Comeback Jump as Meaningful as Record
June 4, 2016
By Bill Khan
Special to Second Half
HUDSONVILLE — Because it was wind-aided, the performance by Jackson senior Anthony Owens on Saturday won't count in the MHSAA track and field record books.
But while it won't go down officially as the best long jump ever at an MHSAA Finals, it was one of the greatest jumps, given the circumstances.
Owens was in third place going into the final jump at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 meet on Saturday at Baldwin Street Middle School. He not only had to overtake the two jumpers ahead of him, he had to overcome the pain of a hamstring injury that he suffered on his second jump of the day.
"It really wasn't working for me and things weren't going my way," Owens said. "But my coaches talked to me and told me this is my last year, to finish strong and leave it all out there and just have fun with it. That's kind of what I did for my last jump. It paid off a lot."
Did it ever.
Owens delivered a jump of 24 feet, 1.25 inches to pass Ann Arbor Pioneer's Terius Wheatley (23-10.75) and East Kentwood's Andre Welch (23-7) and win the long jump championship. Owens' jump eclipsed the 24-1 performance by Flushing's Jeff Kline in the 2009 Lower Peninsula Division 1 meet as the longest ever in any division of an MHSAA Final. However, the wind was at 2.4 meters per second when he jumped, more than the 2.0 that is allowable for record performances.
There is precedent for not including jumps that are wind-aided in the record book. In 1996, Midland's Okoineme Giwaagbomeirel won the Lower Peninsula Class A meet with a jump of 24-6 that was wind-aided.
The guts that it took for Owens to come through and win the long jump means more to him than the record. He was third with a jump of 23-3.25 going into his final jump.
"It was a big deal for me, because I didn't think I was going to be able to get 24 feet with my hamstring pulling on me," Owens said. "The fact I fought through it means a lot. I'm glad I could compete with those guys. Those guys, if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have got to 24-1 and got first."
While Wheatley and Welch are rivals, they are also friends who respect one another's ability.
"I know a lot of them," Owens said. "(Wheatley) is a great kid. I love competing with him. We get the best out of each other. He actually PR'd (personal record) today a lot. I think he was excited as much as me. He deserves the glory as much as I do. Without those guys, I don't think we'd be able to compete at our best, because we all know we're right there by each other."
Owens also felt inspiration from a former teammate, Maseo Moore, who died in an automobile crash on I-94 on May 24, 2015. Moore, a member of the track and field team, would have been a senior this season.
"Going into this track season, it really wasn't all about me," Owens said. "It was about the people around me. Our football coach would always tell us, 'It has everything to do with you and nothing to do with you.' When you take away what you're doing for yourself and define your 'why' and why you're doing it, you'll be successful and be a champion. Once I found my 'why' and why I was doing it and why I wanted to be at the top, it paid off. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for my coaches and Maseo and all the support I have."
One all-division MHSAA Finals record that will stay in the books is the throw of 67 feet, 5.75 inches by Oxford senior Connor Bandel in the shot put. Bandel's throw broke the all-division record of 64 feet, 0.5 inches set by Todd Duckett of Kalamazoo Loy Norrix in the 1999 Lower Peninsula Class A meet. Bandel won by 13 feet, 1.25 inches.
Bandel also chased the discus record of 210-1 set by Cullen Prena of Walled Lake Central in the 2012 Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals, but he had to settle for a decisive victory with his throw of 198-11. Bandel won by 20 feet, 11 inches.
Bandel's record throw in the shot put came in the fifth of his six throws.
"It definitely felt like a good throw," he said. "I was actually kind of surprised by the distance, because I threw 57-2.5 last week, and that one actually felt better in comparison. I guess I did something a little bit different that I didn't notice and I ended up throwing a little bit farther."
While the wind aided Owens in the long jump, it may have hindered Bandel's bid for the discus record. His personal record is 204-2.
"The big difference today was the wind," said Bandel, who also swept both events last year and hit 198-11 twice on consecutive throws Saturday. "The 204-2, I had a pretty decent headwind to help lift the disc up a bit. The back wind knocked it down a bit."
In the team competition, Oak Park scored 55 points to win its first MHSAA boys track and field championship since the 1972 squad won the Class A title. Rockford was second with 46 points, while East Kentwood was third with 37. East Kentwood had won five of the previous seven Division 1 championships.
Oak Park's only victory came from junior Cameron Cooper, who took the 800 in 1:51.68. Senior Dekaryea Freeman was third in the 800, giving Oak Park 18 points in the event.
Miles Daniel was second in the 100, third in the 200 and ran on the fifth-place 400 relay team for Oak Park.
"The biggest thing we've got going for us is we got some football players to come out," Oak Park coach Robert Lynch said. "The football players came out, have been part of the track team and have put us over the edge."
East Kentwood's Khance Meyers won two events, taking the 100 in 10.73 seconds and helping the 800 relay team set a Division 1 meet record of 1:26.27. Ansel Jeffries, Shane Harris and Welch also ran on that relay team.
The other individual champions were East Lansing's Kentre Patterson (110 hurdles, 14.03); Ann Arbor Skyline's Anthony Giannobile (1,600, 4:11.48); Wayne Memorial's Montel Hood (400, 47.30); Dearborn's Adnan Hamka (300 hurdles, 39.62); Fenton's Jacob Lee (3,200, 9:07.72); Rockford's Jonny De Haan (pole vault, 15-0); and Mount Pleasant's Kalebb Perry (high jump, 6-7).
The other winning relays were run by Rockford (3,200, 7:43.92); Detroit Cass Tech (400, 42.26); and Saline (1,600, 3:19.37).
PHOTOS: (Top) Jackson's Anthony Owens prepares for launch on the way to winning the long jump championship. (Middle) Oxford's Connor Bandel stands atop the awards podium after repeating as shot put champion. (Photos by John Brabbs/RunMichigan.com.)
Peramaki Adds to Past Finals Fame by Leading Munising to Team Title
By
Jason Juno
Special for MHSAA.com
June 4, 2023
KINGSFORD – Munising’s Micaiah Peramaki couldn’t really top last year’s Upper Peninsula Division 3 Finals. He became the eighth male all-time to win four events at an MHSAA track & field championship meet.
“I proved myself last year, so it’s a little more of a fun meet this year,” Peramaki said. “But it’s still important for me just to do good.”
And he was excellent again.
He led the Mustangs to the team title with individual wins in the 100, 200 and 400. He was also a part of the winning 1,600 relay team.
“The 100, I was right next to my brother, Josiah; he ended up getting third. That was really fun actually. We both did really good in that,” Peramaki said. “The 400, I had Aa’Keem (Jackson) from Newberry to watch out for. He pushed it hard in the corner over here, I was prepared for it and I just ran hard from there.”
Josiah Peramaki repeated with a win in the pole vault. Other members of the 1,600 relay were Kane Nebel, Zack Lindquist and Josiah Peramaki.
Munising won the team title with 103.5 points. Newberry was second with 81, Bessemer third with 52 and Rapid River fourth with 44.
Bessemer won the 400 relay (Tommy Trudgeon, Landon Peterson, Daniel Lis and Vinnie Triggiano). Bessemer also finished fifth in the 800 relay – despite being seeded first – and Trudgeon said he had to make a comeback in the 400 relay, which also was seeded first.
He was behind after a shaky handoff, though. But the 100 meters is probably his best race anyway. He finished runner-up to Peramaki, one-tenth of a second behind him.
“I guess I just had to close like a train,” he said of his leg of the relay. “It feels great, glad to win.”
Newberry won the 800 relay (Marco Juarez, Jackson, Matthew Rahilly and Kennedy Depew) and Dollar Bay the 3,200 relay (Joshua Gaunt, Josh Luukkonen, Caleb Kentala and Amos Norland).
Crystal Falls Forest Park’s Samuel McKissack won the 110 hurdles, and Newberry’s Chris Hopson was champion in the 300 hurdles.
In the distance races, Dollar Bay’s Norland won the 800, Forest Park’s Gaven Rintala the 1,600 and Chassell’s Kalvin Kytta the 3,200.
The latter race with Norland was so close – Kytta won by seven hundredths of a second – that Kytta wasn’t sure if he was in fact champion or not.
“I got passed by the leader. I tried to stick on him through the rest of the race,” he said. “He got a little gap on me the last 100 meters. I just felt that juice. I think I passed him.”
It turns out he did.
Whitefish Township, which has just 22 students in the high school, went home with a champion for the first time in school history – Seth Mills in the discus. Newberry’s Rahilly won the long jump, North Central’s Dylan Plunger won the high jump and Rapid River’s Kody Goldi took the shot put.
PHOTOS (Top) Munising's Micaiah Peramaki, center, wins the 400 on Saturday. (Middle) Bessemer's Vinnie Triggiano (4) is able to hold off Lake Linden-Hubbell's Matthew Jokela and Newberry's Kennedy Depew to win the 400 relay. (Below) Chassell's Kalvin Kytta, left, and Dollar Bay's Amos Norland run together until the end of the 3,200. (Photos by Cara Kamps/RunMichigan.com.)