Fantastic 4 Lead Lumen Christi to No. 1
May 30, 2015
By Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
COMSTOCK PARK – Jackson Lumen Christi came to the Lower Peninsula Division 3 Boys Track and Field Final with just four qualifiers.
The Titans left with a surprising MHSAA championship – the first in school history in track and field.
Lumen Christi’s quartet of athletes totaled 44 points to outdistance runner-up Hillsdale’s 37. Clinton was third with 30 points.
“We weren’t a good dual-meet team, and we didn’t have a lot of depth, but we had some really good individuals,” Lumen Christi coach Mike Woolsey said. “I kind of thought if we put the time in, this sort of thing could happen.
“I’ve seen it with other teams, but never with us. This is great.”
The Titans won only one event. Senior Patrick Ludlow won the 800 in thrilling fashion as he came from behind to nip Ryan Silvestri of Napoleon by less than one second.
“On the first lap, I wanted to be in a good spot in the top two or three,” Ludlow said. “I came around right where I wanted to be. With about 300 to go, I kind of came out first, and then some guys were right with me. Around the 200, I just gutted it out and got the win.”
Ludlow conceded that he did not come to Comstock Park expecting to leave with a team championship.
“Honestly, no. This is so much more than I could have expected,” he said. “It definitely feels better with the team, and it feels good to do both; but to be able to share it with the team is awesome.”
Woolsey said Ludlow followed the script in winning the race.
“He ran the type of race we’ve been practicing all year,” he said. “Watching that race was kind of how I pictured it in my mind.”
Jonathan Scouten, another Lumen Christi senior, had a roller-coaster ride all day. Seeded in the top two in both the shot put and discus, Scouten failed to pick up an individual championship and lost the shot put by a half-inch.
“My day was pretty eventful,” he said. “I was hoping to win both the discus and the shot put, and in the discus I was first going into the finals but ended up getting second. So I was a little disappointed there,” he said. “In the shot put, it was the same thing, except in the finals I ended up losing by a half-inch.
“The whole season has been like this. We’ve been real mellow as a team, and then, what is this? State champions? It’s a blessing. I was about to go home real disappointed, but having this made my day.”
Woolsey said Scouten has gotten to where he is because of hard work and technique and not simply brute strength.
“Over the four years he has improved so much,” Woolsey said. “He’s a hard worker. He’s not the biggest thrower out there, but as far as technique, he’s great. He’s mastered that.”
Lumen Christi junior Wyatt Plate was second in the 200 and third in the 100.
“Plate is just naturally fast, and he has the potential to get even faster,” Woolsey said.
The fourth Lumen Christi athlete to qualify for the meet was junior Jacob Wildenhaus, who took fifth in the 300 hurdles.
Amazingly, there were no multiple individual champions in the meet, and only third-place Clinton managed to bag two titles – one individual and one on a relay.
It was that sort of meet that helped Lumen Christi win a team championship with 44 points.
“You need to have good individuals and have them be on, and it happened,” Woolsey said. “I kind of did the math before and thought we could score a lot of points, but I didn’t know if they would be enough.”
Woolsey has been coaching for 36 years, and he has been involved with winning MHSAA titles for Lumen Christi with boys and girls cross country. But he said winning one in track and field had its own nice touch.
“It’s different,” he said. “Usually with cross country I’m the only coach, so I’m happy for all the other coaches. I’m happy for these kids. It’s fun to be able to take this back to school.”
The other individual champions in the running events were Macomb Lutheran North junior Zach Stadnika in the 110 hurdles, Niles Brandywine senior Andrew Duckett in the 300 hurdles, Sanford-Meridian junior Christian Petre in the 100, Clinton senior Tyler Underwood in the 200, Madison Heights Madison senior Jaylin Golson in the 400, Lansing Catholic senior Keenan Rebera in the 1,600 and Calvin Christian junior Abe Visser in the 3,200.
In the field events, champs were Hesperia junior Nate McKeown (high jump), Reed City junior Nate Fasbender (pole vault), Hillsdale senior Austin Hawkins (long jump), Carson City-Crystal senior Joshua Coston (discus) and Grand Rapids West Catholic junior Carl Myers (shot put).
Hawkins was the defending champion in the long jump.
In the relay events, Clinton won the 40, Marlette the 800, Adrian Madison the 1,600 and Hanover-Horton the 3,200.
PHOTO: Jackson Lumen Christi's Patrick Ludlow finishes his winning 800 run Saturday in helping the Titans to the LP Division 3 team championship. (Click to see more from RunMichigan.com. Photo by Jamie Geysbeek.)
Performance: Oxford's Connor Bandel
June 1, 2016
Connor Bandel
Oxford senior – Track & Field
Bandel could’ve been a selection most weeks this season; the spring has included that many highlights for the reigning Lower Peninsula Division 1 champion in shot put and discus. He was perhaps most dominant at his Regional on May 20 at Lake Orion, winning shot put by 16 feet with a toss of 63, 7 inches, and discus by nearly 28 feet at 189-2 to earn the Michigan National Guard Performance of the Week for May 16-22.
Bandel went on to win the Oakland County Championship titles Friday in both at 67-2½ and 192-0, respectively, and his top throws this spring are that shot put and a discus toss of 204-2 on April 23 at the Oxford Invitational. He will compete in the LP Division 1 Finals this weekend with opportunities to break the all-Finals records in shot put (Todd Duckett, Kalamazoo Loy Norrix, 64-0½, 1999) and discus (Cullen Prena, Walled Lake Central, 210-1, 2012). Prena is among those Bandel has consulted for advice as he’s improved significantly over the last few seasons; his top throws in 2016 are six feet better in shot put and 11 in discus from a year ago.
The 6-foot-4, 230-pound senior also played goalkeeper for Oxford’s varsity soccer team the last four seasons and will be the second sibling from his family to play at the Division I college level; he’s signed for track & field with the University of Florida, while his older sister Darien plays volleyball at Oakland University. Connor also played basketball as a freshman and carries a 3.3 grade-point average; he’s considering majoring in chemical or biomedical engineering.
Coach Matt Johnson said: “The number one thing Connor brings is (his example) that track and field is a year-round event, from conditioning to weight training to building camaraderie with his teammates around the track. … He’s a dedicated athlete, he sets goals for himself, and that would be a value set that I’d say could be passed on to another level of student. He’s not just setting benchmarks for things within reach; he’s setting dreams he’s going to work toward. Early on last year, he told me he’s aiming not for the state record, he’s aiming to become an international competitor, and that raises the bar right there. Most high school kids are not even thinking (about that) at that point.”
Performance Point: “I’m trying to improve every meet; that’s always the goal. But this past week I started to improve more. I’m constantly moving the benchmark forward a bit. … Sometimes I just can’t really explain how much emotions I'm feeling when something (like a personal record) just happened. When you PR something that you’ve never reached, it’s just so satisfying to actually do that.”
Expert advice: “The biggest thing with (my sister) was her type of dedication and trying to do the same thing as her. Another big thing was the recruiting process; it was nice to have a sibling because not only did I get to learn from her but my parents got to learn a lot from her about the questions to ask coaches and that kind of deal. (From Prena), I learned definitely technique from him; it’s nice to have him having worked with his college coach, because … then he could teach me a lot of what he had learned. I always ask him about summer track, nationals and international competition. Even though he hasn’t gone to an international competition, he went to meet qualifiers for those, and if I have questions about what the atmosphere is like, things like what I need to bring, he’s always a good resource.”
The mental game: “For me, it’s not to get really tense. If I get really tense, really focus on trying to throw as far as I can, I’m not going to throw as well. The more relaxed you are, the longer you’ll be, the more comfortable you’ll be. Not getting tight and seized up and that sort of deal, that’s the biggest thing to me, to really relax … and trust what I’ve been doing the last couple of years, be comfortable and have fun with it. If you have a smile on your face, you’ll probably throw farther … (and) I’m just trying to throw farther than I did before.”
Final countdown: “I’d definitely, now that I’ve won (in 2015), I would like to re-break the shot put record, and I would like to break the discus record for the first time. I really want to hit my goals; I wrote them down before the season, and I’m still on pace. I feel like breaking 79 (feet in shot put) and 215 (in discus) before the season is over, that would be absolutely fantastic.”
Create and explore: “I’ve always really been into math and science, always really liked the engineering aspects of creating and exploring new ideas. I thought with how much petroleum that the United State is using, and with how many athletes have injuries, I thought it would be cool to create new ways to produce energy, or for athletes the fastest ways to recover.”
– Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2015-16 school year, Second Half and the Michigan National Guard will recognize a “Performance of the Week" from among the MHSAA's 750 member high schools.
The Michigan Army National Guard provides trained and ready forces in support of the National Military Strategy, and responds as needed to state, local, and regional emergencies to ensure peace, order, and public safety. The Guard adds value to our communities through continuous interaction. National Guard soldiers are part of the local community. Guardsmen typically train one weekend per month and two weeks in the summer. This training maintains readiness when needed, be it either to defend our nation's freedom, or protecting lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
Previous 2015-16 honorees
May 18: Kalyn Breckenridge, Birch Run girls soccer - Read
May 11: Morgan Beadlescomb, Algonac boys track & field - Read
May 4: Abby Krzywiecki, Farmington Hills Mercy softball - Read
April 27: Mike Mokma, Holland Christian baseball - Read
April 20: Abby Divozzo, Cadillac girls soccer - Read
March 30: Cassius Winston, Detroit U-D Jesuit boys basketball - Read
March 23: Kierra Fletcher, Warren Cousino girls basketball - Read
March 16: Jacob Montague, Grosse Pointe South swimming & diving - Read
March 9: Kyle Tuttle, St. Charles boys bowling - Read
March 2: Brittney Schnicke, Caledonia girls bowling - Read
Feb. 24: Kamari Newman, Detroit East English boys basketball - Read
Feb. 17: Jason Whitens, Powers North Central boys basketball - Read
Feb. 10: Rachel Hogan, Grand Ledge gymnastics - Read
Feb. 3: Nehemiah Mork, Midland Dow swimming & diving - Read
Jan. 27: Mardrekia Cook, Muskegon girls basketball - Read
Jan. 20: Sage Castillo, Hartland wrestling - Read
Jan. 13: Rob Zofchak, Dexter swimming & diving - Read
Jan. 6: Tyler Deming, Caro wrestling – Read
Dec. 15: Jordan Weber, East Jordan boys basketball – Read
Dec. 8: Kaitlyn Geers, Kent City girls basketball – Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Oxford's Connor Bandel unloads a shot put during a meet this season. (Middle) Bandel is the reigning champion in both the discus and shot put in Lower Peninsula Division 1. (Photos courtesy of Connor Bandel.)