Dollar Bay Cashes In on School Records for 1st Finals Title
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
June 6, 2021
KINGSFORD — History was made in the Upper Peninsula Division 3 Track & Field Finals on Saturday as the Dollar Bay Blue Bolts were crowned champions for the first time with 67 points.
They were followed by Pickford with 55 and Rapid River with 47.
Dollar Bay set school records while winning the 1,600-meter relay in three minutes, 42.88 seconds and 3,200 relay in 8:31.01.
Bessemer had won the 3,200 relay eight years in a row. The Speedboys, however, took third this time (8:58.64).
“We got it done,” said senior and Bay College basketball recruit Davin Hill. “Our coach pushed us hard all year. Our practices were harder than the meets.”
Senior John Norland anchored the winning 3,200 relay and took the 400 (51.38) and 800 (2:07.1).
“We knew we had a chance to win the U.P. Finals,” he said. “I ran my second-fastest split (2:01) in the 3,200 relay. The 400 and 800 are tough races. The 800 is very close to a sprint.”
Conner LeClaire added a first in the 300 hurdles (42.33) and second in the 110s (17.63).
Pickford’s lone first came on Hayden Taylor’s toss of 42 feet, 8¼ inches in shot put with Cedarville senior Drew Bailey taking second (42-2).
Rapid River senior Parker Dausey won discus (126-1) and classmate Max Lenaker took high jump (6-1).
North Central took the 400 relay (46.32) and sophomore Luke Gorzinski captured the 200 (23.29), edging Republic-Michigamme’s Isaac Lawrence by two hundredths of a second.
Lawrence won long jump (20-2) and placed third in the 100 (11.69), one hundredth of a second behind Munising’s Micaiah Peramaki.
Brimley senior Cameron Hoornstra won the 100 (11.62), and Rudyard’s Gannon Smith took pole vault (10-6).
Chassell senior Kolson Kytta became a double winner, taking the 1,600 in a school-record 4:35.37 and 3,200 (10:45.14) on a hot and humid day in Dickinson County.
“I did a lot of visualization about how I thought the races would do,” said Kytta, who’s considering running at Michigan Tech. “I put in a lot of training to get better. I don’t think the heat affected me too much.”
Lake Linden-Hubbell recorded its lone first in the 800 relay (1:38.04), and Carney-Nadeau senior Tim Hodson crossed first in the 110 hurdles (17.58).
“Our handoffs looked pretty good,” said senior Caleb Klein, who anchored the winning 800 relay. “This was our best time all year ,and I think the competition helped us a lot. All the adrenalin from all the fans being here also got me going.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Dollar Bay's A.J. Datto passes the baton to Davin Hill during the 1,600 relay Saturday. (Middle) Chassell's Kolson Kytta leads the pack after completing six laps of the 3,200. (Below) Carney-Nadeau's Tim Hodson won the 110 hurdles with Connor LeClaire from Dollar Bay taking second, Pickford's Josh Sullivan taking third, and Powers North Central’s Trenton Naser taking fourth. (Photos by Cara Kamps. Click to see more at RunMichigan.com.)
Machiniak Sets Pace as Berrien Springs Edges Corunna in Matchup of Recent Champs
By
Scott DeCamp
Special for MHSAA.com
June 1, 2024
HAMILTON – After a rainy afternoon Saturday, the precipitation let up long enough for Berrien Springs’ boys track & field team to put the finishing touches on another MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals championship.
After Shamrocks head coach Jon Rodriquez collected his program’s second team title in three years, rain fell again at Hamilton High School’s Hawkeye Stadium, only heavier this time.
The reign returned for Berrien Springs.
“It feels great, man. It’s hard to say what it feels like,” said Shamrocks senior standout Jake Machiniak, who sprinted to first-place finishes in the 100- and 200-meter dashes plus anchored winning 400 and 800 relays.
“This team, they worked all offseason. This is the hardest group of workers I’ve ever had. All these guys, all the guys that scored, they’ve all come year-round. The relays, we performed. I performed in the opens. It’s great. It’s a great feeling, man. Two times, man. Two times. Second time winning the state. It’s fantastic, man.”
Machiniak, a Grand Valley State University commit, repeated in the 100 with a time of 10.74 seconds. He won the 200 in 21.76 seconds in addition to running the closing leg on Berrien Springs’ first-place 400 relay (42.13) and victorious 800 relay (1:28.24).
Machiniak powered Berrien Springs to 40 points as a team, allowing the Shamrocks to edge runner-up Corunna (38 points), the 2023 champion. DeWitt was third (34) and Charlotte fourth (28), followed by Pontiac Notre Dame Prep and Parma Western tied at fifth (26).
Last year, Berrien Springs tied for seventh, which fueled the Shamrocks’ hunger all offseason.
“Jake was on that team two years ago. He ran the 4x100 for us,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve kind of had our eyes on this the last two years. Last year we fell short a little bit, and this year the kids were hungry. They worked their butts off all year long, running in the summertime, running in the hallways in the wintertime, just getting ready for this moment. It’s awesome. It’s awesome to see.”
In the 400 relay, Machiniak was joined by Zander White, Samuel Magesa, and Kameron Autry. In the 800, it was Magesa, White, and Noah Jarvis.
Notre Dame Prep senior Zachary Mylenek took first place in the 400, finishing nearly a second better than his personal-record time of 48.49 seconds, and he was runner-up in the 200 (with a personal season-record 21.92).
Bound for Purdue University, where he plans to study mechanical engineering and perhaps walk on to the Boilermakers’ track team, Mylenek also anchored Notre Dame Prep’s seventh-place 1,600 relay team.
He adapted to his circumstances and performed at a high level.
“The rain sucked, but I’ve been fortunate enough because we’ve been running in the rain a lot this year and I ran last year in it,” he said. “I just ran my race and other guys, I was listening, they don’t like running in the rain. It’s a mindset thing, and I just dialed in.”
Grosse Ile junior Sam Vesperman repeated in pole vault with an effort of 14 feet, 7 inches.
Vesperman was not expected to win last year, and he pulled it off. Being ranked No. 1 in pole vault coming into Saturday’s meet created more pressure for him.
“It was definitely different because I was projected to win it (this season),” Vesperman said. “Last year I was the second guy, right – I wasn’t the big name. It was definitely different having everybody (saying), ‘Oh, that’s the guy to get, so … .’”
Vesperman’s official personal record in pole vault is 15-3. On Saturday, he was pushed by Whitehall senior Ca’Mar Ready, who turned in a PR effort of 14-4, but Vesperman was able to execute when needed.
“Yeah, it’s really nice to win, but we just keep chasing that next bar, that next height. That’s definitely the motivational factor,” Vesperman said.
Other event winners included: Clio’s Elliott Sirianni in the 800 (1:55.09 PR), Freeland’s T.J. Hansen in the 1,600 (4:11.31), Pinckney’s Paul Moore in the 3,200 (9:07.53), Grand Rapids Catholic Central’s Mill Coleman in the 110 hurdles (14.49), Charlotte’s Cutler Brandt in the 300 hurdles (38.48), Coopersville’s Gabe VanSickle in the shot put (61 feet, 2 inches), Wayland’s Adam Huff in discus (172-0), and Stevensville Lakeshore’s Declin Doroh in high jump (6-7) and Kaden Griffiths in long jump (22-9.25).
Hamilton won the 1,600 relay (3:23.40), while Marshall took first place in the 3,200 relay (7:48.49). Chelsea senior Jacob Nelson won the 100, 200 and 400 adaptive events.
Rodriguez started coaching at Berrien Springs in 2012, and he became head coach in 2014.
He said the Shamrocks improve in practice because there’s a lot of competition. Everybody is chasing Machiniak.
“I mean, we have Jake Machiniak, one of the top sprinters in the state, in practice and the kids want to beat him. They don’t just want to just, like, run with him; they want to try and beat him, so that competition in practice has been huge,” Rodriguez said.
“I’m just very proud of them. We showed up on the days that were important. On a big meet like this, it’s about being your best today – we had our best on the best day.”
Like Vesperman, Machiniak entered the 2024 season with a lot of pressure. He noted, however, that the only way to improve is to put oneself in pressure situations.
Machiniak said this team title feels better than the one won in 2022 because he played a bigger role. There’s strength in numbers, though, and Berrien Springs has been known to possess depth, especially in the sprints.
“That’s all Coach Rodriguez. Best coach in Michigan – it’s not even close,” Machiniak said. “He has us training in the offseason. He has us training winter, summer, spring, fall – all the time, man. We have a lot of guys at the state meet that come (put in the work) in the offseason, all year round. Year-round athletes that do speed training. As far as the sprints, that’s all Jonny Rodriguez – best coach in the nation.
“This group, I’ve grown up with this group, man. I’ve known these guys for a while. I’ve grown with them, I’ve trained with them, I’ve cried with them. You know, these are the guys that I’ve grown up with.”
PHOTOS (Top) Berrien Springs’ Jake Machiniak, second from left, crosses the finish line first in the 100 during the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals on Saturday. (Middle) Pontiac Notre Dame Prep’s Zachary Mylenek, left, and Corunna’s Wyatt Bower race to the finish in a 200 prelim. (Click for more from Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)