz Bradshaw (center) and Niles' Brandon Partee were among those competing for the Division 2 championship at 110 hurdles. Loewen won the race. (Middle) Auburn Hills Avondale's Kyle Redwine won the 100 and his team won its first MHSAA championship. (Photos courtesy of RunMichigan.com. Click to see more.)
Storms Can't Squash Inspired Performances
June 1, 2019
By Matt Schoch
Special for Second Half
ZEELAND – From great-grandparents and former coaches to a mother and a son, athletes at the MHSAA Boys Track & Field Finals became champions in honor of their loved ones on Saturday.
Take senior Emari O’Brien of Harper Woods Chandler Park, who became the 100-meter Division 2 champion at 10.97 seconds at Zeeland Stadium in honor of former coach Paul Zelmanski, who died in January.
“This whole time I’ve been running, he told me I was going to win it one year,” said O’Brien, a Ferris State football signee who wrote “For Z” on his shoes. “Last year when I (took second place), he said next year when you come back, you’re going to win it for sure.
“I’ve been waiting on this for the longest time, so I have to win that for my coach.”
Athletes like O’Brien endured a three-and-a-half-hour delay and then another of 45 minutes as storms crept off Lake Michigan. Then, a final delay of more than two hours pushed the event to a 12-hour affair.
On the heels of three event wins, Zeeland West earned the team title with 53 points, topping Yale (37), Fruitport (33), Dearborn Divine Child (27) and Corunna (26).
“That means we have won every meet we have been to,” said Zeeland West’s Ethan Brooks, the only individual champion for the Dux. “It is awesome.”
Zeeland West won the 400 relay at 43.51 seconds, and the 800 relay at 1:29.29.
Brooks won the 300 hurdles at 39.38, edging Fruitport junior Ethan Flores by one hundredth of a second in his quest for a second title on the afternoon. Meanwhile, Flores said he had his family, in particular his great-grandmother, on his mind in the starting blocks for the 110 hurdles, which he won at 14.53 seconds. This, despite a slow start to his spring after basketball season leaked longer than usual.
“I didn’t have time to be at the track like I should’ve,” Flores said. “I worked by myself over Memorial Day. I wanted it, and I worked really hard for it.”
Saginaw senior Tony Martin, who is headed to Michigan State, jumped 22-11.25, winning his second straight Division 2 title. That distance came, he said, despite missing the whole board on the championship jump.
Martin credited his mother, Kishon, for pushing him through hard times this year, including a pulled hamstring that hampered his season. He also said his son, Isaiah, has been an inspiration.
Before the injury, Martin had a regular-season jump of 26-6, which is among the top all-time national jumps.
“For me to come and do what I did is pretty amazing,” Martin said. “I’m just happy that I’m back and healthy.”
Junior Dylan Targgart of Coldwater continued his decorated career with two more titles, repeating in the discus at 187-7, a personal record, and the shot put at 66-7.50, a Division 2 Finals record, breaking former Detroit Lions defensive lineman Anthony Zettel’s 2011 mark for Ogemaw Heights (61-8).
“I had thrown my PR before the delay, so I think maybe it was a good thing since other people had to sit and wait and try and PR after that,” Targgart said. “So it might’ve worked to my advantage that way.”
Targgart is probably just being modest though – he won that competition by 14 feet and then the shot by more than six.
Rounding out the field events, junior Matt Veneziano of Parma Western won the high jump at 6 feet, 6 inches, and senior Josh DeVries of Grand Rapids South Christian won the pole vault at 15 feet.
On the track, junior Luke Brenner of Ada Forest Hills Eastern won the 200 at 22.02 seconds. Yale senior Justin Kudera won the 400 at 48.74 seconds, edging last season’s champion Jacob Denison of Tecumseh by six hundredths of a second.
Otsego junior Hunter Hartman won the 800 at 1:55.56; and Corunna senior Ben Jacobs won the 1,600 meters at 4:19.79.
Jacobs also overcame a Zeeland West runner to give Corunna a win in the 3,200 relay at 7:53.20.
After the final weather delay, Dearborn Divine Child junior Anthony Hancock won the 3,200 at 9:06.65.
Yale closed the long day with the 1,600 relay win in 3:23.42 to earn second overall.
PHOTOS: (Top) Zeeland West completes a relay hand-off during its team championship run Saturday. (Middle) Runners take off to start a race at Zeeland Stadium. (Photos by Kevin Fowler. Click to see more from RunMichigan.com.)