A Champion of Sportsmanship as well
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
May 14, 2012
While his teammates ran against White Lake Lakeland last Tuesday, Devin Kimberlin was inside Walled Lake Northern High School studying for an Advanced Placement exam. He had about 10 minutes to spare to run one race – and hoped Garret Zuk would help him make it worthwhile.
It’s not that the Knights sophomore thought he could beat Zuk, a senior who is the reigning Division 1 cross country champion and will run at Michigan State University this fall. But Kimberlin was coming off a career-best 10:02 in the 3,200 meters, and knew chasing Zuk would be a prime opportunity to break the 10-minute plateau.
He was right. In fact, Zuk recognized the situation, and after a short conversation during the second lap, offered to pace his opponent the rest of the way. Kimberlin finishing in 9:58.
“At that point, something clicked in my head; I can help him out,” Zuk said. “It was kind of a selfish thing, because it gave me something to do for that race. I was a little worried that my coach would care. But I said to myself, the meet is over, there’s no reason he would care. At that point, I made my decision.”
Opponents from rival schools working together for a common goal makes this a feel-good story. But another selfless act by Zuk at the end made this race one of the most memorable in Michigan this spring.
The 3,200 is the longest high school race in MHSAA competition, measuring eight laps. As Tuesday’s race neared its end, the story picked up speed as well.
Pre-Race Prep
The two didn’t know each other before Tuesday. Kimberlin certainly knew about Zuk, who on top of the cross country championship has since run the 3,200 in 9:09 – which would’ve won last season’s Division 1 track and field final by 11 seconds. Zuk also this winter was named an MHSAA Scholar-Athlete Award winner, one of only 32 from across the state, and is co-salutatorian of his class.
Zuk had recognized Kimberlin from other events over the year, although it was only a chance set of circumstances that led Kimberlin to running at all. He was a soccer player when his family moved back from London last fall. But he ran in a Walled Lake Northern alumni cross country race for fun, and coach Jeff McNeil noticed his raw talent – and convinced Kimberlin to join the cross country team as well in the fall. Kimberlin just missed making the Cross Country Finals with a personal record of 16:01. He then came out for track this spring and had showed lots of potential over the season’s first month.
Laps 1 and 2
The 3,200 is the third-to-last event. With Lakeland already trailing by too many points to win the meet, Zuk wasn’t sure if he should go after a fast time or simply cruise through. He’d been breaking 10 minutes in the 3,200 since his freshman year, and would’ve had little problem winning this race.
Kimberlin hoped for the former.
A pack of three or four runners, including Zuk and Kimberlin, led into the second lap. Kimberlin couldn’t figure out why Zuk was hanging back. So Kimberlin took off.
His charge was fast – but not fast enough. As that lap ended, McNeil ran to Kimberlin and yelled to him his pace was about five seconds too slow to break 10 minutes.
Lap 3
Zuk overheard something in that conversation about “pace.” At the start of the third lap, he came even with Kimberlin and then pulled a bit in front of him.
“He looks over his right shoulder, and he said, ‘Just draft off me for a couple of seconds here.’ I was like, ‘All right,’” Kimberlin said. “He turned around again and asked what time I was going for. I said I wanted to break 10, and he said, ‘All right. Stick with me and we’ll do it.’”
In the stands, Walled Lake Northern fans were trying to make out what was going on below. Some thought Zuk might be taunting their runner. But parent Dave Routledge, whose son was a Knights standout last season, told those around him that Zuk wasn’t that kind of guy. Kimberlin wasn’t sure how to answer Zuk at first either, but decided to latch on for the ride.
At the top curve of the back stretch, Zuk and Kimberlin started lapping runners, with Zuk encouraging them as they ran by. The race – and the 10-minute pace – was on.
“What Garret did … caught me off-guard at first. I had watched him do that for different kids on our team all year. (But) that’s the type of leader that he is,” Lakeland coach Dave Browne said. “Garret is a tremendous leader and one of the best motivators by example that I have ever coached. I’m not sure MSU fully understands the tremendous individual that they are inheriting from us.”
Laps 4-7
Instead of getting slower, Kimberlin’s lap times sped up as he chased Zuk around the track. And now everyone had joined the effort.
McNeil, of course, was cheering on his runner to keep the pace. Sometime during the fifth or sixth lap, Brown pulled close to Zuk and cheered him to pull Kimberlin through.
Those in the stands had figured things out as well. Some were close to tears. All were cheering loudly as the 10-minute goal began to look possible.
Lap 8 – Home Stretch
Zuk continued about five meters in front of Kimberlin, who usually has a strong kick at the end – but clearly did not have as much left as usual.
Zuk did. And that would be enough for both of them.
“There wasn’t really a whole lot of planning to any of this. I was trying to figure out how to push him, and I knew we had to be quicker on that last lap,” Zuk said. “I knew he would get that last little bit of adrenaline (trying) to go ahead and catch me. With as much effort as I knew he’d put into that race, he deserved to pass me and win.”
Zuk had won every race but a few this season, when he let younger teammates go ahead of him. This time, it was an opponent following him -- but Lakeland no longer could win the meet. With about 10 meters left, he cooled his jets again and let Kimberlin charge through the finish line first.
It must’ve caught the officials off-guard as well – one gave Kimberlin the second-place stick and the first to Zuk. But Zuk grabbed the second and gave Kimberlin the first, and, as McNeil remembered, said with a smile on his face, “He beat me. He got me at the line. He deserves the first-place stick.”
“I couldn’t believe he was going to let me win,” Kimberlin said. “After the race, I walked up and gave him a hug and said, ‘Thank you so much.’ He was just like, ‘No problem.’”
“I wrote Garret an email that his character means more than it means (to be an elite) runner. And his character now shows even more,” McNeil said. “His running alone is obviously awesome. He’s just great. But he’s also got a great attitude, and I wanted to reinforce to him: Please don’t change.”
Zuk’s effort has been the talk at school, and Lakeland athletic director Greg Michaels said he was told the same is true at Walled Lake Northern. Michaels lives in South Lyon, and his neighbor, a high school runner, also had heard the story from his coach. On Thursday, Zuk was recognized by the Huron Valley Schools Board of Education.
Routledge wrote a letter to the Lakeland athletic department that quickly circulated around the school and included this excerpt:
“I watched this performance and was astonished. To say that I was, once again, impressed by Lakeland’s Garret Zuk would be an understatement,” Routledge wrote. “Somewhere in his young life he has learned the value of humility, sacrifice, and deferential character. He understands that as a champion he is a role model and mentor. He was a hero on this day to one young runner from Walled Lake Northern. And perhaps to all who watched.”
Kimberlin’s English teacher read the letter in class the next day. It nearly brought the runner to tears.
“It’s a great example. It’s something, down the line, I’d like to do some time,” Kimberlin said. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be as good as him. But he’ll definitely be a great inspiration along the way.”
PHOTOS: (Top) White Lake Lakeland's Garret Zuk finishes off his Division 1 championship run at the MHSAA Cross Country Finals in the fall at Michigan International Speedway. (Middle) Walled Lake Northern's Devin Kimberlin races during a track meet earlier this season. (Top photo courtesy of High School Sports Scene. Middle photo is courtesy of Walled Lake Northern.)
Preview: Memorable Finishes Guaranteed at LP Boys Track & Field Finals
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
May 30, 2024
A few storylines immediately jump off the page when glancing at this weekend’s Lower Peninsula Boys Track & Field Finals lineups:
- All four of the fall’s Lower Peninsula cross country individual champions are stacking up as favorites in one or more distance races across their respective divisions, three as reigning champions on the track as well.
- Another set of magnificent seniors will be finishing their high school careers, led by three-time individual champion Shamar Heard of Clinton Township Chippewa Valley.
- And the Division 2 team championship pursuit could be another classic as last season’s top finishers contend again.
All four LP Finals will be contested at Grand Rapids-area schools, with pole vault and long jump beginning at 9 a.m., race semifinals and the 3,200 relay at 10 a.m. and the rest of the running finals starting at noon. Tickets cost $11 and are available digitally only via GoFan.
MHSAA.tv will live-stream all four meets beginning at 10 a.m., viewable with subscription. Check out the Boys Track & Field page for meet information for all four sites and lists of all qualifiers. Those described as "seeded" below have received those seeds based on Regional performances.
Below is a glance at team contenders and individuals to watch in all four divisions:
LP Division 1 at East Kentwood
Team forecast: Belleville may be in line to claim its first Finals team title in boys track & field with potential contenders in at least four races, with opportunities to place three in both hurdles championships and contend in the 800 relay. Annual contender Rockford has all four relays running – with three seeded among the top four in their respective races – plus a contender in the long jump among other events. Northville’s distance strength – and presence in all four relays as well plus four field events – could put it in position also to claim a team title for the first time.
Andrew Harding, Ann Arbor Huron senior – Last season’s high jump champion at 6-7 edged 2022 winner Nathan Levine from Canton by an inch and likely will have to outlast him one more time. Harding’s LPD1 Regional-best 6-8 this season was two inches higher than Levine and four others’ Regional jumps.
Shamar Heard, Clinton Township Chippewa Valley senior – He owns four Finals championships having won the 100 and 200 as a sophomore and the 400 and as part of the 800 relay last year. He’ll run the 200, 400 and on the 800 and 1,600 relays this time, and his 200 (21.49), 400 (46.80) and 1,600 relay (3:16.88) times ranked fastest for all LPD1 Regionals.
Brandon Herger, Northville senior – He anchored the all-Finals record-setting 3,200 last season, finished second in the 800 and also anchored the fifth-place 1,600 relay. He’ll run on the same relays this weekend, and his 800 (1:52.47) and 1,600 (4:12.86) times are top-seeded.
Quincy Isaac, Canton senior – The reigning LPD1 long jump champion had the best Regional jump in this division by more than a foot at 24-3¼ and also will high jump and run the 200 and on the 400 relay.
Seth Norder, Grand Haven senior – Last season’s 3,200 champion and last fall’s LPD1 cross country winner (and the runner-up in the 1,600 in 2022) is set to run the 800, 1,600 and on the 3,200 relay. He defeated Herger in the Elite Mile at the Romeo Barnyard Invitational with a 1,600 time of 4:04.81.
Will Jaiden Smith, Belleville junior – He finished sixth in the 200 and eighth in the 400 last season, but enters this weekend with the second-seeded 200 (21.61), fifth-seeded 110 hurdles (14.27) and top-seeded 300 hurdles (38.03) times and running on the fourth-seeded 800 relay.
LP Division 2 at Hamilton
Team forecast: Familiar star power will be everywhere this weekend. The Bower twins will try to lead Corunna to a repeat championship after combining to contribute to 36 of the Cavaliers’ 41 points last season. Mason has a similar one-two punch and tied for second a year ago. Whitehall last won in 1996 and is back after finishing fourth in 2023, bringing top seeds in two individual races and the 1,600 relay. Wayland is seeking its first team title since the first Track & Field Finals in 1925 and has a top hurdler and contenders in multiple field events.
Trannon Aylor, Whitehall senior – The reigning champion in the 400 was also eighth in the 200 in 2023, and among his four events this weekend he has the top-seeded 400 (48.49) and will run on the top-seeded 1,600 relay (3:25.36).
Tyler Baker, Mason senior – He won the 110 hurdles, was second in the long jump, third in the high jump and ran the 300 hurdles last season, and he’ll compete in all four again with his 110 hurdles time of 14.71 second-seeded.
Tarick Bower, Corunna senior – He ran on the winning 400 relay, runner-up 800 relay and was third in long jump last season, and enters this weekend second-seeded in the 100 (10.78), top-seeded in the long jump (22-7½) and running on two second-seeded relays.
Wyatt Bower, Corunna senior – He ran on the same relays as his brother last year, won the long jump and was seventh in the 100, and enters this weekend again on the same relays as Tarick, second-seeded in the long jump (22–¼) and second-seeded in the 200 (21.93).
Jacoby Dunlap, Alma senior – The returning high jump champion will compete in that event again and run on two relays.
TJ Hansen, Freeland junior – The reigning 3,200 champion is another fall cross country champion, and he’s set to run the 1,600 and 3,200 after posting the top LPD2 Regional time in the former (4:15.33).
Jake Machiniak, Berrien Springs senior – He’s the reigning 100 champ and ran on the first-place 800 relay last season as well, and he’s top-seeded in the 100 (10.56) this weekend, third-seeded in the 200 (21.99) and running on the sixth-seeded 800 relay and top-seeded 400 relay (42.40).
AJ Martel, Mason senior – The Bulldogs swept hurdles last season with Martel winning the 300, and he’s seeking a repeat while also running on the 400 and 1,600 relays.
Sam Vesperman, Grosse Ile junior – The reigning pole vault champion posted the best vault of LPD2 Regionals this season by seven inches with a 14-6 after winning last year’s Final by a foot.
LP Division 3 at Kent City
Team forecast: Hillsdale strung together three straight runner-up finishes from 2015-17, but may emerge this weekend with its first team title. The Hornets have potential point scorers in nearly every race and two second-seeded relays, plus contenders in both jumps. Detroit Edison is another hopeful seeking a first team championship, featuring contenders in the 200 and 400 and the top-seeded 800 relay. Reigning runner-up Pewamo-Westphalia has three top seeds and entries all over the meet as it seeks its first team since 2008 in Division 4.
Collin Farmer, Pewamo-Westphalia senior – He finished eighth in the 1,600 and 3,200 last season, but won the LPD3 cross country title in the fall and enters this weekend seeded first in both distance races at 4:25.56 and 9:37.80, respectively.
Sawyer Moloy, Sanford Meridian senior – The reigning high jump champion is seeded first at 6-7 and will also long jump and run on two relays.
Gavin Nurenberg, Pewamo-Westphalia senior – He’s the reigning champion in shot put and runner-up in discus and is seeded first in shot (60-0) and third in disc (169-3).
Tryce Tokar, Ovid-Elsie junior – The two-time champion in the pole vault has the top seed (14-6) and also will run on three relays.
Holden Van Poppel, Napoleon senior – He’s another returning champion, seeking to repeat in the 110 hurdles and seeded sixth (15.36).
Jerry Wiegers, North Muskegon senior – After winning the 200 and 400 last season, he’s seeded first in the 400 (48.24), second in the 200 (22.01) and will also run the 100 and on the third-seeded 1,600 relay.
LP Division 4 at Hudsonville Baldwin
Team forecast: Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep has won the last two team championships but will face strong challengers again in its three-peat pursuit. The Irish do have the top-seeded 3,200 runner and 3,200 relay, entries in the other three relays and contenders in at least two more individual races. But Reading, last season’s team runner-up finishing six points back, has all four relays running and three seeded fourth or higher with multiple individual contenders as well as it seeks its first team title since 1991. Fowler is seeking its first team championship since 1988 and like Reading is strong in sprints and hurdles (with junior Brady Feldpausch seeded first in both hurdles races), but also with top-seeded 800 and 1,600 relays and competitors in all five field events.
Landon Bennett, Athens senior – He’s seeking a repeat in the 300 hurdles and also finished third in the 110s last season; he has the second seed in the 300 (39.93) and third in the 110 (15.14) this time.
Tayshawn Bester, Reading senior – He’s the reigning 110 hurdles champion and is second-seeded in that race (15.08) while running as well on two top-four seeded relays.
Nathan Feltner, Caseville senior – The reigning 400 champion and fifth-place finisher in the 200 will run those races plus the 100 and as part of the 400 relay.
Tyler Lenn, Marine City Cardinal Mooney senior – Another cross country champion from the fall, Lenn also is the reigning LPD4 title winner in the 1,600 and seeded second in that race (4:21.92) while also running the 800 and on the fifth-seeded 3,200 relay.
Owen Patton, Vestaburg senior – After winning the 800 by nearly four seconds last season, Patton is the top seed in that race (1:58:09) and also the fifth seed in the 1,600 and running on the 3,200 relay.
Bradley Richards, Fruitport Calvary Christian junior – The reigning high jump champion missed the meet record last year by half an inch at 6-10. He should approach that again – with 2022 champion Braden Prielipp from Marion also making a push – and also will long jump.
PHOTO Corunna, including twins Tarick and Wyatt Bower, celebrates its LPD2 team championship last season. (Photo by Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)